2007 Annual Report

UNDP: Integrated policies

UNDP manages the UN system’s largest portfolio of operational environment and energy projects, increasingly in collaboration with UNEP’s technical expertise and advocacy efforts. It brings its expertise in poverty reduction and governance to bear in helping countries design and manage public policies that make the stewardship of environmental resources an integral part of human development.

One major challenge for developing countries is integrating environmental issues into national and local development plans. UNDP supports national partners assess new policy options, broaden institutional capacities, expand energy and other services to reach excluded groups, and marshal financial resources. Assistance also goes towards preparing for potential risks from climate change. On the local level, UNDP aids communities in determining how to extend energy services and better manage environmental resources, particularly in connection with improved livelihoods.

In assisting countries work on environmental policies, UNDP emphasizes tailoring MDG targets and measuring progress towards the targets and goals, along with an overall orientation around equity and human development. By 2006, with UNDP support, 85 countries had tailored MDG targets on environmental sustainability; over 150 have assessed and reported on the global targets, including those related to water, sanitation and urban housing. Many countries have woven environmental targets into national development plans, and a few have incorporated new environmental measures into national budgets. Cambodia, for example has set targets of doubling the area of fish sanctuaries and reducing household fuel wood dependency by almost half. Similar UNDP-assisted efforts have gone into energy policies. Albania has adopted a target of universal electricity availability through increased power generation from renewable energy sources, and reduced transmission and distribution losses.

UNDP supports China's plan to dramatically increase its use of renewable energy systems, such as this wind turbine in Xinjiang.

UNDP expertise has supported the Economic Community of West African States, a regional grouping of 15 countries, adopt an ambitious regional energy programme, with a target of quadrupling modern energy services in rural and urban areas by 2015. Burkina Faso, a Community member, has used UNDP assistance to prioritize energy in its poverty reduction strategy and national budget. UNDP has also worked with rural authorities on providing energy services to generate growth in local economies.

In China, years of rapid growth have lifted around 400 million people out of poverty, but have also pressured the environment. Environmental degradation is now contributing to the growing gap between those riding the crest of China’s new prosperity and those left behind. UNDP works closely with the Government on devising appropriate environmental and energy policies that support poverty reduction over the long term, as well as implementing programmes that immediately address some of the worst disparities.

The Green Poverty Reduction in China project, for example, helps reduce poverty and provide clean sources of energy in three provinces, Yunan, Guizhou and Sichuan. The project is piloting a strategy of providing poor farmers with agricultural technologies to produce high-yield but environmentally sustainable crops of Jatropha curcas trees, a species that normally grows wild and naturally prevents desertification. There is a growing market, domestically and internationally, for the biofuel that can be made from these trees. To tap this potential, the project simultaneously assists farmers with establishing effective marketing mechanisms and supply links to manufacturers. It is also working with officials on policies to catalyse these initial efforts, such as subsidies for environmentally sustainable farming. Green Poverty Reduction in China should come to full fruition in 2009, with expectations that it will reach 200,000 farmers and produce an annual increase in income of at least 15 percent for half of those. The Government already plans to use the lessons learned from this experience to scale it up from its current 6,000 acres to nearly 3 million acres by 2009.

UNDP has also established a partnership with Arcelor Mittal, the world’s largest steel company, to reduce China’s greenhouse gas emissions. One project supports the development and enforcement of energy conservation policies, and assists Chinese steel, petrochemical and building materials companies in adopting more energy efficient production methods—many of which have been pioneered by Arcelor Mittal.

Some cases of resource disparities are best solved through methods that encourage public participation in decisions governing their use. This deepens the quality of democracy by brokering broader consensus on resource allocations, which also tend to end up more evenly distributed. In Crimea, an autonomous republic in Ukraine, UNDP has supported community projects that not only supply water, but also help reduce tensions among different ethnic groups. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a quarter million people who had once been deported from Crimea returned. Disputes have often flared over scarce natural resources, with equitable access to safe water, one of several particularly contentious issues. Throughout rural Crimea, UNDP has helped convene more than 500 ethnically mixed community self-help groups to begin working with local authorities on determining development priorities, calculating costs and implementing projects, thus increasing the sense of local participation and cooperation. The groups have raised funds to improve water systems, and by 2006, an extra 150,000 people had safe drinking water. Residents now closely supervise the management of water supply systems and have established community funds for maintenance and repair. For 2007, communities and the Government raised $4.3 million for new projects, and the Government requested UNDP’s support in adjusting legal and institutional frameworks in order to replicate this service delivery model across Crimea.

