Twelve project proposals from NGOs, civil society groups, and research institutes in Asia Pacific received awards of up to US$ 30,000 for their novel approaches to development. The 12 proposals were selected from among more than 100 proposals received under the Asia Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED) Showcase Programme in 2006.

The Showcase projects were selected at the APFED Showcase Panel meeting held in Bangkok, Thailand, on 25 October 2006 by the following APFED Showcase projects selection Panel:

Prof. Akio Morishima
Special Research Advisor, IGES, Japan
Dr. Kim Myung-Ja
Former Minister of Environment, Korea
Prof. Tongroj Onchan
President, Mekong Environment and Resource Institute, Thailand
Dr. Vinya Shanthidas Ariyaratne
Executive Director – Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka
Dr. Parvez Hassan
Former Chairman of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Law Commission, Pakistan

These projects, including those selected on the upcoming years, will be shared with stakeholders through the APFED Good Practice Database to encourage replication in other countries in the region. The projects will be also monitored and evaluated by the Network of Research Institutes for Sustainable Development (NetRes) established under APFED.

Subsequent to the selection and during the early stage of implementation, it was found that the project in Myanmar cannot be continued due to the security situation at the time. The project implementing organization could not obtain approval from the ministry; therefore it had to be terminated for the time being. The rising concerns regarding security situation in Afghanistan also demanded the Secretariat to postpone the project implementation. Both projects in Myanmar and Afghanistan are strongly encouraged to re-apply for further reconsideration, once the security situation is improved.