UNDP Washington Update December 2012

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UNDP Washington Update December 2012 Best Wishes for the New Year from UNDP Washington

protect the environment, and prevent and respond to crises.

1 UNDP Washington Update December 2012 Best Wishes for the New Year from UNDP Washington UNDP distributed goats to flooding victims in Quetta, Pakistan, as part of a comprehensive disaster relief and recovery program. UNDP works in Pakistan to reduce poverty, empower women and girls, improve governance, protect the environment, and prevent and respond to crises. Photo: Satomi Kato/UNDP Public, Private Financing, Better Policies Can Save Oceans undp.washington@undp.org to receive updates UNDP Washington Representation Office 1775 K Street NW Fourth Floor Washington, DC Follow us on As little as $5 billion in public funds could catalyse action to reverse ocean degradation

2 WASHINGTON--Immediate, concrete steps can still mitigate grave and worsening threats to the world's oceans, with public funds and better policies catalyzing private investment and creating new industries, according to a report released Dec.14 by UNDP and Global Environment Facility (GEF). "It is very reassuring to learn... that an initial public investment on the order of $5 billion over the next 10 to 20 years could be sufficient to catalyze many hundreds of billions of dollars in public and private finance," GEF CEO Dr. Naoko Ishii told a panel launching the report here. Catalysing Ocean Finance: Transforming Markets to Restore & Protect the Global Ocean says worsening ocean degradation stems primarily from market and policy failures-which lead to over-fishing, skyrocketing "dead" or low-oxygen zones in coastal areas, increasing numbers of invasive species, and surging ocean acidification. These market and policy failures have led both the private and public sectors to under-invest in environmental protection such as wastewater treatment and coastal habitat protection and over-invest in activities that cause harm, such as chemically intensive agriculture. "Oceans are an integral part of life on earth, regulating our climate and producing oxygen for the planet, yet they are under serious threat due to pollution, over-exploitation, habitat loss, invasive species, and climate change," Andrew Hudson, Head of UNDP's Water & Ocean Governance Programme. Recommendations: *Correct market and policy failures through science-based integrated planning * Invest in capacity development for ocean policymakers, other stakeholders *Foster consensus among stakeholders about the most effective mix of public instruments *Dedicate enough public resources during policy analysis and development stage *Combine proven market transformation methodologies: trans-boundary analysis, integrated coastal management, and ocean legal frameworks *Acknowledge that timeframes to transform ocean markets are long, typically years or more "This report is the way forward," Dr. Kenneth Sherman, Director of the Large Marine Ecosystems Program at the US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, said. "This is a huge step." Read more Arab World Needs Broad Governance Reform: UNDP Expert WASHINGTON--High unemployment and inequality fuelled Arab Spring uprisings that began in 2010 and overturned four governments, but the Arab world needs broad governance reform to achieve sustainable, equitable growth, a UNDP poverty expert said here Dec. 7. "Clearly the problem is not simply one of political transition--getting rid of a Highlights of UNDP governance work in the Arab States: *In Tunisia, the National Constituent Assembly, elected in late 2011, is drafting a new Constitution with UNDP support.

3 *In Libya, UNDP is supporting dictator doesn't solve all the problems," Mohammad Pournik, Poverty youth activists to become trainers Practice Team Leader at UNDP's Regional Center in Cairo, said at the encouraging other young people Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "People want bread, to participate. but they also want social justice and freedom." *In Yemen, which has embarked on a two-year transition In Egypt, for example, "the problem wasn't simply political exclusion--it was timetable, UNDP is supporting political and economic exclusion. Therefore unless you address both there rule of law, justice, and security is no way to succeed. This is why we see a re-emergence of old habits in sector programming. some of what is happening now in Egypt and Tunisia." *In Somalia, UNDP is working with authorities to ensure Unemployment remains a critical challenge in the region, but reliably establishment of legal aid measuring joblessness is difficult in countries without unemployment networks across communities. insurance and a system of registering for it, he said Dec. 7. *In Lebanon, UNDP is helping strengthen the institutional The panel, hosted by Daniel Runde, Director of the CSIS Project on capacities of the Ministry of Prosperity & Development, included Andy Baukol, Deputy Assistant Justice, improve state legal aid Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for the Middle East & Africa, and Lionel services, and promote access to Johnson, Vice President for Turkey, Middle East & North Africa Affairs at justice the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. *In Jordan and Morocco, UNDP is promoting women's leadership "Definitely you have large numbers of young people who are increasingly and empowerment. educated, who in an earlier era would have been employed by the state but are now going without jobs, and that isn't sustainable. Those people will remain in the streets until something changes," Pournik, a lead author of UNDP's 2011 Arab Development Challenges report, said. Huge rural-urban disparities exist across the region, economic inequality is enormous, business is driven by cronyism, and environmental degradation is profound, especially in sectors that depend heavily on the region's most scarce resource--water, Pournik said. Speaking in Qatar earlier this month, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark called for strengthened rule of law, justice, and security in the Arab region, adding that citizens need to see state institutions--including police and the judiciary--as existing to serve the public interest. Read more UNDP Opens Data for 6,000 Projects in Transparency Drive New York--UNDP launched a new online portal Nov. 29 allowing open, comprehensive public access to data on it work in 177 countries and territories, fulfilling a commitment to full

