Environmental efforts, global and individual countries

Environmental Efforts, Global and Individual Countries

Environmental assistance to developing countries has been based on the fact that the main environmental problems are closely connected to unsuitable use and over-exploitation of natural resources – including forest, land, water and fishing resources – and to pollution in and around fast-growing urban centres. The special environmental assistance has furthermore included sustainable production and use of energy. The support has involved development of methods and solutions that are tested and implemented. A number of them are regarded as state-of-the-art, particularly within urban environment, sustainable energy and natural resources sectors.

This post is regarding the fun theory, in which the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.

The fun theories we are going to present today are namely; the bottle bank arcade, the piano staircase and the world’s deepest bins. All three of these ideas are very innovative and novel, and we thought we’d share these ideas with you. Rather than a long lengthy paragraph of boring words, we’ve decided to share some videos with you to improve your understanding. If a picture speaks a thousand words, what less a few videos that run at several frames per second?

Firstly, the bottle bank arcade. Several of us return our plastic bottles, cans and waste materials. Noticeably fewer people recycle their glass bottles. Maybe that can be attributed to the fact that we don't get any money in return, as we do not for cans and plastic. Can we change this negative attitude by making recycling glass fun? So that you are not just rewarded with a good conscience, you also receive a smile. See the results here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSiHjMU-MUo&feature=player_embedded#

Secondly, the piano staircase. Imagine taking the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator and feeling better. Is that something we often hear or read in the Sunday papers? Few people actually follow that advice. Can we get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do? See the results here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

Thirdly, and last but not least, the world’s deepest bin. To be able to throw rubbish in the bin instead of onto the floor should not really be so hard. Despite that, many people still fail to do so. Can we convince more people to throw rubbish into the bin, rather than onto the ground, by making it fun to do? See the results here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbEKAwCoCKw
We believe that articles that express the desire for environmental protection through fun are a real novelty and also provide an incentive for people to actually follow them. As such, such ideas are vastly applicable in modern day’s society where often, environmental protection are in a tough war against personal intrests.

The following paragraphs are an extract taken out from a website. Although we could blatantly claim that we created the following, but it is obvious that this is definitely out of our caliber. We decided to show the following paragraphs as they appropriately adresses the main problems of environmental issues, global and international already. Thus, it would be more appropriate to share the fun theory with everyone instead.

Examples from the environmental assistance

The evaluation of the support to Southeast Asia states that the special environmental assistance has supported groundbreaking projects and created a number of projects at state-of-the-art level.
Among the examples from the assistance to Southeast Asia are:

• The energy programme in Malaysia where capacity building among a broad range of partners led to ambitious targets for the energy sector in the National Development Plan. This included markedly improved efficiency in the use of energy and the substitution with renewable energy sources of five percent of the energy supply. The practical implementation was supported by a simultaneous development of cleaner technology. One example was production of energy using waste from palm oil mills.

• A national project for the urban environment in Thailand (the CODI project) promotes co-operation between more than 1 000 local community groups and organisations working with locally-based improvements to the environment in poor areas. Hundreds of local projects have led to better water supply and waste removal. The project has proved that it is possible to combine the implementation of considerable improvements to the environment with a general strengthening of poor peoples' access to real influence on their own living conditions. The project was largely based on the active participation of women. The evaluation regards this as an important reason for the project's wide distribution and power of penetration in local communities. A similar project in the capital (the BMAI project) has contributed to the development of more transparent planning methods that open the door for direct participation by the community.

• Forestry projects in northern Thailand (including the NGO-COD project) have likewise involved local NGO's and community groups in the development of sustainable forestry. The projects involving independent NGO's as well as public authorities have led to improved forestry, for example by reducing the number of forest fires and improving the use of forest resources.

Meanwhile, these lessons have bolstered changes to forestry legislation, which now stipulates that there be local administration – and makes links to poverty alleviation. The methods developed through this project have also been used in villages in the forests of Cambodia.

• In Cambodia, extensive capacity building is ongoing in a number of ministries, primarily dealing with management of natural resources. The project involves information gathering and collection of environmental baseline data, as well as practical problem solving. It has led to an integration of the authorities' efforts, particularly with regards to environment as a crosscutting issue.

