The Global Programme on
Nature for Development brings together three different initiatives – the
Equator Initiative, the New York Declaration on Forests Global Platform,
and the National Biodiversity Initiative under one program in order to
identify, foster, showcase and celebrate nature-based solutions that help
achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at local, national, and
international levels. The work of the Global Programme on Nature for
Development contributes to UNDP's Strategic Plan 2018-2021 by charting
sustainable development pathways through the conservation, restoration and
sustainable management of biodiversity and ecosystems; and by promoting
inclusive and effective democratic governance in the area of natural
resources.
The Equator Initiative
brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses and
grassroots organizations to recognize and advance indigenous and local
sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient
communities. The Equator Initiative seeks to recognize the success of
local and indigenous initiatives; create opportunities and platforms to share
knowledge and good practice; inform policy to foster an enabling environment
for local and indigenous community action; and develop the capacity of
indigenous peoples and local communities to scale-up their impact.
The Equator Initiative
is built upon three equally important pillars:
- The Equator Prize is awarded
biennially to recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions for
people, nature, and resilient communities. As local and indigenous groups
across the world chart a path towards sustainable development, the
Equator Prize shines a spotlight on their efforts by honoring them on an
international stage.
- Equator Dialogues are
an ongoing series of community-driven meetings and exchanges, held in
conjunction with related international forums. Equator Dialogues provide
opportunities for people to share experiences, develop capacities, and
influence policy.
- Equator Knowledge is a
research, documentation, and learning program focused on local best practice in
sustainable development. The Equator Initiative works with partners to
identify, document, and analyze the success factors of local best practice, and
to catalyze ongoing peer-to-peer learning, knowledge exchange and replication
of best practice.
The Global Platform for the
New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), is a partnership of governments,
multinational companies, civil society and indigenous peoples who strive to
halve deforestation by 2020 and to end it by 2030. The NYDF outlines ten
ambitious global targets related to protecting and restoring forests. The
Global Platform for the New York Declaration on Forests seeks to fill an
important gap in multi-stakeholder engagement and collaboration necessary to
achieve the goals of the NYDF. The NYDF Global Platform works to increase
ambition, forge new partnerships, and accelerate progress on the NYDF goals by
responding to NYDF endorsers’ requests for a dedicated, multi-stakeholder
platform to re-invigorate political endorsement of the NYDF, to facilitate
coordination and communication, to share best practices, resources and lessons,
and to support ongoing monitoring of progress.
The National Biodiversity
Initiative supports countries to manage their ecosystems and biodiversity in
order to improve national planning and governance of biodiversity, ecosystems,
and development, and to promote resilience for sustainable development. The
National Biodiversity Initiative works in three project areas: National
Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) Support, National Reporting,
and Capacity Building. The use of spatial data for spatial planning is a
cross-cutting theme across these project areas, including work through our
flagship platform UN Biodiversity Lab, created
in partnership with UN Environment and the Secretariat of the Convention on
Biological Diversity.
Knowledge Sharing is a main
goal of the Equator Initiative, NYDF, and the National Biodiversity
Initiative. The Equator Initiative has a large series of research papers,
books, and other publications focusing on local approaches to poverty reduction
and conservation, informed by community-based initiatives.180 case studies in
over 30 languages have documented the Equator Prize winners’ innovative
practices that deliver the win-win-win solutions that ensure social, economic,
and environmental sustainability. The National Biodiversity Initiative share
knowledge on the role of spatial data in biodiversity planning, policymaking,
and reporting through blogs, case studies, and story maps. The NYDF Global
Platform aims to use case studies about NYDF endorsers from a variety of
stakeholder groups, including companies, governments, indigenous peoples and
NGOs in order to share best practices and challenges in implementing the NYDF
goals.
Learning for Nature is a
capacity-building offer provided by the Global Programme on Nature for
Development, cutting across the three areas of work. This program connects
biodiversity policymakers, change-makers, and on-the-ground subject matter
experts to facilitate the delivery of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s
Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the achievement of the Sustainable Development
Goals.
Access to the global
multi-stakeholder networks mobilized by the Equator Initiative, NYDF, and
the National Biodiversity Initiative allows Learning for Nature to circulate
knowledge while promoting best practices. Building on our learnings on the
ground, Learning for Nature seeks synergies, build linkages, and engage
thousands of course participants through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs),
webinars, self-paced e-learning modules, and private training courses.
For further information
please go to: www.equatorinitiative.org, www.nbsapforum.net, www.learningfornature.org, www.unbiodiversitylab.org, or www.nydfglobalplatform.org.
This is a position to support a project which UNOPS is
implementing for the United Nations Development Programme. The incumbent of
this position will be personnel of UNOPS under its full responsibility.