UN Environment Programme

This project aims at strengthening science-based policy-making for increased impact towards the Sustainable Development Goals by assessing key environmental issues and providing focused outlooks. It attempts to identify environmental challenges and opportunities for sustainable development, while strengthening the science-policy interface to support regional, national and local governments, the business sector, and civil society including non-governmental organizations and local community groups (women, men and children). The project’s approach will be integrated, inclusive and evidence-based, ensuring scientific robustness and credibility, policy-neutral legitimacy and enhanced transparency. Informed decision- and policy-making on today’s key environmental matters at regional, national and local scales should be based on the sound scientific assessment of the state of the environment, in conjunction with the driving forces, trends in pressures and their environmental impact, while providing policy response options and solutions for governments and other stakeholders. While we near the end of the second decade of the Twenty-First Century, governments and principal stakeholders often still lack adequate capacity and robust knowledge in the fields of data collection, information, analysis, scientific assessments, and science-based policy options. Often, the lack of access to sound scientific data, clear information and robust knowledge continues to hamper decision-making by policy-makers and relevant stakeholders. This project is meant to tackle this challenge for a set of specific and selected environmental themes as requested by governments and stakeholders during the past few years.

The issue of technology transfer has been a cornerstone of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) since it was established. As a major step forward, the Technology Mechanism was established by the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) in Cancun in December 2010. The Technology Mechanism consists of a Technology Executive Committee and a Climate Technology Centre and Network. The mission of the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) is to stimulate technology cooperation and to enhance the development and transfer of technologies and to assist developing country Parties at their request, consistent with their respective capabilities and national circumstances and priorities, “to build or strengthen their capacity to identify technology needs, to facilitate the preparation and implementation of technology projects and strategies taking into account gender considerations to support action on mitigation and adaptation and enhance low emissions and climate-resilient development”. The Climate Technology Centre and Network Managing requests from Nationally Designated Entities (NDE) and providing highly qualified support to countries along all stages of the technology cycle, from identification of technology needs, through assessment, selection and piloting of technological solutions, to their customization and widespread deployment represent the core mandate of the CTCN. Consistent with COP decisions, the CTCN is to serve three main functions, namely: 1) Managing requests and responses in the technology cycle; 2) Fostering collaboration to accelerate technology transfer; 3) Strengthening networks, partnerships and capacity building for technology development and transfer, and fostering collaboration to accelerate technology transfer. These core functions of the CTCN will be supported by broader outreach and awareness activities and a knowledge management system that enables learning and enhanced response quality over the life of the CTCN, reflecting the two other functions. Scope of the Programme and expected outcomes UNEP and UNIDO established this joint programme to host the CTCN with a view to contributing to the development objective of reducing both the carbon intensity and the climate vulnerability of development and growth in developing countries. The CTCN will reduce the risks and costs of technology transfer and widespread deployment throughout relevant sectors of developing countries by supporting them to make informed choices about mitigation and adaptation technologies. UNEP and UNIDO joined to form a consortium consisting of leading institutions located in both developing and developed countries. At the 18th session of the COP in Doha in December 2012, this consortium was selected as host of the CTCN and at the 27th session of UNEP’s Governing Council in February 2013, a host agreement was signed in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding between the UNFCCC and UNEP as lead partner of the consortium. The organisational setup includes a lean Core Centre managed by UNEP and UNIDO responsible for overall coordination, Network development, and liaison with NDEs. The Consortium Partners, who constitute a Technical Resource Pool that could be tapped quickly in response to country needs, are supporting the Core Centre in preparing country response plans and providing a strong technical link to the Network. Considering the wide range of adaptation and mitigation expertise required across sectors, regions and sub-regions and technologies, a wide and diverse Network of regional and national institutions will be required as a delivery mechanism that can respond effectively and efficiently to requests from developing countries. As per COP decisions, it is through the Network that the bulk of the technical assistance on climate technologies will be executed. Through this Programme, the CTCN will assist countries in advancing priority technologies through the life cycle of technology development, demonstration, deployment, and diffusion including accessing necessary know-how, information, capacity building and finance for meeting local development needs. This will include a specific focus on facilitating uptake and adoption of technologies suitable for local conditions. The expected outcome of the CTCN is to have accelerated, diversified and scaled-up, including through increased investment, the transfer of ESTs for climate change mitigation and adaptation, consistent with their national socio-economic and sustainable development priorities. This requires the building and strengthening of developing countries’ capacity to identify technology needs to facilitate the preparation and implementation of technology projects and strategies, taking into account gender considerations to support action on adaptation and mitigation and enhance low emissions and climate-resilient development.

