Lead Partner: Government of France - Institut de l’Énergie et de l’Environnement de la Francophonie - Government of Switzerland - Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Geographical Scope: Global Summary: Adaptation to climate change is a growing priority for development agencies, governments and vulnerable communities. However, capacity and awareness are often limited, and experiences have yet to be widely shared. The ALM partnership initiative will draw from experiences on the ground, featuring tools and practical guidance to meet the needs of developing countries. Seeking to provide stakeholders with a common platform for sharing and learning, the ALM will also complement the wide range of adaptation knowledge networks and initiatives already underway. For example, the ALM is collaborating with the Nairobi Work Programme, particularly the 'Methods and Tools' and 'Planning and Practices' areas of work, and the interactive weADAPT platform.
The ALM will develop tools and resources to support:
1. Adaptation practices – what can be done to adapt to climate change on the ground?
2. Integration of climate change risks and adaptation into development policy, planning and operations – how can policies and plans support adaptation over time?
3. Capacity building – how can people be better assisted in becoming equipped for adapting to climate change?
Lead Partner: Government of Indonesia - Ministry of Forestry - Government of Japan - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan - The Nature Conservancy (TNC) - Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
Geographical Scope: Regional
- Asia and the Pacific Summary: Asia Forest Partnership(AFP) promotes sustainable forest management in Asia through addressing the following 5 urgent issues;
- Good governance and forest law enforcement
- Developing capacity for effective forest management
- Control of illegal logging
- Control of forest fires
- Rehabilitation and reforestation of degraded lands
The partnership acts as a catalyst for already existing initiatives by increasing synergies and reducing duplication between programs and ongoing efforts. At this stage the AFP provides a formal framework for the exchange of information and experiences. Beyond strengthening existing programs this will facilitate joint identification of new programs and research needed.
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Lead Partner: International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO (ITC) - United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), BIOTRADE Initiative
Geographical Scope: Global Summary: The BioTrade Facilitation Programme (BTFP) helps enterprises in developing countries (for example small, medium, and community-based enterprises) with export promotion. To achieve this, it joins several partners in developing and developed countries. The programme supports products that have market potential and can be produced without harming biodiversity. To develop and trade these products, export plans are formulated and then implemented through a set of practical trade promotion services, including market information collection, products development, quality improvement certification, labelling, trade fairs participation and matchmaking. [more]
Lead Partner: The Global Conservation Trust
Geographical Scope: Global Summary: The Global Conservation Trust is a public-private partnership whose goal is to establish an endowment fund that will provide a permanent source of funding for ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture around the world.
The goal of the Trust is also to assure the availability of genetic material that underpins the global food supply to all researchers and scientists in perpetuity. The Trust will permit international institutions and governments to keep three promises:
* In 1994, the International Agricultural Research Centres of the CGIAR made a commitment to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to hold the plant genetic resources collections housed in the Centres in trust for humanity;
* In 1996, 150 countries adopted the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, pledging to develop and support a rational system of ex situ genetic resources conservation;
* In 2001, 140 countries adopted the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, a promise to promote the development of an efficient and equitable global system of genetic resources exchange. [more]
Lead Partner: United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) - United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) -Technical Focal Point
Geographical Scope: Global Summary: The goal of the WSSD GHS Partnership is to mobilize support and catalyze partnerships for coordinated activities at the global, regional and national levels to strengthen capacities in developing countries and countries in transition towards effective implementation of the GHS. In the medium and long-term, the Partnership is expected to lead to a decrease in environmental and human health related effects attributable to the use of hazardous chemicals. It thus makes a direct contribution to important objectives of sustainable development including protection of marginalized groups, protection of water supplies and drinking water, and poverty eradication.Specific objectives of the Partnership include mobilization of resources for:
* awareness raising, capacity assessment and GHS implementation at the regional level;
* awareness raising, capacity assessment and GHS implementation at the national level; and
* development of GHS guidance, training and resource material. [more]
Lead Partner: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) - United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Geographical Scope: Global Summary: The Mountain Partnership is a voluntary alliance of partners dedicated to improving the well-being, livelihoods and opportunities of mountain people and the protection and stewardship of mountain environments around the world. The Mountain Partnership taps the wealth and diversity of resources, knowledge, skills and expertise of its members to support positive change in mountain areas. The Partnership was launched as a type-2 outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2002: the basic concept and guiding principles of the Mountain Partnership resulted from a consultative process that took place during the preparatory sessions of the WSSD with its core document (known as the Bali Document) finalized at the Fourth Session of the Preparatory Committee for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Bali, Indonesia, 27 May - 7June 2002). Commitment to the Mountain Partnership has increased rapidly at the country, regional and international levels and concrete action is now underway to improve the lives of mountain people and protect mountain environments around the world. By March 2009, 50 countries, 16 intergovernmental organizations and 96 major group organizations (e.g. civil society, NGOs, private sector) had already joined the Mountain Partnership. A Mountain Partnership Secretariat, with financial support from the governments of Italy and Switzerland, is hosted at the central level by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Decentralized hubs of the secretariat have also been established in Latin America (hosted by CONDESAN), Asia Pacific (hosted by ICIMOD) and North America (hosted by the Banff Centre) and an Environmental Reference Centre is hosted by UNEP to provide guidance and support on environmental issues related to the Mountain Partnership.
