Mon, Oct 8, 2012 - Geneva/Nairobi,
8 October 2012 - A new set of manuals to
improve natural resource management in order
to reduce the risk of conflict has been
launched by the United Nations (UN).
The toolkit composed
of five guidance notes will provide technical
assistance to UN and European Union (EU)
staff, in addition to national stakeholders.
The goal is to equip both individuals and
organizations with the skills and tools
needed to understand, anticipate, prevent,
and mitigate potential conflicts over natural
resources.
Further Resources
Download toolkitsUNEP Disasters & ConflictsThe
five components of the toolkit - Land, Extractive
Industries, Renewable Resources, Strengthening
Capacity & Resource-Rich Economies -
all aim to demonstrate how well-managed
natural resources can prevent conflict or
contribute to peace and sustainable development
in war-torn nations.
The linkages between
natural resources and violent conflict are
a critical challenge faced by many countries
today. The exploitation of high-value natural
resources, including oil, gas, minerals
and timber, for example, has often been
cited as a key factor in triggering, escalating
or sustaining wars around the globe.
Furthermore, increasing
competition for diminishing renewable resources,
such as land and water, is on the rise,
compounded by environmental degradation,
population growth and climate change.
"This toolkit provides
a critical foundation for understanding
and dealing with conflict prevention through
proper management of all kinds of natural
resources, including land, renewables and
non-renewables," said Achim Steiner,
UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive
Director. "By providing these guidance
notes to all of those involved in conflict
prevention, we aim to broaden the understanding
of natural resource management to contribute
to a peaceful and sustainable future,"
he added.
The guidance notes were
also devised within the context of the so-called
"resource curse", a paradoxical
phenomenon in which natural resource-rich
countries underperform resource-poor ones
in economic growth and development. Countries
suffering from the resource curse often
have weak institutions, are over dependent
on natural resources and thus vulnerable
to shocks, and lack appropriate income redistribution
mechanisms, all of which contribute to the
eruption of violent conflict. Once conflict
has erupted, natural resources can provide
financing to armed groups, extending the
duration of the conflict, delaying peace
processes, and having the potential to reignite
conflict after peace has been achieved.
The toolkit - authored
by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP),
the UN Department of Economic and Social
Affairs (UNDESA), the UN Development Programme
(UNDP), the UN Human Settlements Programme
(UN-HABITAT), the UN Department of Political
Affairs (DPA), and the Peacebuilding Support
Office (PBSO) - was financed by the EU's
Instrument for Stability and coordinated
by the UN Interagency Framework Team for
Preventive Action.
An online training program
of the toolkit will be available in coming
days, and a dedicated EU-UN website is currently
being developed to assist dissemination
of the information.
Notes to Editors
About the United Nations
Interagency Framework Team for Preventive
Action - The United Nations Interagency
Framework Team for Preventive Action (the
FT) is an internal UN support mechanism
that assists UN Resident Coordinators (RCs)
and UN Country Teams (UNCTs) in developing
conflict prevention strategies and programmes.
Operating since 1995, the FT works closely
with UN departments and UN agencies, funds
and programmes to improve programme effectiveness
through better interagency collaboration
within Headquarters, and between Headquarters
and the field. The framework team coordinates
the partnership between the United Nations
(UN) and the European Union (EU) entitled
Preventing and Managing Land and Natural
Resources Conflict' on behalf of the partner
agencies.
+ More
UN biodiversity meeting
to discuss progress made and challenges
to implement the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity
2011 - 2020
Tue, Oct 9, 2012 - COP
11 is expected to review progress so far
and to produce decisions that will provide
further momentum for implementation of the
targets. Ryu Matsumoto, former Minister
of Environment, Japan and Hoshino Kazuaki,
Representative of the Minister of Environment,
Japan, hand over the gavel and COP Presidency
to Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister of Environment
and Forests, India. (Photo: IISD)
Hyderabad / Montreal,
5 October 2012 - Governments are meeting
in Hyderabad, India, from 8 to 19 October
2012, at the eleventh meeting of the Conference
of the Parties (COP 11) to the Convention
on Biological Diversity to agree on the
next steps in support of implementation
of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020,
agreed at COP 10 in 2010 in Nagoya, Japan.
