8 / 96
8
“GRID-Arendal: one of the most effective collaboration
centres in the UNEP family”
In November 2012, the Executive Director of UNEP, Achim
Steiner, wrote in a letter to our Chairman, Olav Orheim,
that “GRID-Arendal has emerged as one of the most ef-
fective collaboration centres in the UNEP family, helping
to position UNEP as a strong, science-based organisation,
able to respond expeditiously to the needs of governments
and international policy processes.”
1
The letter was also
a topic when the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs
and Defence (‘Utenriks- og forsvarskomiteen’) of the Nor-
wegian Parliament (Stortinget) invited GRID-Arendal for a
public hearing on “Norge og FN: Felles framtid, felles løs-
ninger” (“Norway and the UN: common future, common
solutions”). In the parliamentarian committee’s official
response (‘instilling’) to the Government, GRID-Arendal
and UNEP are specifically mentioned in the context that
it is important for Norway to develop the relationships
between Norwegian-based organisations and UN institu-
tions and organisations in order to make UN organisa-
tions more effective.
2
Signs that GRID-Arendal is seen as an effective and efficient
partner of UNEP are the increasing requests and contracts
from UNEP for “Rapid Response Assessments” (RRAs) on
urgent global issues. On very short notice and within tight
time frames, GRID-Arendal has produced in 2012-13 the
following RRAs:
Green Carbon, Black Trade: Illegal Logging,
Tax Fraud and Laundering in the World’s Tropical Forests; Sto-
len Apes: The Illicit Trade in Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Bonobos
and Orangutans; Elephants in the Dust: The African Elephant
Poaching Crisis; and Food Lost, Food Waste: Food Security by
Restoring Ecosystems and Reducing Food Loss.
Adaptation to Climate Change
GRID-Arendal communicated information in formats suit-
able for policy-making, regarding the threats and opportu-
nities posed by climate change, including how to adapt to
and mitigate climate change impacts. Focal areas included
new emission reduction pathways, adaptation to disasters,
reversing loss of natural climate buffers in oceans (e.g. man-
groves) and on land (e.g. forests), issues of food security,
gender and planning. Projects involved a range of activities
including engaging with stakeholders, training workshops,
advocating for targeted policy action, mapping and report-
ing at national and international government and UN levels.
1. See letter in Annex 1
2.
http://www.stortinget.no/Saker-og-publikasjoner/Saker/Sak/?p=54599
2 Executive summary
For example, our pioneering RRA on “Blue Carbon” (the
role of healthy oceans in binding carbon) contributed to
the global recognition of this issue. Awareness of the Blue
Carbon concept was raised by GRID-Arendal’s RRA publi-
cation in 2009 and it is now receiving growing interest as
evidenced by:
• a synthesis of publications advancing Blue Carbon
policy, economics and science published by The World
Bank, Duke University, UNEP-WCMC, NOAA, Climate
Focus, Resources for the Future and others;
• many peer-reviewed journal articles advancing Blue
Carbon science;
• international working groups set up to address Blue
Carbon science and policy issues; and,
• methodologies developed for assessing Blue Carbon
stocks; multiple Blue Carbon demonstration projects
around the world are now attempting to employ these
methodologies (including the United Arab Emirates, In-
donesia, Vietnam, Kenya, Senegal, and Bangladesh).
Many countries and organisations are now striving to
protect mangroves, sea grasses and saltmarshes and
trying to bring Blue Carbon into the carbon trade sys-
tems. Our work for Abu Dhabi is focusing on Blue Car-
bon in the carbon trade context, and results from the
‘Abu Dhabi Blue Carbon Demonstration Project’ present
excellent policy targets and examples of lessons learnt
for the application of Blue Carbon through other interna-
tional projects and efforts, and have resulted in a num-
ber of national follow-up decisions and projects in the
Emirates.
Our involvement in Blue Carbon projects also laid the ba-
sis for UNEP’s decision to provide GRID-Arendal with the
lead to develop a Global Environment Facility (GEF) pro-
ject on ‘Blue Forests’. The project proposal, which focuses
on the global protection of mangroves, has now (Decem-
ber 2013) been prepared and submitted to GEF.
The work on Blue Carbon, mangroves and ecosystem-
based adaptation, is also relevant to Small Island De-
veloping States (SIDS), which are also supported by
GRID-Arendal’s ‘Many Strong Voices’ (MSV) project.
MSV, which links Arctic and SIDS to assess the impacts
of climate change on remote communities, was selected
by readers of The Guardian newspaper in the UK as the
sixth most influential awareness raising campaign in the
world.
3
3.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2013/nov/15/top-10-climate-change-campaigns