Gerard.Cunningham@unep Capacity Building and Partnerships

1. Interagency/international Cooperation on EcoinformaticsJRC, Ispra, 17-20 January 2006Ecoinformatics and environmental research needs relevant to the implementation of the Bali Strategic Plan for Technology Support and Capacity Building Gerard.Cunningham@unep.org Capacity Building and Partnerships Division of Early Warning and Assessment United Nations Environment Programme

2. Main purpose of the BSP • To provide, to all relevant actors, a coherent platform and systematic mechanism for enhanced national environmental capacity building and technology support, in function of nationally approved priority needs, impacting significantly on socio-economic development and the sustainable provision of environmental goods and services.

3. BSP = • Endorsed at 23rd session of UNEP GC/GMEF • Country driven; • Focuses on national environmental priorities and needs (not wish-lists of all needed capacity building and technology support); • Involves/Addresses/Relates to UN, bilateral donors, IFI, civil society and private sector (not only UNEP-centred); • Implementing BSP = an incremental and iterative process.

4. The BSP and UNEP • BSP reinforces the role of UNEP in TS and CB, building on its demonstrated comparative advantage and expertise • BSP provides strategic direction for UNEP’s TS and CB activities in function of national or regional needs and the implementation of international agreements • BSP provides a basis for UNEP to play a more substantive role in UNDG and for enhancing its cooperation with UNDP, GEF, MEA’s, other UN organisations, international financial institutions, bilateral donors, non-governmental organisations, civil society and private sector.

5. How will countries benefit? • BSP will assist countries in: • Adopting whole-of -government priorities for CB and TS in environmental management for development • Accessing supportive measures in the form of tools, methodologies, technologies and best practices • Soliciting in a coordinated manner international support to address priority needs • Strengthening international environmental cooperation including south-south cooperation • Keeping priorities and needs under review in function of changing realities (iterative process)

6. How will the donor community benefit? • BSP will assist donors and other actors in: • Addressing nationally endorsed set of CB and TS priority needs and objectives in function of SD and poverty alleviation • Improving coordination and cooperation among donors • Entering into mutually reinforcing programmes towards national priorities • Enhancing efficiency, impact and sustainability • Taking part in long term iterative process for cooperation in TS and CB for national and international environmental governance

7. UNEP and BSP: 2006-2007 • UNEP support will be developed along 4 lines: • Assistance to country driven needs assessments and priority setting; • Streamlining UNEP’s own CB and TS activities at the country level; • Strengthen a selected set of ongoing UNEP programmes in function of BSP; • Improved cooperation and coordination with all BSP partners and in-house.

8. UNEP and BSP: 2006-2007 (contd) • Incremental and iterative approach: learning by doing; • Developing meaningful needs assessment and whole-of-government adopted priorities will be crucial for success BSP; • Gambia and 5 African countries taking the lead, preliminary results will be presented in Dubai, UNDP country offices fully involved.

9. BSP: Next Steps • 2006-2007 = only a beginning. • Targets, milestones, performance indicators, and operational modalities will need to be (further) developed (how we will actually deliver BSP on the ground and how countries will benefit in concrete terms from its implementation); • Pending further guidance by Governments, resource needs, opportunities and constraints will need to be further clarified.

10. Ecoinformatics-relevant objectives • The BSP objectives relevant to ecoinformatics are: • To strengthen the capacity of Governments of developing countries as well as of countries with economies in transition, at all levels • To develop national research, monitoring and assessment capacity to support national institutions in data collection, analysis and monitoring of environmental trends and in establishing infrastructure for scientific development and environmental management, in order to ensure sustainability of capacity‑building efforts;

11. Indicative list of main areas of technology support and capacity-building activities • The following is an indicative list of cross-cutting issues and thematic areas that the plan should address: • (a) Cross-cutting issues: • (i) Development of national research, monitoring and assessment capacity, including training in assessment and early warning; • {across a wide range of thematic areas – climate change/air quality, water, coastal/marine, land degradation, wastes, biodiversity, wastes, …}

12. Information for decision-making: the role of science, monitoring and assessment • The plan supports the implementation of the relevant outcomes of the intergovernmental consultation on strengthening the scientific base of UNEP, held in Nairobi on 14 and 15 January 2004 which specify a number of important capacity-building needs (e.g. data collection, data standards, data/information exchange, mapping the assessment landscape, monitoring networks, etc).

13. Information for decision-making: the role of science, monitoring and assessment • Specific needs of Governments: • strengthen national capacities for data collection, research, analysis, monitoring and integrated environmental assessment; • developing institutional capacities, staff training and support for appropriate and adaptable technologies and methodologies; • support for assessments of environmental issues of regional and subregional importance and for the assessment and early warning of emerging environmental issues;

14. Information for decision-making: the role of science, monitoring and assessment • Specific needs (contd) • support for scientific exchanges and for the establishment of environmental and inter‑disciplinary information networks; and • promotion of coherent partnership approaches.