Contributions Of Environmental Convention Projects To Global

Contributions of environmental convention projects to global structural politicy

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH

Global environmental problems pilot project chemical safety

Economic actions and consumption are interconnected not only through the global market – the environmental effects of the economic actions and consumption of each and every individual have global impacts. For instance, the CO2 formed in combustion processes remains in the atmosphere for 100 years and can influence climatic processes all around the globe throughout this period. Rapid human-induced climate change is not the only problem

jeopardizing human survival on Earth. Other problems include the depletion of the ozone layer, the advancing desertification in the drylands of the world, the mounting loss of biological diversity due to exhaustive exploitation of nature, and the unregulated use of chemicals and generation of toxic wastes. Unsustainable management of natural resources is one of the principal causes of poverty, particularly in rural areas.

B IO DIV Implementing the Biodiversity Convention

MUK Measures to Implement the UNFCC (Climate Change)

International environmental conventions The international agreements adopted in the environmental sphere are a response of the international community of states to these threats and the resultant need to attain sustainable development. They have included, for instance, conventions on wetlands (Ramsar, 1971), prevention of marine pollution (1972), trade in endangered species (CITES, 1973), ozone-depleting substances (Montreal Protocol, 1987), transboundary movements of hazardous wastes (Basel, 1989) and the international environmental conventions that were the outcome of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro: the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), followed in 1994 by the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD). Chemical safety shall be promoted by the conventions on trade in toxic substances (PIC, signed in Rotterdam, 1998) and on the prohibition of persistant organic

pollutants (POPs), the last of which was signed in May 2001 in Stockholm. The conventions impose obligations on their respective states parties – both industrialized and developing countries – to implement the agreements in a certain fashion, both nationally and through joint activities. Implementation steps include national inventories of emissions of greenhouse gases or of the consumption of ozone-depleting substances, bans on the production and use of hazardous substances, national strategies for biodiversity, and the elaboration of national policies, programmes of action and packages of measures. Besides national activities on the more political and planning level, implementation includes joint regional and national projects such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector, introducing alternative chemicals or production pro cesses regulating access to

genetic resources, designating national protected area systems, converting entire consumption sectors to environmentally sound substances and strengthening effective trade monitoring. In the CCD process, the national action programmes prepared by the countries affected by desertification are the main tool. These are generally elaborated with the involvement of all national stakeholders with a broad participatory approach; subregional and regional action programmes then build upon the national programmes. The CCD goes beyond resource conservation. It is a comprehensive development convention embracing goals such as poverty alleviation, linkages with other important development programmes and partnership agreements, and improved donor coordination. It thus contributes greatly to mainstreaming and opens up new avenues for development cooperation. Under most conventions the industrialized countries have committed themselves, in addition to their own tasks, to supporting the

developing countries in implementation. However, many developing and industrialized countries alike are finding it difficult to implement their commitments – not to mention any further objectives and strategies – under the various environmental conventions in a manner that is coherent and part of an overall national strategy. On the donor side, public acceptance of the conventions and of responsibility vis-à-vis the developing countries is a major problem. For the developing countries, access to funding is a decisive issue with respect to concrete measures to implement the conventions. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is an instrument of the climate change, ozone and biodiversity conventions through which funding and technical advice are provided to the developing countries. However, GEF funding is not available for the states party to the CCD, or only to a limited degree. Nonetheless, many industrialized countries assist their partners in developing countries within the context of bilateral cooperation.

What does the GTZ advise, on what issues and how? Often developing countries lack the political, financial, technical and organizational capacities to implement their own commitments and specific further measures. Most developing countries, particularly the smaller states, find it very difficult even to participate in the numerous conferences, sessions and formal and informal meetings where conventions are designed and modified. In addition, small delegations are overstretched by parallel negotiating processes.

a) Advice for developing countries on government and project levels The GTZ therefore supports partner countries in grasping the conventions better and representing their own interests more clearly. For instance, delegates of African governments to the 6th Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention (The Hague, Nov. 2000) were prepared for participation by means of a workshop extending over several days, where they were able to discuss the 2

details of the Kyoto Protocol with German experts. In numerous countries advice is provided to the responsible ministries in the process of elaborating national action programmes for desertification control, usually in cooperation with GTZ projects on site and with the involvement of local NGOs. A further example is the process, initiated last year together with the UNCCD Secretariat, of elaborating a subregional action programme on desertification control in central Asia. The GTZ convention project on the protection of the ozone layer provides a broad range of consultancy services, on both the political and legislative levels, and for intermediary entities. In this connection, production processes are converted and consumption structures reconfigured directly in industries and agricultural enterprises in the interests of protecting the ozone layer. In many instances, the GTZ’s convention projects also advise responsible ministries and their ‘convention departments’ on na-

