​The Third Session of Intergovernmental Meeting was held during June 2001 in Colombo, Sri Lanka and reviewed the strategy for Phase II with NIAs.  The session also adopted the outline of the technical manual for training and requested the Monitoring Committee (MoC) to develop a full-fledged manual on the basis of the agreed outline. It was also agreed to start the training programmes for building capacity and to set up monitoring stations in remote areas identified by the MoC in consultation with the countries. 

The main objectives of the meeting are to provide the opportunity for sharing the information and experiences, and develop/review/adopt implementation and technical documents for Malé Declaration. The meeting was attended by over 40 participants from NFPs, NIAs, South Asia Cooperative Environment Program (SACEP), United Nation Enviornment Programme Regional Resource Center for Asia and the Pacific (UNEP RRC.AP), and Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI).  Members of the Malé Declaration Monitoring Committee (MoC) also attended the meeting.