Geographical Scope: Global Lead Partner: World LP Gas Association (WLPGA) - United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Summary: This initiative is designed to support the achievement of critical energy-related sustainable development goals, specifically poverty reduction, environmental protection, and economic growth. This partnership addresses concrete barriers to meeting the thermal energy needs (heating, cooking, and heat using productive processes) of rural and peri-urban populations in developing countries through expanded use of a clean-burning, readily-available fuel: liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Over 2 billion people in developing countries depend on traditional fuels including wood, animal and crop residues, and charcoal, to meet their heating, cooking and industrial needs. This has adverse health effects on women and children, degrades the local natural resources base and contributes to global environmental degradation through the emission of unburned hydrocarbons. Social and economic limitations for women, low quality energy services in heat using industries due to fuel inefficiency, and lost opportunities for agricultural product processing, are all directly related to traditional fuel use patterns.
The LPG Challenge will bring LPG to rural populations by linking UNDP's knowledge and experience in rural development and community consultation together with industry suppliers of LPG and the appliances required for its utilization. The key issue is to address market and technical barriers to the expanded use of LPG and to design local partnerships, business models and financing mechanisms to overcome these barriers. This will be accomplished through local dialogue processes and partnerships involving government officials, consumer representatives, current LGP market participants (local and international business), local entities that operate in rural communities, UNDP and other multilateral and bilateral funding agencies committed to bringing modern energy (electricity and clean fuels) to rural communities. [more]
Geographical Scope: Global Lead Partner: International Land Coalition
Summary: Land Alliances for National Development, or LAND Partnerships, constitute a global initiative to alleviate rural poverty by strengthening country-level collaboration between state, civil society, bilateral and international stakeholders. This collaboration is needed to: a) achieve participatory dialogue; b) improve policy formulation; c) establish joint action to secure resource tenure for households with user rights; and d) increase access to land by the landless and near-landless.
While the resource poor seek a more active role in decision-making, many governments are also recognizing the benefits of robust, stakeholder discussion and, in some cases, collective decision-making. In many countries, this requires new arenas and mechanisms for dialogue. LAND Partnerships respond to this challenge by helping countries to create new ways and means for both those affecting and those affected by decisions about land to work together. LAND Partnerships will help to widen participation, foster open debate and facilitate negotiation at both the national and the community levels.
Furthermore, LAND Partnerships are a means to replicate the best practices learned in one community to other communities for wider benefit. Also, where scaling-up is accomplished, it may be more likely that this experience can be validated as a basis for national policy consideration. More importantly, LAND Partnerships are an opportunity for all parties to move from individual to collective roles, and thereby capture potential synergy.
Since the launch in 2002, the Coalition has been actively promoting LAND in the over 35 countries where it has programmes. The initial goal is to establish LAND Partnerships in a geographically balanced range of pilot countries. These pilot LAND Partnerships are envisioned as focal points to stimulate extension of the concept into surrounding countries.
LAND Partnerships will be developed in response to invitations from governments together with an expressed interest by civil society. The Coalition will support local implementation capacity for all stakeholders involved ¿ civil society, governments and intergovernmental partners. LAND Partnerships will build upon existing and emerging initiatives and activities.
In addition, the Coalition's role will be to foster collaboration and the sharing of lessons with other countries in order to either launch LAND Partnerships in these countries, or to help create the conditions conducive to the subsequent establishment of LAND.
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Geographical Scope: Regional
- Latin America and the Caribbean Lead Partner: The Resource Foundation
Summary: The Latin American Clean Water Initiative seeks to facilitate sustainable water solutions and improve the health and well being of individuals living in extreme poverty in 13 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The project seeks to: 1) Provide access to potable water and sanitation systems, 2) Improve sustainable water supplies for productive activities and train individuals to manage the water systems effectively, and 3) Offer educational workshops in water conservation, hygiene and water-related illnesses.
The program will be implemented in 13 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. The partner agencies are local private development organizations which are well respected in their fields and have extensive expertise in installing water systems, providing water systems management training, and engaging beneficiary communities in the process by requiring active participation in construction and training activities. The Resource Foundation partners with local non-profit agencies because it believes that local solutions are highly sustainable and effective.
The specific objectives of the proposed Latin American Clean Water Initiative include: 1) Construct complete and functioning potable water systems including taps, outdoor washbasins, water tanks, and latrines, etc. 2) Improve irrigation systems for farming and other productive purposes, 3) Improve degraded water systems, 4) Involve all beneficiary families in the construction and/or repairs of water systems, 5) Train beneficiary communities to manage and administer potable water and sanitations systems in order to ensure long-term sustainability, 6) Offer training in health issues related to water-borne illnesses, water resource management, and environmental conservation, 6) Monitor and evaluate program impact, 7) Share best practices for managing water resources at a seminar, and 8) Communicate impact to the public.
