Task Force Meeting and Workshop on Operation and Technical Issues of China-ASEAN Environmental Information Sharing Platform (EISP) was held by the Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center (FECO) of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in Beijing on 27^th-28^th March, 2019. More than 50 representatives from the Department of International Cooperation, the Information Center and FECO of MEE, the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, the Computer Network Information Center and the Documentation and Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the ASEAN Secretariat, the ASEAN Biodiversity Center, environmental authorities of ASEAN member countries such as Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, as well as other international organizations such as the Asia Clean Air Center, attended the meeting. The Working Group Meeting and Workshop is part of the series of activities of China-ASEAN Environmental Cooperation Week in 2019.

In the opening remarks, Xiao Xuezhi, Deputy Director of FECO, said that the application of information technology in the field of ecology and environment is an important way to improve the eco-environmental management, which will facilitate pollution prevention and control. Environmental information and information management is also one of the priority areas for China-ASEAN environmental cooperation, therefore, building a China-ASEAN Environmental Information Sharing Platform is an important measure for both sides to promote cooperation in this field. To this end, FECO is committed to further promote the development of EISP, carrying out capacity-building activities in the field of environmental information, actively sharing China's experiences and promoting mutual learning among countries, in order to jointly improve environmental governance in the region.

Eddy Mazuaansah Bin Mohd Ali Murad, Deputy Director General of the Department of Energy, Science and Technology, Environment and Climate Change of Malaysia, pointed out that information sharing is of vital importance in today's big data era. It is expected that China and ASEAN countries would work together to strengthen information sharing, data security and utilize China-ASEAN environmental information sharing platform to address environmental issues of common concern in the region.

Focusing on the development of EISP, the working group reviewed the progress of platform construction in 2018 and discussed the plan for 2019 and 2020. Members of the working group shared the challenges and needs of countries in using, operating and maintaining the website, and discussed information access and upload mechanisms. Moreover, representatives exchanged ideas on the latest progress of the application of information technology in environment and related challenges and problems and provided training on data upload. After the meeting, representatives visited the National Marine Environment Forecasting Center to learn about China's marine climate monitoring and prediction technology and practices, marine disaster forecasting and warning issuance system and operational management system.

The China-ASEAN Environmental Information Sharing Platform initiative was put forth by Premier Li Keqiang at the 18th China-ASEAN Summit (10+1) in November 2015. The platform was initiated by the environmental authorities of China and ASEAN countries during the China-ASEAN Environmental Cooperation Forum in September 2018. After more than three years of construction, the platform now covers environmental information of China and ASEAN member countries with two sub-environmental thematic platforms of biodiversity and environmentally-sustainable cities. Up to March 2019, the hit rate of the platform website exceeded 190,000 times, and the amount of information and data downloaded reached more than 3000 times. In the future, the EISP, as an important support for the BRI Environmental Big Data Platform, will constantly promote the sharing of environmental information under the framework of BRI and contribute to the green development of the Belt and Road.