The Mountain Partnership facilitates the effective and efficient implementation of Chapter 13, Agenda 21 and promotes, inter alia, joint initiatives based on paragraph 42 of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and other related instruments regarding mountains, by enhancing on-the-ground action and by working at the policy, programme and project levels. Specific partnership initiatives have been identified by members and are focussing on priority areas of action, such as biodiversity, education, gender, policy and law, research, sustainable livelihoods, sustainable agriculture and rural development in mountains (SARD-M) and watershed management. Additionally, geographically-focussed Initiatives have been launched and are operational in the Andes, Central Asia, Europe, the Hindu Kush Himalaya and other regions. New initiatives are developed as new priority areas are identified by members. Linkages between partnership initiatives are being encouraged at the local, national, regional and global levels, with members entering into specific initiatives according to their priorities, needs and capacities.
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Lead Partner: United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
Geographical Scope: Global Summary: The Decentralized Cooperation Programmes (DCP) objective is to encourage lasting South-South city-to-city cooperation for sustainable and economic development. For this purpose, DCP has established a global network of 11 associated training centres (as of Feb. 2006), which are located in Atlanta / United States; Barcelona and Bilbao / Spain; Curitiba / Brazil; Divonne-les-Bains and Lyon / France; Durban / South Africa; Kuala Lumpur / Malaysia; Ouagadougou / Burkina Faso; Plock / Poland and Shanghai / China. Each of these International Training Centres for Local Authorities and Local Actors is a hub for capacity building and knowledge sharing between local and regional authorities, international organizations, the private sector and civil society to enhance local public services. The training sessions for local authorities focus on four main areas:
- Environment and sustainable development
- Urban services
- Economic development and local governance
- Human security.
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Lead Partner: REEEP International Secretariat
Geographical Scope: Global Summary: Accelerate a global market for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficient Systems (REES).
Tremendous financial resources from the private and public sector will be needed to meet developing and transition countries' future energy demand in a sustainable way. Obstacles prohibiting this development include a lack of reliable policies and regulatory measures, and the perceived high risk and low return investments in REES.
The removal of the obstacles to sustainable energy is urgently needed:
- Robust policies and favourable, transparent and stable regulatory frameworks are required to attract private investors and to guarantee affordable energy services to the consumers.
- New forms of financing, risk mitigation and guarantee models will be necessary to make small sized renewables and energy efficiency projects bankable and economically attractive.
REEEP aims to work as an enabler, multiplier and catalyser of institutional change, and to have a real impact over the next decade with the following objectives:
1. Significant global increase of investments in renewable energy
2. Significant global increase of energy efficiency measures
3. Significant increase in access to sustainable energy services for the poor
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Lead Partner: Earthjustice
Geographical Scope: Global Summary: The objective of the Partnership is to help governmental institutions, intergovernmental organizations and civil society in strengthening human rights based measures and policies in sustainable development and environmental protection
To provide training on the relationship between human rights and sustainable development so as to encourage consultation with intergovernmental organizations and major groups possessing expertise in human rights for guidance in sustainable development activities undertaken pursuant to Agenda 21 and the UN Millennium Declaration.
To encourage North-North, North-South, and South-South experience exchanging, networking and advocacy to achieve poverty eradication. [more]
Lead Partner: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Geographical Scope: Global Summary: This is a civil society led, government supported, FAO facilitated undertaking.The preliminary focus of the SARD Initiative has currently been focusing on three themes, which were discussed in the International Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Mountain Regions (Adelboden, Switzerland, 6/2002), in the SARD Electronic Forum (6/2002-present) and in a number of local consultations in different regions of the developing world and among some of the NGOs/CSOs attending the World Food Summit: five years later (6/2002). Sub-Initiatives can be organized around the following or other thematic areas of action, based on the interests, priorities, commitment and resources of specific partners involved:
* Access to resources
* Fair conditions of employment
* Good Agricultural Practices for SARD
Given the critical mass of Mountain Governments supporting the SARD Initiative in the Adelboden Declaration, the relevant sub-Initiatives outlined in the Adelboden Plan of Action, and that 2002 is the International Year of the Mountains, it has been proposed that the Initiative should begin with a mountain focus, subject to the interest and resources of concerned stakeholders. The Initiative may capitalize on other key conferences and International Years, for instance, 2003 is the International Year of Fresh Water. [more]