Considering the importance of a common understanding among stakeholders to solve water quality issues in the region, the “WEPA Outlook on Water Environmental Management” has been periodically prepared by utilizing accumulated information and knowledge, as well as the human network developed under this initiative. The report aims to provide the most up-to-date and useful information on the environment and its management in Asia, with a target audience of policymakers, experts and others in the water sector of the region. Four former editions of the Outlook were launched in 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2018 respectively during the World Water Forums in Istanbul, Marseille, Daegu-Gyeongbuk, and Brasilia, in order to provide a useful source of information for stakeholders working on water quality issues in other parts of the world.

This report is the fifth edition of the series, and consists of two main chapters: Chapter 1 – “Outlook on Water Environmental Management in WEPA Countries” and Chapter 2 – “Country Profiles of Water Environmental Management in WEPA Countries”. The first chapter presents the results of analysis on institutional frameworks for water environmental management in the WEPA partner countries. Directly following the foreword readers will also find WEPA’s key recommendations describing its commitments to sustainable water environmental management, made through discussions held in WEPA annual meetings and workshops. This fifth edition also aimed at providing higher quality information by improving the compatibility of the information between countries, clearly indicating the changes over time, and enhancing the description of “compliance with regulations”, which was proposed as a priority issue in “WEPA Basic Policy in the 4th Phase”.

It is hoped that this report, together with the four former editions, will serve as useful tools and points of reference for those involved in related issues in Asia and other regions of the world, and contribute to sustainable water environmental management.