The Strategic Plan,
a ten-year framework for action in support
of implementation of the Convention on Biological
Diversity, and its 20 Aichi Biodiversity
Targets, have been established as the overall
framework for biodiversity work in the United
Nations system. In line with their commitments
in Nagoya, countries have been updating
their national biodiversity strategies and
action plans to achieve the Aichi Targets.
Further Resources
Website for the meetingPress sheetsDocuments
for the meetingAnnotated agenda, with a
draft timetable for the conferenceSchedule
of press conferencesInformation about the
CEPA fairList of side eventsHigh-level segment
informationInformation about the Rio Conventions
PavilionWebcasts for the meetingCoverage
by the Earth Negotiations BulletinCOP 11
is expected to review progress so far and
to produce decisions that will provide further
momentum for implementation of the targets.
The mobilization of
resources for action on the 20 Aichi Biodiversity
Targets will be at the top of the agenda.
Drawing upon several reports and extensive
preparatory consultations, including a recent
high-level panel on financing convened by
India and the United Kingdom, governments
will agree on targets for the mobilization
of financial resources, as well as on the
baseline and a framework for reporting.
The status of biodiversity
in the world's oceans will also be highlighted.
A report on ecologically or biologically
significant marine areas (EBSAs) will be
presented. The report, the product of two
year's work by scientific experts, provides
a scientifically rigorous assessment of
the status of biodiversity in these areas.
Discussions on various other threats to
marine biodiversity will also take place,
including ocean acidification, marine debris,
coral bleaching and underwater noise, and
will feed into the broader international
work on oceans, including the recent Rio+20
outcome and the UN Oceans Compact.
Measures to support
restoration of up to 15% of degraded ecosystems,
one of the Aichi Targets, will also be under
discussion. In the context of climate change
and food security, the restoration target
is of central importance to sustainable
development, contributing to the well-being
of people around the world.
Governments will also
hold discussions addressing the way forward
in preparation for the entry into force
of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing,
adopted in 2010. Six of the 50 ratifications
required for the entry into force have been
deposited with the United Nations to date,
with more expected before the end of the
year.
"Two years ago,
in Nagoya, the world set the framework for
action to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity
Targets," said Braulio Ferreira de
Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention
on Biological Diversity. "Since then,
we have seen significant progress around
the world. This is encouraging, but we know
that we need to do more in order to realize
the ambitions of the Strategic Plan and
to achieve the Aichi Targets. This will
be challenging, as it involves short-term
costs. However, the environmental social
and economic benefits will be realized in
the long term. Most of the time, this will
simply mean spending existing resources
in a different way."
He said "The awareness
and understanding of the contribution of
biodiversity in sustaining human well-being,
and indeed in supporting production in our
economies is a key to stop the loss of biodiversity.
To address this, COP 11 will specifically
strengthen its engagement with multiple
stakeholders, including local governments,
civil society and the private sector. We
need biodiversity to be discussed not as
a problem but as a solution to the challenges
facing the world."
A Summit of cities and
local authorities - Cities for Life, will
run in parallel on 15 and 16 October. The
Summit will include new commitments by local
governments to implementation of the Strategic
Plan. A ground breaking report on Cities
and Biodiversity will also be released on
the 16th.
Similarly, island states
from around the world will also convene
a summit to discuss new commitments in support
of island biodiversity, and to celebrate
"bright spots" - examples of conservation
success from around the world.
COP 11 comes just two
years into the United Nations Decade on
Biodiversity, which is dedicated to the
implementation of our global strategy for
biodiversity. During the meeting, a Heads
of Agencies meeting in support of the Decade
will be convened, where key institutions
and international organizations will discuss
their commitments in support of the biodiversity
agenda.
Over 160 countries are
expected to participate in the meeting,
which takes place at the Hyderabad International
Conference Centre.
A ministerial segment
is planned from 16 to 19 October 2012, where
heads of State and ministers of environment
will engage in discussions related to the
key themes of the Conference.
