The Kingdom of Tonga : action strategy for managing the environment (NEMS)/

The origin of this Action Strategy lies in the RETA (Regional Environmental Technical Assistance Project). No. 5403. funded by the Office of ihe Environment of the Asian Development Bank and executed by the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme. The Kingdom of Tonga was one of five countries which agreed to participate in a regional programme directed at strengthening the environmental management capabilities of Pacific Island member countries of the Asian Development Bank. A key element of the programme was the preparation of National Environmental Management Strategies (NEMS) for the participating countries: another (for all member countries) was training in Environmental Impact Assessment (ElA) procedures. In Tonga's case, the National Environmental Management Strategy was not prepared, as a detailed Environmental Management Plan (EMP) had already been prepared for the Kingdom over 1989- 1990 with the assistance of ESCAP (ESCAP 1990), and had been the subject of a major national symposium held in Nukualofa on 27-29 August 1990.