A wide-ranging new partnership aimed at furthering sustainable development in the 21st century was announced today (February 23) by the European Union's (EU) Commissioner for the Environment Janez Poto nik and UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.
It builds on an existing partnership signed in 2004 which over the past three years has provided UNEP and the Multilateral Environmental Agreements - including those covering chemicals to biodiversity and for which UNEP provides the secretariat-over 50 million Euros for implementing close to 60 projects world-wide under the EU's specific fund for the environment.
Today's new cooperative statement, outlining a strategic partnership covering European Union funding from the European Commission (EC) to UNEP up to 2013, identifies key areas of joint activities including under the European Union's "Thematic Programme for Environment and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources including Energy".
It also reflects the EU 2020 strategy on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth that dovetails with UNEP's work on the Green Economy, the International Panel on Sustainable Resource Management and The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), of which the EU is a long standing supporter.
New approach
The EC-UNEP joint statement signals a new approach for more strategic international programming, rather than on an individual project/case-by-case basis. The EC's new approach is a pilot test for environmental funding where the EC will pass a financial envelope to UNEP. An agreement should be reached by mid-year as to the amount. The joint statement is intended to cover the 2011-2013 period.
The EU funding referred to in this new document concerns one particular source of EU funds, namely the Thematic Programme for Environment and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources including Energy or "ENRTP". Other UNEP projects are also EU-funded through different mechanisms.
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: www.teebweb.org
The International Panel on Sustainable Resource Management:
www.unep.fr/scp/rpanel/logo.htm
The 26th session of the UNEP GC/GMEF:
www.unep.org/gc/gc26/
UN International Year of Forests 2011:
www.un.org/en/events/iyof2011/
Source: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
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