UNDP,
ENERGY and THE ENVIRONMENT
Energy and environment are essential for sustainable development. Poor people are disproportionately affected by environmental degradation and lack of access to clean affordable energy services. Issues such as climate change, loss of bio-diversity and ozone layer depletion also have a global importance and cannot be addressed by countries acting alone. UNDP helps countries strengthen their capacity to address these challenges at global, national and community levels. We seek out and share best practices; we provide innovative policy advice and link partners through pilot projects that help poor people build sustainable livelihoods.
UNDP's Energy and
Environment Practice works in six priority areas:
- Frameworks and Strategies
for Sustainable Development
- Water Governance
- Sustainable Energy
- Sustainable Land Management
- Biodiversity
- Chemicals Management
| 1. Frameworks
and strategies for sustainable development |
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UNDP seeks to develop
country capacity to manage the environment and natural
resources; integrate environmental and energy dimensions
into poverty reduction strategies and national development
frameworks; and strengthen the role of communities and
of women in promoting sustainable development. |
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| 2. Effective
water governance |
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UNDP supports the
sustainable use of marine, coastal and freshwater resources
and improved access to water supply and sanitation services.
This requires the appropriate local, national and regional
water governance frameworks, and application of integrated
water resources management approaches. UNDP also promotes
cooperation in trans-boundary waters management. |
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| 3. Access
to sustainable energy services |
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UNDP supports energy
activities to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development
objectives at the local, national and global levels. Our
work is focused on strengthening national policy frameworks
to support energy for poverty reduction; promoting energy
services to support growth and equity with specific focus
on the situation of women; promoting clean energy technologies
to mitigate climate change; and increasing access to investment
financing for sustainable energy, including through the
Clean Development Mechanism. Activities in these areas
complement and help integrate Global Environment Facility
(GEF) programmes in the field of climate change and support
sustainable livelihoods. |
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| 4. Sustainable
land management to combat desertification and land degradation |
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Land degradation
is one of the major causes of rural poverty, as well as
one of its effects. UNDP works to break this cycle and
reduce poverty through sustainable land management and
by maintaining land-based ecosystem integrity, particularly
in drylands where the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalized
people live. UNDP assists countries and communities in
land governance, drought preparedness, reform of land
tenure and promotion of innovative and alternative sustainable
land practices and livelihoods. Special emphasis is given
here to the situation of rural women. UNDP supports institutional
and systemic capacity building to address desertification
and land degradation of rural poverty reduction, through
local, national and global multi-stakeholder dialogue
and action. UNDP promotes the mainstreaming and integration
of major environmental conventions to reduce land degradation,
help land users adapt to climate change, and maintain
services through ecosystem integrity. |
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| 5. Conservation
and sustainable use of biodiversity |
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Through a close
integration of GEF and core activities, UNDP helps communities
maintain and benefit from the biodiversity and ecosystem
services that underpin human welfare and economic development,
and provide the poor with food security, fuel, shelter,
medicines and livelihoods - as well as clean water, disease
control, and reduced vulnerability to natural disasters.
UNDP supports the sustainable management of agriculture,
fisheries, forests and energy, and a pro-poor approach
to conservation and protected areas, biotechnology and
the development of viable, new markets for ecosystem services. |
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| 6. National/sectoral
policy and planning to control emissions of ozone-depleting
substances (ODS) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) |
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The Montreal Protocol
and GEF programmes of UNDP support governments as they
develop and strengthen national and sectoral strategies
for the sustained reduction and elimination of ODS and
POPs. Enterprises are assisted in maintaining their economic
competitiveness through provision of best available alternative
technologies and opportunities for capacity development.
More on POPs |
TURKEY
- AN ECO-SYSTEM UNDER THREAT
Turkey's vulnerable eco-system has been placed under increasing
stress by high population growth, rising incomes and energy
consumption. An additional stress factor is intense development
activity resulting from growing urbanisation and booming
tourism.
As sustainable development has become a worldwide concern,
it has also gradually been reflected in Turkey's policy
debates. Since 1991, Turkey's five year development plans
have included environmental strategies.
"It
is essential to protect human health, ecological
equilibrium and cultural historical and
aesthetic assets in economic and social
development"
(Government of Turkey, 8th Five-Year Development
Plan 2001-2005) |
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GEF Small Grants Programme aims to improve
the condition of the environment by
protecting biological diversity and
international waters. |
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| UNDP:
HELPING TURKEY TO PROTECT ITS ENVIRONMENT
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UNDP Turkey works closely with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, General Directorate of Electrical Power Resources Survey & Development Administration, Ministry of Transport, State Planning Organization etc. and several Municipalities to integrate environmental concerns into development policies and programmes.
UNDP Turkey is also
an implementing agency of the Global
Environment Facility (GEF). The GEF, established in
1991, helps developing countries fund projects that protect
the global environment. Under this funding umbrella, UNDP
Turkey supported and continues to support the development
of medium and large scale projects in the strategic focal
areas of GEF such as Climate Change, Biodiversity, Land Degradation,
International Waters, Enabling Activities, Capacity Building
and Adaptations to Climate Change. During the year 2005, several
GEF projects were initiated. More specifically, projects on
Sustainable Mobility in Istanbul, Promote Energy Efficiency
in Buildings, and Strengthening Protected Area Systems are
under preparation. UNDP Turkey also plays the implementing
and supporting role to the GEF Regional Projects, namely the
"Programme of Capacity Building for the Removal of Barriers
to the Cost-Effective Development and Implementation of Energy
Efficiency Standards and Labelling in EU Candidate Countries
and the Black Sea Ecosystems Recovery Project, Phase II.
The GEF Country Dialogue Workshop (CDW) Workshop
will also provide the opportunity to the national partners
to learn more about the GEF supported projects and funding
mechanisms. The CDW will be held between 21 - 23 June 2006,
Ankara.
UNDP Turkey, in collaboration with EU and
State Planning Organization, is at the initiation phase of
the project on "Integration of Sustainable Development
into Sectoral Policies". The overall aim of this
project is to enable Turkey to integrate sustainable development
principles into national and local/regional development planning
and implementation both at the macro economic and sectoral
levels, as most explicitly stated in the Implementation Plan
of the WSSD and the Sixth Environmental Action Plan of the
EU.
The GEF Small Grants
Programme (SGP) is an integral part of Global Environment
Facility (GEF), whose mission is "to make the connection between
local and global environmental challenges and between national
and international resources". SGP is a world-wide programme
administrated by UNDP providing grants to non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) for activities that address global problems
related to biodiversity conservation and sustainable
use, protection of international waters, as well as
mitigation of land degradation and climate change.
It is based on the presumption that
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global
environmental problems
can be solved by local communities, who, with small
amounts of funding (up to USD 50,000) can take steps
to make a significant impact on the condition of the
environment and their sustainable livelihood.
SGP has been run
by the UNDP Turkey office since 1993 on a decentralised
basis, has disbursed small grants worth about USD 2
million to over 100 projects throughout Turkey.
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For more information
on specific UNDP-Turkey activities relating to Energy and
the Environment, please refer to the links provided below:
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ONGOING
PROJECTS
For details of
recently completed programmes in Turkey, click
here.
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