The Regional Environmental Governance (“REG”) Programme aims to empower local communities to take part in the decision making processes that may impact negatively on the environment and also ensures fair and equal access to natural resources and the environment. The programme itself is the result of an extensive series of consultations between Capacity 2015 and Environmental and Governance policy advisors in the SURFs, UNDP Country Offices in the region and with RBAP and BDP. In addition, it has received wide-spread support from COs and, as such, it reflects the collaborative spirit of all involved.

Environmental Governance entails enforcing global norms of good governance, some of which include:

Access to Information: the opportunity for citizens to obtain environmental information from the relevant authorities;
Access to Participation: the opportunity for citizens to participate in an informed, timely and meaningful way in the formulation of national, as well as local policies and plans and in the design of projects with potential environmental impacts;
Access to Justice: the opportunity for citizens to seek legal remedy and redress when there is a failure to provide information and allow for participation or when citizens wish to dispute a decision impacting on the environment or have such a decision independently reviewed.

The REG Programme consists of two components:

1. Enhancing cross-practice approaches for improved regional environmental governance; and
2. Developing country-specific activities and trans-boundary strategies for environmental governance.

An additional aspect of Component 2 includes the Facilitating Dialogue among Communities of the Lower Mekong River Basin ("Community Dialogues Project").  The Community Dialogues Project is aimed at enhancing community understanding of and capacity for environmental governance through: (1) supporting community to community dialogue on the concept and issues of environmental governance in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam; (2) developing capacities of community leaders and support the creation of a regional network of local communities for EG related issues; and (3) raising awareness among relevant policy makers and institutions about demand of local communities for environmental governance.

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