October 2009: Volume 2
This newsletter is brought to you by the UNDP Regional Team and is meant to give you the latest and greatest news and information from our activities in the Asia-Pacific Region. It includes updates on: new project approvals; impacts and results; information on policy and mainstreaming work; noteworthy climate, environment and energy announcements; staff movements; events; and our activities in the Pacific.
Martin Krause, Team Leader
Newsletter Contents
In the third quarter of 2009, the UNDP Regional Climate, Environment and Energy team facilitated access to GEF and LDCF funding for 11 projects (worth $45,761,632).
This quarter's newsletter details impacts and results from the ozone and chemicals management portfolio and one climate mitigation project. The India small hydro project furthers adoption of advanced technologies for small hydropower resources in India's hilly region, which have lead to a reduction in carbon emissions and is helping mitigate deforestation.
This section features the Poverty Environment Initiative (PEI) in Bhutan and the
Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). PEI in Bhutan has achieved strong results as it approaches the end of Phase 1 in December 2009 and makes preparations for Phase 2. The focus of PEI in Bhutan is on strengthening capacities of targeted central and local authorities to integrate poverty-environment concerns. SAICM is a UNDP-UNEP Partnership Initiative adopted by the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM) in 2006.
NOTEWORTHY: SPECIAL FEATURE ON CLIMATE CHANGE
With 2009 being a crucial year in the international effort to address climate change, we are including a special climate change feature in the news section of this quarter's newsletter.
This special feature on climate change opens with news on the global climate change negotiations (on NOW in BANGKOK) before providing an update on the progress of three UNDP supported climate change projects in the Asia-Pacific Region: the UN-REDD Programme in Vietnam; Climate adaptation in Lao PDR; and climate mitigation through PV technology in Malaysia.
Three events from the third quarter of 2009 are highlighted here. Events planned for quarter four of 2009 are also listed.
- Highlights from the last quarter
- Upcoming
- Local Government's Role in Environment, Natural Resource Management and Climate Change, UNCDF, UNDP and UNEP Asia Pacific Lesson Learning Workshop
- Project Inception Workshops
- The Advancing Development of Marshall Islands Renewable Energies (ADMIRE) project
- Community-based Adaptation through Coastal Afforestation Project in Bangladesh
- Promoting Climate-Resilient Water Management and Agricultural Practices in Cambodia
The UNDP Regional Climate, Environment and Energy team welcomed four new collegues, Varisara Anansiribovorn,
Balaji Natarajan
Nikolai Beresnev and Felicity Woodhams, in the last quarter. We also said goodbye to a valuable team member, Nandita Mongia.
The Pacific Brief presents all UNDP supported Climate, Environment and Energy projects in the Pacific, by focal area. UNDP is currently supporting five environment capacity assessment projects, five climate adaptation projects ($22,792,000), four climate mitigation projects, ($8,400,000), 11 Second National Communications ($4,455,000), six biodiversity projects ($10, 397,410), three international waters projects ($28,397,061) and 14 land degradation projects ($6,767,545) and one Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) project. This edition of the Pacific Brief highlights three climate projects: the regional renewable energy project (PIGGAREP), the community-based adaptation (CBA) project, and the Fiji renewable energy project.
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