In response
to the needs of Member States and the growing
number of requests on how best to realize
a low carbon, resource efficient Green Economy
for the 21st century, the United Nations
Environment Programme has formulated a rapidly
evolving strategy. The strategy identifies
three priority areas that match calls for
international guidance, the urgent need
for action at a national level on climate
change and the organization's skill set,
experience and mandate.
Ecosystems-based adaptation
It is now widely recognized
that healthy ecosystems from coral reefs
and wetlands to mangroves and fertile soils
are a key to successfully adapting to climate
change. Their management and maintenance
is a buffer and an insurance policy against
extreme weather events and a rapidly changing
climate.
Equally, as revealed by
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity,
whose secretariat is hosted by UNEP, there
is an understanding that ecosystems and
the services they provide represent serious,
multi-trillion dollar economic assets and
natural infrastructure
A recent UNEP report
compiled with scientists also brings to
the fore new evidence on the climate mitigation
potential of ecosystems. The report estimates
that carbon emissions equal to half the
annual emissions of the global transport
sector are being captured and stored by
marine ecosystems such as mangroves, salt
marshes and sea grasses alone.
In light of such emerging
evidence, UNEP is supporting Member States
to implement demonstration projects which
include: assistance to the Government of
Iraq in rehabilitating the marshlands of
Mesopotamia; support to the Government of
Kenya in restoring the Mau forest complex
and to the Government of Mali in reviving
Lake Faguibine. Plans are at an advanced
stage to deploy, in partnership with others,
the necessary assessment and project management
measures for ecosystem renovation in Haiti.
UNEP is ready to support
Member States in gearing up their economies
to overcome policy and financial barriers
and to incorporate ecosystem adaptation
measures into national climate, development
and sectoral strategies.
