The Third Meeting of the ASEAN Working Group on Environmental Management (WGEM) was held in Singapore from 20 to 22 March 1995. The meeting was chaired by Singapore and attended by delegates from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

2. The WGEM is one of the six Working Groups formed under the auspices of the ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment. Each Working Group is chaired by an ASEAN country. The first two meetings of the WGEM under the chairmanship of the Philippines were convened in Manila. Since 1994, Singapore has taken over the chairmanship of WGEM from the Philippines.

3. At the Meeting the WGEM formulated strategies and guidelines towards achieving the ASEAN long-term environmental goals on ambient air quality and river water quality. These goals, which have been endorsed by the ASEAN Environment Ministers at the 6th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment held in Brunei Darussalam from 25 to 26 April 1994, are as follows :

1. Ambient Air Quality
   To achieve an ambient air quality below 100 Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) by the year 2010 with priority on urban and industrialised areas.

2. River Water Quality
   To achieve the following river water quality by the year 2010 with priority on urban and industrialised areas :
   pH   6.0 to 8.5
   DO   2 mg/l or more
   BOD  10 mg/1 or less
   TSS  200 mg/l or less
   

4. The strategies and guidelines recommended by the WGEM towards achieving these long-term environmental goals include the following:

1. Making environment factors and considerations an integral part of overall land-use planning

2. Harmonising the procedures of environmental impact assessment (EIA) for ASEAN member countries.

3. Ensuring that effluent from wastewater treatment plants complies with stipulated standards.

4. Use of cleaner fuels or alternative clean sources of energy.

5. Use of clean technology and pollution control equipment.

6. Provision of adequate facilities for disposal of wastes.

5. To facilitate the development of environmental management programmes by ASEAN countries, the WGEM would organise workshops on institutional structure and legislative framework for environmental management and protection, harmonisation of procedures and guidelines for EIA studies and urban environmental management.