• A regional seed bank to support forestry in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam has started producing seeds, particularly from indigenous woods for replanting of forests, after preparatory capacity building and the establishment of laboratories and test centres.
Among the examples from the assistance to Southern Africa are:

• An urban environment project in the Zambian capital, Lusaka. Following an overall plan and the establishment of an organisational framework for waste removal, a system involving user payment for garbage collection in the entire city was introduced. The last phase, still under planning, will involve the building of a modern, secure waste dump.

• A water resource project in dense settlements in South Africa, including delivery of water as well as wastewater disposal. The project has developed methods to gauge and solve water problems. These methods are tailor-made and can be used by community groups themselves in their own areas. Various methods have been tested in approximately 20 townships. A national strategy has been developed to disseminate the results. Efforts are under way to implement this strategy, finance being one of the main obstacles.

One example of environmental assistance carried out as part of a sector programme within regular development aid:

• A forestry component in the environment and natural resource programme in Nepal, including capacity building and the training of forestry personnel and community groups, improvement of woods, soil improvement and community-based forest management. Forestry management involves more than 12 000 community groups administering close to one million hectares of forest. The project has led to replanting of forest and improved forestry methods, which in turn has resulted in increased productivity, reduced erosion and protection of water resources. This has all contributed towards prevention of lasting destruction of the environment.

Environment as a crosscutting issue

“Partnership 2000” prescribes that sustainable development is promoted by integrating environmental considerations along with gender equality, human rights and democratisation (including good governance) as crosscutting issues. In the present strategy, the term “environment as a crosscutting issue” is used to cover efforts within co-ordinated multilateral and bilateral activities as well as the more regular meaning of the term: integration of environmental considerations into other sector programmes.

Environmental issues are promoted most efficiently within development assistance in countries where both the poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSP's) and national strategies for sustainable development include frameworks and priorities for environmental management and poverty alleviation at environmental sector level, as well as for environment as a crosscutting issue. This was only the case in few of the first generation of poverty reduction strategies. Lately donors have focused on assistance to develop the strategies and methods to assess and include issues of environment and sustainability and their indicators. This assistance also includes co-operation with international organisations, particularly the World Bank, in an attempt to develop the PRSP's and the organisations' participation in a co-operation on this basis. Denmark has in some cases contributed with analyses of the best ways to include and develop environmental considerations in the PRSP's, both as a crosscutting issue and in the individual sectors. These analyses have also examined how this development can be supported through institutional and organisational capacity building of the authorities in the countries concerned. Environmental considerations are also made in donor co-ordination and harmonisation that are main principles in development assistance. In this way environmental considerations are also promoted in other bilateral and multilateral donors' efforts.

In multilateral co-operation, environment as a crosscutting issue forms part of efforts to promote cohesive programmes and to integrate local as well as global environmental considerations into the international organisations' own activities and into their co-operation with individual countries. This approach is used in UN programmes, in specialised agencies, in funds such as the Bretton Woods institutions, in the development banks and in EU assistance. Danish policy towards these organisations is, as a general rule, defined in organisational strategies6 that reflect present priorities, including environment and sustainable development. These strategies are revised on a regular basis. Multilateral organisations show an increased awareness of the need to integrate environmental considerations into their efforts. All of them have included environment as a crosscutting issue. But it remains a challenge to ensure that environmental considerations form part of the assistance.

Further to this general policy, Denmark has specifically supported environment and sustainable development in The World Bank and in the regional development banks, including support to trust funds for environmentally and socially sustainable development, efficient use of energy and implementation of sustainable energy in rural areas. Similar concrete support to environment and sustainable development has been given through the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), through Danish contributions to the financing of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and through financial support to some international environmental NGO's.

In bilateral co-operation, environment as a crosscutting issue is incorporated into country strategies and into the preparation and implementation of sector programme assistance.

Incorporation of environment and other crosscutting issues into the sector programmes will contribute towards cohesion in national development efforts and lead to better, more sustainable aid programmes. Environment is included in programming as environmental screening, assessments and action plans at sector or programme level and as environmental impact assessments in the programme components. The analyses must be carried out right from the beginning of the programme development in order to ensure real possibilities of adjusting the assistance according to the recommendations7. Promoting environment as a crosscutting issue in sector programmes can lead to capacity building in the sectors involved, including authorities that will become better equipped to deal with the environment. Experiences from the first generation of sector programmes do however show that there is room for improvement and development of the environment as a crosscutting issue.

