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 the South China by Cambodia, China,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. This commitment was
further reinforced in 2016 when the abovementioned 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 co-ordination.