Programme Cooperation Agreement 2010 – 2011

1 Foreword

The final report on the Programme Cooperation Agree- ment between the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and GRID-Arendal for 2010-2011 captures the spirit and depth of the partnership between UNEP and GRID-Aren- dal. A good example is GRID-Arendal’s support to UNEP’s Green Economy report, transforming it during 2011 from a raw document into a visually appealing and user-friendly E-book. With more than two million downloads, Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication has become UNEP’s most widely dis- seminated publication. Since the publication’s launch, GRID-Arendal has supplemented this work through two volumes in its well-known Vital Graphics series and is engaged in further reports in the Green Economy series focusing on Small Island Developing States and marine ecosystems, respectively. It also supported UNEP at the launch of the Synthesis Report Green Economy in a Blue World in Manila in January 2012. We welcome this continuing commitment and, combined with GRID-Arendal’s proactive stance and operational flexibility to respond to new programme directions, this is a win-win situation for achieving meaningful results. GRID-Arendal has engaged productively with all UNEP Divisions during the biennium and contributed to substantial activities related to all six UNEP sub- programmes, reflecting the careful alignment of our respective work programmes. Stronger linkages with

the regional level have also been forged, as reflected in capacity building under the UNEP Shelf Programme, support to Atlases of Environmental Change and the upcoming Africa Environment Outlook, and in helping put Blue Carbon on the agenda at the Eye on Earth Summit. For more than two decades, GRID-Arendal has honed its visualization, communications, and capacity building skills to enhance environmental awareness, to educate and inform and spread knowledge, and to help create the conditions for prudent decision-making. With the aim of providing ecosystems managers with a scientifically sound basis for making good decisions, more recently GRID- Arendal has developed and effectively transferred expertise – in particular related to marine and polar issues – to national authorities, institutions and key officials. Apart from detailed accounts of activities and concrete outputs, the biennium report communicates well- substantiated results and outcome, and clear indications of positive trends on various fronts – evidence that GRID- Arendal has delivered on the 2010-2011 Programme Cooperation Agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Looking ahead to the next biennium, UNEP is eager to strengthen its partnership with GRID-Arendal through harmonised application of Results Based Management and longer-term, programmatic interventions. In this connection, I also extend my gratitude to the Norwegian Government for the invaluable support that facilitates our evolving partnership.

Achim Steiner UN Undersecretary General and UNEP Executive Director

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