Multilateral environmental co-operation
Denmark's multilateral environmental assistance forms part of the efforts made by a number of international forums that use dialogue and negotiations to promote sustainable development through improvements to the environment. Two international events in particular established the agenda for the multilateral co-operation on environment and sustainable development: the Rio conference in 1992 and the Johannesburg summit in 2002. Continuous efforts to implement and further develop the results from these meetings are, at the international level, primarily made by the EU, UN forums, international organisations and at meetings on conventions and protocols. Danish multilateral development assistance financially supports developing countries' participation in this process and helps them implement and ensure compliance with the decisions made. The main focus is on central issues covered by international conventions and partnerships such as water, energy, protection of biological diversity, wetlands, climate, chemical and the fight against desertification.

The Amsterdam Treaty says that environment must be integrated as a crosscutting issue into all policies of the EU. The country strategies of the member countries are important elements in efforts to secure the integration of environment as a crosscutting issue in the Community development assistance that plays a significant role due to its size and its presence in almost all developing countries in the world. Environment is furthermore incorporated as sector/project efforts in the EU Commission's annual programmes.

Denmark's most important multilateral partners in environmental assistance over the last decade have been the GEF, UNEP, The World Conservation Union (IUCN) and The International Institute for Environment and Development. Added to these is cooperation with particularly The World Bank, the regional development banks and UNDP, concerning integration of environment into the organisations' overall work as well as support to specific activities in the environmental field.

The GEF is one of the most important global tools for financing environmental assistance. GEF donations pay for additional expenses incurred by developing countries in their attempts to enhance the global environment, particularly through projects relating to conventions on climate, biodiversity, desertification and chemicals. This makes the GEF – using The World Bank, UNDP and UNEP as implementing agencies – an important player in the effort to put the conventions into action both efficiently and in time. The GEF is financed through assessed contributions, and the latest replenishment was negotiated in the summer of 2002. The GEF furthermore manages a number of voluntary funds to which Denmark contributes. One aim is to help the least developed countries in mitigating the effects of climate change. Denmark is on the board of the GEF in 2003-06 and will work for an enhanced integration of GEF-financed activities into individual countries' strategies for poverty and sustainability as well as sector policies and action plans.

The co-operation with UNEP focuses in particular on the organisation's efforts to develop and implement global environmental agreements and the development of policies on new issues. Denmark is working to make UNEP's efforts focused and efficient – for example by enhancing the developing countries' capacities to both contribute to, and make use of, global environmental agreements. UNEP is financed through voluntary contributions. The Danish support involves an annual, general contribution supplemented by earmarked funding.
The support to IUCN and IIED is aimed at securing their participation in the international dialogue on policies for nature conservation, poverty/environment and trade/environment.

Another priority is helping the organisations to focus their work and to integrate it further into the other efforts for environmental development at country level.

Policies for a number of environmental priorities – such as water and energy – are not rooted in a single international organisation or convention. On water, a number of international organisations are co-operating to reach the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people without access to clean water and basic sanitation. In the field of energy similar co-operation is aimed at promoting the Johannesburg action plan's emphasis on the importance of access to energy in the fight against poverty and on the need to promote sustainable sources of energy. Continuous Danish support of the multilateral co-operation on water and energy is carried out through targeted efforts. One example is the Global Water Partnership. Denmark supports two UNEP centres, covering energy (UNEP/Risø) and water (UNEP/DHI Institute for Water and Environment). Efforts are also put into implementation of EU's water and energy initiatives following the Johannesburg summit. This happens in co-operation with multilateral and bilateral efforts. In the field of energy, Denmark has for a number of years supported small island states in the Pacific through earmarked contributions to international organisations.

Environmental assistance within the programme co-operation
The environmental assistance within programme co-operation now includes environmental sector programmes in five countries – Bhutan, Bolivia, Egypt, Nepal and Nicaragua – and, as mentioned in section 3.1, the inclusion of environment as a crosscutting issue in programmes and projects in other sectors – such as energy, agriculture, health, transport and water/sanitation – in all programme co-operation countries.

The basis for the co-operation with individual countries is the national poverty reduction strategies. Environment is not a separate area of intervention in all strategies, but mentioned as a crosscutting issue. A closer connection between poverty and environment is thus still being developed. This includes the integration of environmental protection and environmentally sustainable development in national poverty reduction strategies or strategies for sustainable development.

