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.
The Global Programme on Nature for Development requires the
services of a web content analyst to support in the planning, organization and
creation of web content across the existing websites internally managed by the unit.
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.