tional reporting duties and implementation strategies. This is done by means of studies and reports, which are generally carried out by national experts with the support of German or international experts. In Namibia, for instance, a comprehensive country study on climate change was carried out. Building on this, Namibia is now able to submit its national report on Namibian climate policy to the Climate Secretariat in Bonn and thus to the other parties. Within the context of the Biodiversity Convention, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has launched its own capacity building initiative for implementing the Protocol on Biological Safety; this initiative is implemented through the convention project. In the field of desertification control, numerous African, Asian and Latin American countries have received assistance in elaborating their national reports for COP 3 and 4. Similarly, regional groupings in developing countries such as SADC, CILSS and OSS in Africa receive advice. Ozone protection strategies are currently being prepared for 14 countries in central and southern Africa. Where expedient and feasible, these link regional to national approaches, while at the same time facilitating exchange of experience among the countries. In cooperation with UN organizations and Switzerland, the GTZ is elaborating, as lead implementing agency, a strategy for the Indian environment ministry for carrying out maintenance work on more than 30 million refrigeration units without the use of ozone-depleting substances. Furthermore, the GTZ is promoting: economically advantageous improvement of energy efficiency in boiler systems in Peruvian industry in order to curb greenhouse gas emissions; advice on the implementation of national regulations on access to genetic resources or on the participation of indigenous and local populations with regard to the utilization of traditional knowledge; efforts to abate dioxin emissions in Thailand and to network the ministries responsible for chemicals assessment and monitoring in Argentina; and environmentally sound disposal of obsolete pesticides in e.g. Zambia and Madagascar. With the goal of sustainable use of natural resources in drylands, pilot projects in community based resource management

have been initiated in the central Asian CIS republics; these shall create examples of best practice at regional level. In cooperation between the GTZ convention projects and local institutions, partners in implementation include national sectoral institutions, environmental authorities, NGOs and universities, but also private-sector or state-owned companies, depending upon the objectives of the specific convention.

Consultation at an international conference

b) Advice for the German government The GTZ also utilizes its experience gained in working on environmental conventions to advise the German federal government, generally through the channels of the BMZ and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). Staff of the convention projects take part in the preparatory negotiations for new conventions, the regular sessions of Conferences of the Parties and meetings of subsidiary bodies, coordination meetings within the EU and formal and informal expert meetings and conferences. Above and beyond conference participation, they elaborate position papers, national reports and draft resolutions, negotiate in expert panels and chair negotiating sessions. At the same time, within the context of Conferences of the Parties and other events they make important contributions to raising public awareness at home and also support the ministries in this respect, for instance through substantive preparation and organization of press conferences and briefing seminars for journalists. 3

Furthermore, the international meetings regularly offer opportunities to establish and intensify contacts and to present the methods, experiences, project outcomes and new concepts of the GTZ’s convention work. This is a way to create an international awareness of the contributions of Germany to global environmental protection.

c) Advice and cooperation within the GTZ and other bilateral and multilateral development cooperation actors The convention projects cooperate both with various GTZ projects in the developing countries, and with other important development cooperation partners such as UN institutions, the World Bank, regional development banks, further bilateral donors and their implementing institutions. Within the GTZ – at Head Office and projects in the field – the convention projects seek to integrate the goals and tasks of the conventions within concrete project activities and within the conceptualstrategic work of the GTZ. Contacts to the GTZ sector networks, sector projects and pilot projects and within the GTZ Planning and Development Department are important channels for linking the conventions with projects and with other important development themes such as gender, poverty alleviation, decentralization, crisis prevention, etc. These contacts shall be further expanded in the future in order to build an understanding that the convention projects are situated not only in the environmental sphere, and to ensure that they are perceived within the GTZ in their whole complexity and contribution to achieving sustainable development.

Contact adresses of the GTZ Projects Eschborn: Deutsche Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1 – 5 65760 Eschborn

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Measures to Implement the UNFCCC (Climate Change) Holger Liptow T: +49 (0) 6196 79 13 52 E: [email protected]

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Proklima: Substitution of Depleting Substances Ulrich Stoehr-Grabowski T: +49 (0) 6196 79 24 67 E: [email protected]

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Implementing the Biodiversity Convention Andreas Gettkant T: +49 (0) 6196 79 12 80 E: [email protected]

Bonn: Deutsche Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH Tulpenfeld 2 53113 Bonn

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Pilot Project Chemical Safety (CHS) Dr. Matthias Kern T:+49 (0) 228 98 57 00 E: [email protected]

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CCD Project (Combating Desertification) Günter Winckler T: +49 (0) 228 98 37 111 E: [email protected]

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH

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