The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of peace building, humanitarian and development projects. Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.
Background Information - WEC
UNOPS Water and Energy Cluster (WEC) supports the design and management of multi-stakeholder initiatives by providing services in financial and grant management, procurement, human resources, and project management.
The cluster has supported projects in the areas of water resource management, climate change adaptation, mitigation and transparency, energy access and distribution and environmental conservation under the Paris Agreement. The WEC has also supported operations and financial management services, in Vienna, the rest of the ECR region and beyond.
The main partners include UN agencies such as UNEP and UNDP, bilateral donors (Nordic countries, Germany and Italy), the Green Climate Fund and several NGOs (such as CIFF and CWF).
Background Information – Project Specific
The South China Sea is a strategic body of water surrounded by nations that are currently at the helm of industrialization and rapid economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region. Recent findings of the Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme identified coastal communities bordering the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand as being among the most at risk globally from coastal and marine environmental degradation.
This issue has been acknowledged by the countries of the South China Sea, who have committed to a 20-year process of cooperation to reverse environmental degradation trends. This is evidenced by the intergovernmental endorsement of the Strategic Action Programme for South China by Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. This commitment was further reinforced in 2016 when the above mentioned countries signed a special Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) committing to cooperate with one another to implement the Strategic Action Programme (SAP).
This commitment provided a clear signal to the International community to support the financing
of the SAP through various projects, including the project entitled “Implementing the Strategic Action Programme for the South China Sea”. The project aims to address habitat degradation,
land-based pollution and regional cooperation. The overall goals of the project include:
- Maintain an environment at the regional level, in which collaboration and partnership in addressing environmental problems of the South China Sea, between all stakeholders, and at all levels is fostered and encouraged;
- Enhance the capacity of the participating governments to integrate environmental considerations into national development planning; and to strengthen and expand the network of scientists, government officials and civil society;
- Assist countries in the medium term in meeting the targets of the approved SAP for the South China Sea (SCS) through implementation of National Action Plans, and strengthening regional coordination.