4 transparency by 2013 above and beyond international standards "Transparency is a top priority for UNDP and a vital element in maintaining the trust vested in us by the public and our partners. This online portal enables the public to track aid and helps our partners manage their resources more effectively," UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said. "We are committed to working in the open, and we will continue improving the quality, quantity, and timeliness of our reporting so that our partners can monitor their investments in fighting poverty, supporting human development, and securing a sustainable future for all." The new portal,open.undp.org, comprises comprehensive programmatic information-from income and expenditures to activities and results-on more than 6,000 active UNDP projects, as well as those that closed financially in 2011, along with more than 8,000 outputs or results. Users can sort projects by focus areas, funding sources, and locations and extract detailed data related to budgets, implementing organizations, and targeted results in areas from governance and rule of law to crisis prevention and recovery. UNDP created the portal as part of its implementation of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI). The portal was financed by a $225,000 contribution from the United States, with the overall IATI effort funded through UNDP's core budget. Beginning in 2013, updates on all UNDP's ongoing development projects will be published quarterly. Previously, UNDP published a data set for expenditures as part of the IATI implementation. UNDP, a founding member of IATI, committed to full adoption of the common aid transparency standard by 2013 to ensure publication of financial data and project information in the most transparent and accessible way. IATI is a voluntary, multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at making information about aid spending easier to access, understand, and use, and a catalyst in the open data movement.as a member of the IATI Secretariat, UNDP has led outreach efforts with partner countries and United Nations agencies to champion the new aid transparency standard and make it relevant for national development planning, public financial management, mutual accountability, and other processes at the country level. In October, a leading international aid transparency organization said

UNDP had "performed well" in its transparency efforts. Publish What You Fund ranked UNDP in the top 10 among 72 organizations in its 2012 Aid Transparency Index.

On a two-day visit to Afghanistan in November, UNDP Associate Administrator Rebeca Grynspan launched a $30 million project to promote gender equality by improving

5 UNDP had "performed well" in its transparency efforts. Publish What You Fund ranked UNDP in the top 10 among 72 organizations in its 2012 Aid Transparency Index. UNDP "should be congratulated for beginning publication to the IATI Registry in November 2011," the organization said. On a two-day visit to Afghanistan in November, UNDP Associate Administrator Rebeca Grynspan launched a $30 million project to promote gender equality by improving access to legal services and economic opportunities for women as well as strengthening efforts by the Ministry of Women's Affairs. Photo: Sayeed Farhad Zalmai/UNDP Nations Must Lead in Seeking Justice: UNDP Chief

6 The Hague--Justice will be delivered globally only when individual governments themselves shoulder responsibility for dealing with crimes and atrocities, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said here Nov. 19. The International Criminal Court (ICC) "is not by virtue of its mandate able to meet growing expectations for justice everywhere. It is only when national governments take responsibility for dealing with crimes and atrocities that justice can be delivered at the scale required," she said. "National action is essential to thwart cycles of violence and conflict, and to lay a foundation for reconciliation, peace, and human development." UNDP "helps strengthen the capacity of governments to deliver justice and the capacities of citizens to access it," Clark told the 11th Session of Assembly of States Parties to ICC. Building institutions able to deliver justice is inseparable from development, she said. "This work is particularly important where countries seek to overcome legacies of violence, human rights abuses, and conflict. Countries recovering from massive crimes or atrocities often have large numbers of victims and perpetrators, at the very time when their judicial system may be least capable of delivering." The ICC is the first permanent international court set up to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Its founding treaty, the Rome Statute, came into force on 1 July The court can try cases involving individuals charged with war crimes committed since July Through its rule of law and governance work, UNDP builds government capacity to deliver justice and citizens' capacity to access it, Ms. Clark said, adding: "This work is particularly important where countries seek to overcome legacies of violence, human rights abuses, and conflict." Read more UNDP in the Media The New York Times, Nov. 18, 2012, "Spain Seeks Investment From Latin America" The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 29, 2012, "UNDP Opens Up Its Books" PBS IdeaLab, Dec. 17, "U.N. Opens Up Funding Data on Its Development

7 Projects" Reuters TrustLaw, Dec. 20, 2012, "Anti-Corruption Views - A major step forward and a post-2015 challenge" Reuters TrustLaw, Nov. 27, 2012, "Q+A-Mix of women, men in power improves governance -UNDP head" Bloomberg BNA Daily Environment Report, Dec. 17, 2012, "Report: $5 Billion Investment Could Spur Billions More Toward Sustaining Oceans" Economic Development, "UNDP Report - Catalyzing Ocean Finance" Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty, "Serbia Tries To Scrap its Gun Habit" The Nation (Thailand), Dec. 27, "The Fight Has Begun" About UNDP UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in 177 countries and territories and funded entirely by voluntary contributions, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.

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