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During 2014, GRID-Arendal followed its strategy
developed in 2013 by continuing to:
• Build a portfolio of larger, long-term projects;
• Strengthen its support to environmental conventions
and cross-border cooperation;
• Support the world’s transition to a ‘green economy’;
and
• Increase cooperation with other UN organizations in
fulfilling the goals of the Rio+20 process.
In order to remain focused on larger, long-term
projects, GRID-Arendal went through a process with
UNEP to get involved in some larger projects financed
significantly through the Global Environment Facility
(GEF). This entails both the opportunity to use the
funds under the agreement with MFA as ‘seed’ funds
for the delivery of a larger programme, and also
to retain some vital contingency funding to meet
unexpected changes in project plans (see also Chapter
11 on lessons learned).
5.
Scope and context
Increasingly, GRID-Arendal’s work relates to environmental
conventions and thereby contributes to international co-
operation.Goodexamples are the support provided toTehran
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment
of the Caspian Sea and the Abidjan Convention, UNEP’s
Regional Seas agreement of West-African states.
GRID-Arendal continues to support projects related to
‘green economy’, one of the key agendas of UNEP, and
uses its communication and facilitation competences in
related fields such as ‘The Economics of Ecosystems and
Biodiversity’ (TEEB). The box on page 38 outlines some
of GRID-Arendal’s new green economy directions in
more detail.
While the Final Report focuses on the work programme
specified under theMFAPCA, the overviewof programme
delivery also summarizes the work undertaken by GRID-
Arendal beyond the Agreement (such as Polar-related
activities). This is done to show the close integration
within and across the programme areas and the co-
benefits that derive from sharing knowledge, skills and
partners between projects.