Copenhagen, 12 May 2011
- Efforts to promote a global transition
to a more resource-efficient, low carbon
Green Economy received a boost this week
with the opening of the first regional office
of the Global Green Growth Institute in
Copenhagen. Located next to the UNEP Risoe
Centre - UNEP's collaborative centre on
energy, climate and sustainable development
- and based at the Technical University
of Denmark, the new office was inaugurated
by the President of the Republic of Korea,
Lee Myung-bak during an official state visit.
The President was joined by His Royal Highness
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.
Founded in June 2010,
the Korea-based Global Green Growth Institute
(GGGI) is a non-profit organisation dedicated
to the promotion of economic growth and
development, while reducing carbon emissions,
increasing sustainability, and strengthening
climate resilience.
Its new next-door neighbour,
the UNEP Risoe Centre, supports the United
Nations Environment Programme in its aim
to incorporate environmental and development
aspects into energy planning and policy
worldwide, with special emphasis on assisting
developing countries.
The UNEP Risoe Centre
is already collaborating with GGGI on activities
in developing countries, and the two centres
are expected to enjoy extensive cooperation
in the future.
"We are very pleased
that the Global Green Growth Institute has
decided to open their first regional office
here in Denmark and locating it next to
our centre underlines the interest in working
closer together promoting green economy
issues in developing countries," said
John Christensen, Head of the UNEP Risoe
Centre.
GGGI supports the widespread
dissemination and implementation of a new
model of development: green growth. The
paradigm of green growth integrates objectives
for economic development and environmental
sustainability including poverty reduction,
green job creation, social development and
energy security through the promotion of
green technologies and innovations. Green
growth is at the forefront of UNEP's Green
Economy report, launched in February 2011.
The report shows how redirecting two percent
of global GDP into ten key sectors (including
forests, energy, waste management and agriculture)
can boost economic growth and create more
jobs than a 'business as usual model', while
using the planet's resources in a more sustainable
way.
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UNEP joins calls for
greater investment to reduce risk of disasters
Geneva, 11 May 2011
- Building the resilience of communities
and nations to cope with earthquakes, floods
and other disasters is the focus of the
third biennial Global Platform on Disaster
Risk Reduction, which is underway at the
United Nations in Geneva.
Opening the event on
10 May, United Nations Secretary-General,
Ban Ki-moon said the destruction wrought
by such events can be avoided or mitigated
by enhancing resilience through technology
and other measures aimed at boosting preparedness.
"We must accelerate
our efforts. The world's vulnerability to
disaster risks is growing faster than our
ability to increase resilience," said
Mr. Ban.
"As a result of
global climate change, weather-related hazards
are on the rise. Nuclear safety and the
threat of multiple hazards add an even greater
sense of urgency," added the Secretary-General.
The United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) is among the contributors
to the four-day event, which has attracted
2,000 delegates and, for the first time,
incorporates a World Reconstruction Conference
focused on disaster recovery and reconstruction.
The theme is "Invest today for a safer
tomorrow: Increase investment in local action."
The forum will cover
lessons learned in preparedness for nuclear
accidents, and the rebuilding of critical
infrastructure to help governments and communities
reduce disaster risks and the loss of life
and economic damage resulting from disasters.
UNEP will also lead
a session at the World Reconstruction Conference
on "Moving Towards a Sustainable Recovery
and Reconstruction Framework", featuring
speakers from the governments of China and
India, civil society, non-governmental organizations,
the private sector and aid agencies.
The role of watershed
management in increasing the capacity of
communities to recover from hazards is the
focus of a policy brief prepared by UNEP
and the United Nations University (UNU)
to be released at a roundtable event on
12 May.
A watershed is usually
defined as an area of land that catches
precipitation and drains into a larger body
of water such as a marsh, stream, river,
or lake. Watershed management involves water
and land users working together to conserve
water ecosystems, by focusing on water quantity,
water quality, biodiversity, land use and
other issues.
Prepared on behalf of
the Partnership for Environment and Disaster
Risk Reduction (PEDRR), Managing watersheds
for urban resilience provides recommendations
on how city and municipal governments can
use a watershed management approach for
urban risk reduction, particularly in hazard-prone
coastal areas and flood plains.
The policy brief outlines
how combining engineered infrastructure
with ecosystem-based approaches in watershed
management, such as reforestation, river
or wetland restoration and floodplain regulation,
can provide complementary solutions to help
protect people and development investments
against water-related disasters and climate
change.
The recommendations
include developing policies and legal frameworks
to support the practice of risk-sensitive,
sustainable watershed management among governments
and institutions and finding new approaches
to overcome capacity limitations, such as
fostering public-private sector partnerships.
The policy brief is
a contribution to the International Strategy
for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) Global Campaign,
"Making Cities Resilient", and
will be presented at a PEDRR Roundtable
hosted by UNEP and the UNU featuring speakers
from the International Union for Conservation
of Nature, France's Loire River Basin Authority,
the Ministry of Disaster Management of Sri
Lanka and the mayors of Lampa in Chile and
Mumbai in India.
The Global Platform
on Disaster Risk Reduction, which runs from
8 - 13 May, was established in 2007 as a
biennial forum for information exchange
and partnership building across sectors
to improve the implementation of disaster
risk reduction through better communication
and coordination among stakeholders.