Environmental challenges are typically not confined by national borders and often require concerted responses by groups of countries. In its Outcome Document ‘The Future We Want’, the Rio+20 Summit explicitly recognized the importance of regional and sub-regional efforts towards sustainable development. Therefore, this project aims at increasing effectiveness and coherence in environmental governance by the countries concerned, with the main intermediate outcome of increasing the number of strengthened mechanisms to address the governance of shared natural resources and transboundary environmental issues among countries.UNEP’s convening power at the sub-regional and regional levels gives it a unique position to support countries in enhancing transboundary cooperation pertaining to the environment. Within the context of the Environmental Governance Sub-programme, this project will focus on supporting countries that mandated UNEP accordingly, in establishing and strengthening institutional mechanisms for addressing common interests in shared natural resources, transboundary ecosystems and common environmental problems. In response to priorities emanating from regional, subregional intergovernmental and other forums, this project will achieve its objective through 2 components with different levels of engagement depending on institutionalization level of transboundary cooperation:1.Where no transboundary institutional mechanisms exist, UNEP will support the development of new mechanisms for transboundary environmental governance;2.Where transboundary institutional mechanisms already exist but require further strengthening, UNEP will enhance existing mechanisms for transboundary environmental governance.

fossil fuel industry is responsible for one-third of anthropogenic methane emissions and is the sector with the highest potential for fast reductions that could slow the rate of global warming as efforts continue to decarbonize the energy system through cleaner forms of energy. To date action by companies and governments on fossil fuel methane emissions has been limited and uncoordinated at the global level. UNEP will establish an International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) that accelerates reductions in fossil fuel methane emissions globally. IMEO will be the nucleus of a multi-sector partnership, including companies, research institutions, governments, and civil society partners. Hosted within UNEP, IMEO will benefit from UNEP’s experience on methane, track record of collaborating with diverse partners on complex environmental issues, global reach, and institutional legitimacy. IMEO will build upon the success and experience of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition’s Mineral Methane Initiative, which seeks to achieve ambitious methane emissions reductions of 45% by 2025 and 60-75% by 2030. Furthermore, it will contribute to Sustainable Development Goal #13 on Climate Action: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning. Specifically, IMEO will increase the number of countries with Nationally Determined Contributions and Long-term Strategies under the Paris Agreement. To achieve this objective, IMEO will aggregate and analyse multiple methane emissions data streams, including company reporting, national inventories reported to the Climate Change secretariat, direct measurements, and satellite observations, and reconcile inconsistencies between reported and observed emissions levels. By assisting industry and governments in addressing uncertainty related to reported emissions, IMEO will improve the consistency and credibility of methane emissions data and accelerate mitigation actions based on sound science. Additionally, IMEO will commission new scientific measurement studies, provide feedback to companies on the quality of their data and the ambition of their targets, and engage governments on the findings from the data analysis. The Observatory will also be a platform for dialogue between industry, governments, research institutions, and civil society organizations conducting research on fossil fuel operations, and will engage with countries to implement methane mitigation projects by acting as a resource for capacity building, best practice sharing and emissions measurement support.

Despite making up less than 1% of all water on Earth, fresh water is essential for supporting people, prosperity and the planet, and central to securing basic needs, livelihoods and development. Freshwater ecosystems such as lakes, rivers, wetlands and aquifers are uniquely important and yet particularly under threat. Under competition from many users for a multiple of different productive, municipal and economic uses, they bear the brunt of human activity through over extraction and pollution and will keenly feel the effects of climate change. Their protection, restoration and management is of utmost concern and importance to all, particularly considering that the majority of UN Member States, 151 out of 193 countries, share part or all of their water resources with another country. These concepts form the basis of the rationale behind Sustainable Development Goal (6), “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all,” the achievement of which would be instrumental for securing sustainable development. Yet a lack of information, capacity, incentives, tools and involvement of stakeholders including gender aspects is hindering actors, from individual to government to corporate level, from taking steps to protect and restore freshwater ecosystems and achieve water-related SDG targets. Poor land and water management and growing competition, leading to the degradation of water-related ecosystems and the loss of their critical services, is a growing concern worldwide, with an urgent need for action. It is estimated that the world has already lost at least 60% of its natural water bodies since wide-scale development began in 1900, and that one-third to one-seventh of rivers in developing countries face severe pathogenic and organic pollution, including from a lack of safely managed wastewater and from run-off from land-based activities. Growing water stress in many parts of the world, as well as drought and desertification, are further serious concerns which the World Economic Forum among others has identified as some of the most serious threats facing our current and future societies and businesses. At the same time, since most countries share important transboundary water resources, information sharing and cooperation across borders is essential, requiring technical assistance and trust-building measures. There is growing concern that failure to do so can lead to tension and conflict, and further degradation of water bodies. Robust and abundant evidence also exists that freshwater resources are particularly vulnerable and have the potential to be strongly impacted by climate change, with wide-ranging consequences for human societies and ecosystems. Given future trends of population growth, development, and climate change, the integrated management of water resources across uses and users is therefore of utmost importance to ensure the sustainability of freshwater ecosystems and their services.