Programme Cooperation Agreement 2012 – 2013

2 Executive summary

“GRID-Arendal: one of the most effective collaboration centres in the UNEP family” In November 2012, the Executive Director of UNEP, Achim Steiner, wrote in a letter to our Chairman, Olav Orheim, that “GRID-Arendal has emerged as one of the most ef- fective collaboration centres in the UNEP family, helping to position UNEP as a strong, science-based organisation, able to respond expeditiously to the needs of governments and international policy processes.” 1 The letter was also a topic when the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence (‘Utenriks- og forsvarskomiteen’) of the Nor- wegian Parliament (Stortinget) invited GRID-Arendal for a public hearing on “Norge og FN: Felles framtid, felles løs- ninger” (“Norway and the UN: common future, common solutions”). In the parliamentarian committee’s official response (‘instilling’) to the Government, GRID-Arendal and UNEP are specifically mentioned in the context that it is important for Norway to develop the relationships between Norwegian-based organisations and UN institu- tions and organisations in order to make UN organisa- tions more effective. 2 Signs that GRID-Arendal is seen as an effective and efficient partner of UNEP are the increasing requests and contracts from UNEP for “Rapid Response Assessments” (RRAs) on urgent global issues. On very short notice and within tight time frames, GRID-Arendal has produced in 2012-13 the following RRAs: Green Carbon, Black Trade: Illegal Logging, Tax Fraud and Laundering in the World’s Tropical Forests; Sto- len Apes: The Illicit Trade in Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Bonobos and Orangutans; Elephants in the Dust: The African Elephant Poaching Crisis; and Food Lost, Food Waste: Food Security by Restoring Ecosystems and Reducing Food Loss. GRID-Arendal communicated information in formats suit- able for policy-making, regarding the threats and opportu- nities posed by climate change, including how to adapt to and mitigate climate change impacts. Focal areas included new emission reduction pathways, adaptation to disasters, reversing loss of natural climate buffers in oceans (e.g. man- groves) and on land (e.g. forests), issues of food security, gender and planning. Projects involved a range of activities including engaging with stakeholders, training workshops, advocating for targeted policy action, mapping and report- ing at national and international government and UN levels. Adaptation to Climate Change

For example, our pioneering RRA on “Blue Carbon” (the role of healthy oceans in binding carbon) contributed to the global recognition of this issue. Awareness of the Blue Carbon concept was raised by GRID-Arendal’s RRA publi- cation in 2009 and it is now receiving growing interest as evidenced by: • a synthesis of publications advancing Blue Carbon policy, economics and science published by The World Bank, Duke University, UNEP-WCMC, NOAA, Climate Focus, Resources for the Future and others; • many peer-reviewed journal articles advancing Blue Carbon science; • international working groups set up to address Blue Carbon science and policy issues; and, • methodologies developed for assessing Blue Carbon stocks; multiple Blue Carbon demonstration projects around the world are now attempting to employ these methodologies (including the United Arab Emirates, In- donesia, Vietnam, Kenya, Senegal, and Bangladesh). Many countries and organisations are now striving to protect mangroves, sea grasses and saltmarshes and trying to bring Blue Carbon into the carbon trade sys- tems. Our work for Abu Dhabi is focusing on Blue Car- bon in the carbon trade context, and results from the ‘Abu Dhabi Blue Carbon Demonstration Project’ present excellent policy targets and examples of lessons learnt for the application of Blue Carbon through other interna- tional projects and efforts, and have resulted in a num- ber of national follow-up decisions and projects in the Emirates. Our involvement in Blue Carbon projects also laid the ba- sis for UNEP’s decision to provide GRID-Arendal with the lead to develop a Global Environment Facility (GEF) pro- ject on ‘Blue Forests’. The project proposal, which focuses on the global protection of mangroves, has now (Decem- ber 2013) been prepared and submitted to GEF. The work on Blue Carbon, mangroves and ecosystem- based adaptation, is also relevant to Small Island De- veloping States (SIDS), which are also supported by GRID-Arendal’s ‘Many Strong Voices’ (MSV) project. MSV, which links Arctic and SIDS to assess the impacts of climate change on remote communities, was selected by readers of The Guardian newspaper in the UK as the sixth most influential awareness raising campaign in the world. 3

1. See letter in Annex 1 2. http://www.stortinget.no/Saker-og-publikasjoner/Saker/ Sak/?p=54599

3. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals- network/2013/nov/15/top-10-climate-change-campaigns

8