UNDP drew unprecedented attention to the global crisis in water and sanitation through the publication of its 2006 Human Development Report, Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis. Through examples from developing countries, the report tracked how a lack of access to water and inadequate sanitation services translate into effects on lives and livelihoods. Greater access to water and sanitation leads to improved health and education, and supports progress on gender equality. The report recommended that all countries should make access to clean water a human right, and called for a global action plan. Subsequently, various countries intensified their efforts to ensure access to clean water. The United Kingdom officially recognized water as a human right, while the Netherlands committed itself to playing a leading role in making water a human right. Japan plans to host a 47-country summit to address water issues in Asia and the Pacific. The theme of the 2007 Human Development Report is climate change.

The year 2007 marks the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. With the support of the Multilateral Fund of the Protocol, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and bilateral donors, over the last 15 years UNDP has leveraged $496 million for providing policy advice, technical assistance and technology transfer to help countries reduce the use of ozone-depleting substances. Through a broad range of partnerships, including small- and medium-sized enterprises, farmers and health-care practitioners, UNDP has balanced the protection of the ozone layer with economic considerations to maintain local competitiveness, protect existing jobs and create new forms of employment.

UNDP, along with UNEP and the World Bank, is one of the three implementing agencies of the GEF, the world’s largest fund for protecting the environment. In 2006, the GEF received its fourth replenishment of $3 billion from 32 donor countries. Covering the 2006-2010 period, the funds will go towards projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, persistent organic pollutants and ozone layer depletion.

UNDP-GEF projects help develop national capacities for environmental protection and sustainable development, often linked to poverty reduction and the generation of livelihoods. UNDP-GEF manages five corporate programmes on behalf of the GEF partnership: the Small Grants Programme, the GEF National Dialogue Initiative, the Climate Change National Communications Support Programme, the Support Programme for National Capacity Self-Assessments and the Country Support Programme for GEF Focal Points.

Large- and medium-sized projects, given impetus by GEF seed funding, can attract additional investments by other partners. In 2006, the GEF Council approved $203 million in grants for UNDP projects. UNDP leveraged an additional $500 million in project co-financing from governments and other partners. For example, a project to promote environmentally friendly ways of cultivating coffee combines just under $12 million of GEF financing with over $70 million mainly from the private sector. Coffee is the world’s largest commodity crop, but traditional, environmentally sustainable cultivation methods are quickly being lost. The UNDP-GEF initiative works with coffee companies worldwide and major producers in South and Central America on pilot activities. It aims to increase the annual volume of coffee grown with sustainable practices, as certified by the Rainforest Alliance, a project partner, from 30,000 metric tons to 500,000 metric tons, or 10 percent of the total global market. McDonald’s has already agreed to sell only certified coffee in its UK restaurants, with plans to extend that practice to all European outlets in 2007. Kraft, one of the world’s largest coffee roasters, has increased its purchase of certified coffee from five million pounds to 29 million pounds over the last two years.

The UNDP-managed GEF Small Grants Programme has funded more than 8,400 projects by non-governmental and community organizations around the world. The projects benefit the environment, enhance local livelihoods and produce social benefits. In the booming industrial city of Pune, India, a local NGO used a $15,000 GEF grant to organize the Pune Traffic and Transportation Forum and advocate for better management of traffic-clogged streets. In partnership with the city administration, the group cited experiences from Singapore, Bogota, Londa and Curitiba to persuade city officials that better transport planning could increase traffic flow, improve road safety, reduce pollution, and increase the mobility of the poor and disadvantaged. As a result, the 2006 municipal budget contains provisions for a multi-million dollar express bus system, an upgraded bicycle network and the creation of footpaths on all public roads. The Pune project is a classic example of how a small amount of seed funding, properly placed, can make a big impact. UNDP’s access to knowledge and expertise from across developing and developed countries helps people grasp opportunities like these.