Rice-fields in a valley near Lao Cai, northern Vietnam. 
Photo: Tran Thi Hoa/World Bank

Rice-fields in a valley near Lao Cai, northern Vietnam. Photo: Tran Thi Hoa/World Bank

Regional cooperation in Asia

SENSA – Sweden’s environmental secretariat for Asia

Published: Monday, December 14, 2009

Changed: Tuesday, May 18, 2010

SENSA, The Swedish Environmental Secretariat for Asia, is Sida’s knowledge-based environmental secretariat based in Bangkok. Its main tasks are to promote regional cooperation for an environmentally sustainable development in Southeast Asia.

SENSA’s main role is to work directly in the region, monitoring, analysing and documenting environmental developments.The secretariat shall also strengthen Sweden’s cooperation with countries in the region for the benefit of the environment and to serve as a platform for environmental and climate change dialogue. SENSA serves Sida but also the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Swedish Ministry of the Environment and the Swedish Trade Council.

How SENSA works

SENSA is a think-tank that establishes links between organizations in the region and Swedish environmental actors and initiatives. The support to regional actors should address environmental challenges that have regional dimensions and can be most effectively addressed through regional cooperation. An important mode of work is to provide strategic advice and technical support to the cooperating partners.

SENSA facilitates cooperation between environmental actors in the different countries of the region by identifying activities with common goals. SENSA also works to ensure a better use of existing regional knowledge bases and resources providing reliable information and advice. The secretariat also provides an open resource base for strategic analysis and assessment, consisting of the collective knowledge from its networks.

Thematic areas and operations

  • Mekong cooperation
  • Natural resource managements
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Harmonizing environmental policy
  • Emerging regional environmental activities
  • Facilitating regional environmental activities and synergies
  • Response to Swedish Development Cooperation in the Region

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