Publication Name

12 Deviations from, and adjustments to

the annual work plan

Where some deviations from the work plan were to hap-

pen or were necessary is listed following our three Divi-

sions of work GRID-Arendal was organised during 2012

and 2013.

Marine Division

We strived to start projects to support developing coun-

tries (those we were involved for the Shelf Programme)

on the management of the deep seabed in and outside

national jurisdiction. 2013 saw the beginning of informal

discussions with UNEP (DELC, DEWA and DEPI) on a

concept referred to internally at UNEP as “Greening of the

Shelf”. From initial discussions started in late 2012, UNEP

project 421-1 Promoting the Progressive Development of

International Environmental Law has been included in

the latest (as of writing) version of the UNEP 2014-2015

PoW. This falls under Sub-programme 4, Environmental

Governance. UNEP internal processes continue and a fi-

nal review of the PoW by the Programme Review Com-

mittee (PRC) will determine if this collaboration will be

implemented.

Within the Sustainable Seas Programme (Management of

the Marine Environment) there have been 2 capacity-build-

ing workshops conducted by GRID-Arendal (Bangkok and

Abidjan), one of which was in West Africa. The mandate

to hold SoME workshops is derived from the UN World

Ocean Assessment and GRID-Arendal has responded to

the direction given by the UN and acted accordingly.

Within the Ecosystem-based Management/Spatial Plan-

ning work we aimed to have come further in relation to

our involvement with the Global Partnership for Oceans

(GPO), the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and im-

plementing the ‘Greening of the Shelf’ concept in a Re-

gional Sea. In 2012 GRID-Arendal engaged in the GPO

process and nominated Dr Peter Harris (a seconded staff

member to GRID-Arendal from Australia) to be a member

of the GPO Interim Working Group. He attended a WG

meeting in Washington DC on April 25 and 26, 2013. How-

ever, the GPO has not made the progress that had been

initially envisaged (the GPO grand launch planned for The

Hague in Sept 2013 was cancelled) and GRID-Arendal has

substantially scaled back its involvement in 2013. GRID-

Arendal has maintained a watching brief on the GPO and

stands ready to contribute if this initiative is able to be-

come established in 2014-15.

Some informal consultations were held with the Inter-

national Seabed Authority and with Norway on possible

alignment of technical support for developing states de-

livered via the Secretariat of the ISA. The conclusion was

that such an approach would be politically risky and would

require a re-think of any form of formal partnership. The

finalization of the partnership with UNEP was deemed

to be the priority and that explorations of formal partner-

ships with other UN bodies should not be explored at this

time. Collaboration at the project level is encouraged and

opportunities could be explored.

The process preparing the Global Environmental Facil-

ity (GEF) project on “Blue Forests” took longer than ex-

pected and led to a substantial budget overrun in 2013.

However, the significant efforts of GRID-Arendal seem to

be successful when we learned that project preparation

documents passed the UNEP Project Review Committee

(PRC) with a grade of satisfactory, and UNEP submitted

them to GEF.

Polar and Cryosphere

The main project of Polar and Cryosphere falling under the

MoFA framework agreement work plan, the proposal for a

GEF project on “Nomadic Herders and land use change”

was hoped to get approval in 2013. The activities planned

at the start of the biennium period were based on informa-

tion and knowledge about the needs and priorities at that

time. For example, the Changing Taiga report (published

2011) highlighted the strong need to engage with tourism

operators and produce reports related to this. There were

also plans to develop a mobile phone application for mon-

itoring activities. However, throughout the course of the

biennium period, needs and priorities rapidly changed,

due to external circumstances beyond the control of the

project. The establishment of the Tengis-Shishged Na-

tional Park in late 2012, for example, was a major develop-

ment. Reindeer herders suddenly found themselves in a

protected area, but with little say or role in the manage-

ment of their pastures. Hence the re-focus of activities

towards dialogue between protected area management

authorities and reindeer herders (see activities related to

World Environment Day, for example).

Furthermore, a significant amount of resources (time,

money) was needed to be re-directed towards develop-

ment of the GEF proposal. This included extensive consul-