UN Environment Programme
Says Investments Contribute Towards US$30
Billion Goal Pledged in Copenhagen
Cancun, 9 December 2010-Fast-track climate
funding for vulnerable mountain communities
and low carbon development strategies was
announced today by the governments of Denmark
and Germany and the UN Environment Programme
(UNEP).
The projects underline
the many forward-looking actions emerging
across the globe that are fostering a transition
to a low-carbon pathway.
Some of these have been
showcased in UNEP's 30 Ways in 30 Days campaign
launched in the runup to Cancun- from the
expansion of geothermal electricity in Kenya
to Bus Rapid Transit systems in Indonesia
and coping with floods by simple building
designs in Mozambique.
The 10 million Euros
(over US$13 million) programme is expected
to be funded by the German Ministry for
the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear
Safety and covers ecosystem-based adaptation
in mountain regions.
It will involve around
three pilot countries: Uganda in East Africa,
Nepal in the Himalayas of Asia and Peru
in the Andes of Latin America.
The programme, to be
carried out by UNEP, the UN Development
Programme (UNDP) and the International Union
for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), will
assess, for example, increased vulnerability
among communities and farmers to droughts
and floods linked with rising regional temperatures
and the loss of glaciers and ice.
It will also address
how to conserve and enhance mountain ecosystems
in order to boost resilience to likely future
climatic changes over the coming decades.
UNEP, UNDP and IUCN
bring together the respective experiences
and networks of the three organizations
in the implementation of ecosystem-based
adaptation projects. Ecosystem-based adaptation
is a concept which seeks to create win-wins
between adaptation measures and the conservation
of biodiversity.
The German-financed
programme is aimed at sparking off a larger
fund for ecosystem-based adaptation measures
in developing countries.
It is the intention
of UNEP, UNDP and IUCN to use the lessons
learnt to engage more donors and partner
countries in 2011 in order to address further
ecosystems such as coastal zones, river
basins and wetlands while exploring new
financing mechanisms such as payments for
ecosystem-services that bolster adaptation.
German Environment Minister
Norbert Röttgen said: "Smaller
glaciers are retreating in many parts of
the world at often rapid rates, increasing
vulnerability and enhancing risks to drinking
water supplies, food security and in some
cases infrastructure due to flash floods.
This project forms part of Germany's commitment
to fast track funding agreed last year in
Copenhagen and aims to provide results that
can act as a blue print for similar projects
elsewhere in the world".
The Government of Denmark
will provide US$6 million to the new programme
Facilitating Implementation and readiness
for Mitigation (FIRM). The new programme
will also provide fast start financing to
Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions
(NAMAs) in developing countries.
FIRM will assist six
to eight developing countries to strengthen
their national low carbon development strategies
and get a "quick start" on NAMAs.
The focus will be on reducing emissions
of greenhouse gases in ways that also contribute
to national development goals, such as creating
jobs, enhancing energy security, and reducing
the local environmental impacts of conventional
energy technologies.
FIRM will also develop
guidelines for NAMA criteria, Monitoring,
Reporting and Verification (MRV) approaches
and tools for analyzing and prioritizing
mitigation measures.
The project will be
implemented by UNEP and build directly on
the GEF-funded Technology Needs Assessment
Programme in the participating countries.
Danish funding will be supplemented by in-kind
UNEP and national resources.
"What we are seeing
here today is actual commitment and implementation
of the Copenhagen Accord's fast-start financing.
The conceptual understanding of the NAMAs
and their link to finance - in the real
world - will be a cornerstone in relation
to long-term climate finance for the developing
countries and hopefully pave the way for
real-time emission reductions," Denmark's
Minister for Climate and Energy and Gender
Equality, Dr. Lykke Friis said.
"These announcements
are a snapshot of the many projects that
have secured fast start climate funding
since the UN climate convention in Copenhagen.
And they are part of a growing portfolio
towards the $30 billion funding pledged
by developed economies 12 months ago, en
route to $100 billion a year by 2020,"
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General
and UNEP Executive Director, said.