Geographical Scope: Global Lead Partner: Danish University Consortium for Environment and Development
Summary: The universities of LUCED-I&UA partnership cooperate through a partnering arrangement with the aim to increase and link teaching and research capacity in environmental management at the universities with environmental management practices in environmental administrative units, organisations and the private sector in the participating countries. The main cooperating activities are human resource development through exchange of students, researchers and teachers; course and curriculum development; improved teaching methods; research networking; continued education, and joint research. [more]
Geographical Scope: Sub-regional Limpopo Corridor Lead Partner: Government of Italy - Ministry of Foreign Affairs - The World Conservation Union (IUCN) - CESVI- Working for Water
Summary: This partnership supports participation of communities living in areas adjacent to the Great Limpopo Trans-frontier Park (GL-TFP) in the TFP establishment process. The TFP is being establishment by the Governments of Zimbabwe, RSA and Mozambique as a first step in the process of developing a broader TFCA: this in its broad concept encompasses a vast area of almost 100.000 km2, including two National Parks and a Reserved Hunting Area in Mozambique (Banhine NP, Zinave NP and Limpopo NP), Kruger NP in South Africa and Gonarezhou NP in Zimbabwe.
This partnership programme focus on poverty alleviation and the conservation of biological diversity and ecosystem functioning through institutional capacity building, and the involvement and livelihood enhancement of local communities. Its components target selected rural areas mediating nodal ecosystemic and economic fluxes (e.g. wildlife and commercial corridors and buffer zones) within the programmed large scope multipurpose cross-boundary conservation area. the Great Limpopo Trans-frontier Park (GL TFP). Ecosystem management in these areas holds the potential to make or break the GL TFP and, at the same time, to make or break the economic future of its own rural communities. With appropriate land use planning and development, the target areas can act as links between the components of the Transfrontier Park, can enhance their ecological and economic values and can provide an ecologically sound economic engine for the disadvantaged target areas.
The partnership programme will be based on two components:
1. Foundation component: this will build on a pilot project implemented in the southeast lowveld of Zimbabwe (1998-2003) by CESVI in cooperation with the Rural District Councils of Beitbridge, Chiredzi and Chipinge: this pilot component has promoted community-based natural resource management in communal lands in the Limpopo and Save valleys, along the border with South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana. The target areas of the project include, inter alia, rural areas bordering the Gonarezhou National Park which have strong historical and social links with neighboring areas in Mozambique and South Africa.
2. New partnership component: this component will comprise two projects (sub-components), which will address country specific issues in a coordinated manner:
* The South African sub-component, to be implemented in cooperation with the Department of Water Affairs and SANP in areas adjacent to Kruger NP.
* The Mozambican sub-component, to be implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism to address the requirements of a vast rural area between the Limpopo NP, Banhine NP, Zinave NP and the border with Zimbabwe. [more]
Geographical Scope: Global Lead Partner: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)
Summary: Developing local capacities and mechanisms for adapting and implementing global principles and norms of sustainable urbanisation (including related MEA¿S e.g. on climate change; air quality; water management, biodiversity);Strengthening the capacities of local (and national) actors for contributing local experiences and expertise to the formulation of global principles and norms. [more]
Geographical Scope: Global Lead Partner: United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
Summary: The Decentralized Cooperation Programme?s (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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Geographical Scope: Global Lead Partner: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), DPDL - United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)
Summary: Strengthening the capacities of local authorities and their public, private and community partners to achieve more sustainable urban development, socially, economically and environmentally;Reducing poverty by working on sustainable urbanisation through more efficiently and equitably use of environmental resources and control of environmental hazards in urban development planning. [more]
Geographical Scope: Global Lead Partner: Environs Australia
Summary: This initiative seeks to link local governments, their contractors, partners and communities to sustainability products and services. Local Governments around the world are committing to sustainable purchasing and can provide a significant local market for small-medium businesses. A bioregional focus is seen as essential to growing both local sustainability industries and markets.
Objectives:
1. To develop a global alliance between local authorities associations and businesses, particularly local and small sustainability businesses in order to implement bioregional approaches to sustainable purchasing and investment
2. To jointly develop and link these bioregional initiatives to provide an international clearinghouse and model for a global network of sustainable products and services for local governments and their communities.
3. To jointly implement a consistent set of products/services assessment tools that can be used by small and medium businesses
4. To develop investment options by local governments to support local sustainability industries. [more]
Geographical Scope: Global Lead Partner: International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)
Summary: The development of management tools that integrate resource management is a crucial step in helping local government achieve sustainable public administration. The official Local Government Dialogue Paper for The World Summit on Sustainable Development Accelerating Sustainable Development: "Local Action Moves the World", published by the UN Economic and Social Council, 14. December 2001, (E/CN.17/2002/PC.2/6/Add.5) identifies Integrated Resource Management as a key "strategy for the future" to strengthen local government by public mechanisms for local sustainable development.
The partnership will support a global pilot program of Integrated Resource Management, starting from concept and program development through to pilot implementation in various municipalities throughout the world. The programme shall be driven by local government in partnership with supranational and intergovernmental organisations and support from national governments. The partnership will bring together skills, experience and capacity from the full spectrum of environmental management and from the other resource management fields, namely financial and human resource management. Being international in scope, the IRM concept will be implemented under different regional and national conditions. The main objectives of the Implementation Partnership "Piloting Integrated Resource Management" are to:
* demonstrate the applicability of IRM at the international level, as identified in the official UN Local Government Dialogue Paper.
* support the integration of resource management approaches which facilitate sustainable development
* demonstrate the value of IRM as an implementation tool to support "Local Action 21"
* develop a management tool which enables sustainability to drive priority setting
* establish capacity world wide in IRM by launching a network of regional hubs/centres of excellence
* exchange experiences in resource management approaches at an international level. [more]
to collapse the Summary of Partnerships.