The environmental sector programmes are based on the realisation that sustainable development is a prerequisite for sustainable alleviation of poverty. Organisational development and capacity building are components or crosscutting issues in all environmental sector programmes. The concrete activities include, for example, efforts against industrial pollution, water delivery, management of natural resources, environmental information and education. Gender equality and promotion of human rights, democratisation and good governance are all crosscutting issues in the environmental sector programmes.

Evaluation of environment in sector programmes

At present there are no specific evaluations of environmental sector programmes. But some of the programmes are included in evaluations of country programmes, most recently of the development co-operation with Bolivia and Nicaragua in 20028. In Bolivia, the overall target for the environmental assistance is to secure sustainable development. At the time of the evaluation it was established that the preparations for the programme have been comprehensive and have contributed to ensure Bolivian ownership and cooperation. According to the evaluation, the programme might secure institutional reform in the entire public sector through dialogue. There is a considerable potential for synergy with other sector programmes in which the advantages of integrated, crosscutting environmental efforts have yet to be realised. It is recommended to highlight the connection between environmental management and productive activities and to make this an important tool for poverty alleviation. The overall conclusion states that the environmental sector programme is a good vehicle for promoting sustainable development in Bolivia and that the programme is relevant for the country as it is linked to ongoing decentralisation and aims at sustainable development and poverty alleviation.

The special environmental assistance in developing countries

The special environmental assistance now includes programmes or projects in six countries in Southern Africa – Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia – and four countries in Southeast Asia – Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Furthermore, a limited number of projects in former countries of co-operation are in their final stages as planned. In Malaysia, South Africa and Thailand the special environmental assistance includes co-operation on Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects.

The special environmental assistance was part of the Danish follow-up to the Rio conference on environment and development in 1992. It targets poor countries, including the programme co-operation countries, as well as middle-income countries in Southern Africa and Southeast Asia.

In middle-income countries, the special environmental assistance has proven to be efficient in preventing and in finding solutions to major and fast growing environmental problems. The efforts have often influenced developments in neighbouring countries. In poor countries, the special environmental assistance has contributed to keeping sustainable development going in the management of environmental and natural resources.

The aim of the special environmental assistance is partly to support environmentally sustainable development and partly to contribute to the improvement of the often catastrophic environmental situation in many developing countries, with an emphasis on three areas:

• To secure environmentally sustainable use of natural resources and nature conservation
• To enhance the environment, particularly in big cities
• To promote sustainable use of energy

The efforts have been concentrated in seven areas: urban development and industrialisation, sustainable use of energy, agriculture, water resources, forestry and timber resources, biological diversity and coastal zones.

The special environmental assistance has primarily been used to build national and local environmental capacity and to demonstrate solutions to concrete environmental problems. As is the case in the programme co-operation, the development and implementation of international, environmental agreements and conventions have been an important crosscutting issue. The support has often been carried out as individual projects but has in recent years gradually been converted to a more programme oriented approach. Generally, the assistance in many countries has been affected by the fact that environment is a relatively new area of intervention which is not always regarded as important as is, for instance, the industrial sector or health and education. Capacity building and demonstration projects have therefore formed relatively large parts of the special environmental assistance while limited efforts have been invested in infrastructure and the like. This also explains why technical assistance has formed a relatively large part of the efforts.

Evaluations of the special environmental assistance:

A number of evaluations of the special environmental assistance have been carried out, most recently of the environmental assistance in Southeast Asia in 20049. The evaluations recognise the assistance as a unique effort. Substantial contributions, which demonstrate new ways of problem solving in institutional development, in the countries of co-operation are among the areas that receive special mention. A number of concrete efforts are regarded as state-of-the-art projects. The evaluation also shows that the gradual focusing of the efforts into a programme approach in a number of the countries has contributed to enhance the overall assistance through better defined components. It is emphasised that there is a need to sustain a reliable and consistent assistance in order to spread and anchor the results of the co-operation.

The special environmental assistance is also used to enhance and support Denmark's climate efforts in the developing countries. This assistance covers, as examples, the development of a framework for administering the climate convention and the Kyoto Protocol, promotion of sustainable use of energy and development of cleaner technology. The co-operation on climate within the environmental assistance also covers identification and development of CDM projects in countries with large emissions of greenhouse gases. These efforts will lead to synergy between development, global environment and the government's aim of securing a cost efficient fulfilment of Denmark's obligations towards the global climate.

Regional environmental projects are carried out in Southern Africa as part of the special environmental assistance, including a water programme in co-operation with SADC and an education programme in co-operation with the secretariat of the Basel convention.