South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme

POST - 2015 SOUTH

ASIA

DEVELOPMENT

AGENDA

South Asia cooperative Environment programme (SACEP)

• Established in 1982, SACEP is an inter-governmental organization of eight member states:

• Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

• Apart from South Asian Seas Programme and SACEP core programme and project activities, SACEP priority areas are: o Waste Management o Adaptation to Climate Change o Data base and Information Management

Highlights of some past activities of SACEP

• School Environment Awareness Programme in collaboration with CEE, India, M/O Education, M/O Environment and Natural Resources, Sri Lanka and the South Asia Youth Network.

• Scoping Exercise on E-Waste Management in South Asia “ New Delhi, India, 2007 in collaboration with the Development Alternative (DA)

• Preparation of South Asian Action Plan for environment education & training (UNEP-ROAP) 1999-2001

• Project on integrating environmental considerations into economic policy making process- South Asia sub-component (1997, 2000 UNESCAP)

• Implemented the environment assessment programme in the South Asian Region (SENRIC programme activities) 1994 – 2004 UNEP-RRC.AP

• Regional Consultations to support the GEO process (2000-2002)

• Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) - Through an MoU signed between SACEP and UNEP a Training Programme was organized between SACEP and UNEP. The objective was to build the capacity of policy makers across the South Asian region, in designing and implementing policies that support SCP and a Green Economy.

• Prepared the “Frame work for Marine Litter Management in South Asia

Future Activities

• Post 2015 South Asia Development Agenda Report prepared by SACEP in consultation with the member countries and was launched at the First United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) at Nairobi, Kenya.

• It is in line with the Post 2015 Development agenda adopted in the UN Sustainable Development Summit held on 25 September 2015 which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030.

Networks/Programmes already in existence

Source : SACEP/Post 2015 South Asia Development Agenda

Opportunities to promote cooperation on Environment at Sub-Regional Level

Source : SACEP/Post 2015 South Asia Development Agenda

Opportunities to promote cooperation on Environment at Regional Level Cont….

Sustainable

Development

Goals 2030

Post 2015 South Asia Development Agenda

Clean Water and Sanitation • Strengthening of Integrated Water Resources Management

(IWRM) • Improving access to quality water for all by regulating

consumption, managing ground • water augmentation, and adopting waste water recycling • Introducing “pay-per-use” regulations that ensure water

affordability for drinking, domestic use, livestock, irrigation, industrial use, and recreational purposes

• Enhancing the water availability by creating innovative financing and partnerships for effective extraction, treatment, storage and equitable distribution of water

Affordable and Clean Energy • Improving the access to reliable, economically viable, and

environmentally sound energy services for all • Enhancing rural electrification, decentralized energy systems, and

use of renewable energy sources through national initiatives and regional cooperation

• Regulate pricing to encourage renewable decentralized systems in the region

• Adopt clean energy / energy-efficient technologies that are climate friendly and commercially viable

• Promote research on energy efficiency and the diversification of the energy mix

Sustainable Cities and Communities

• Promote an integrated approach to planning and building sustainable cities and urban settlements ensuring balance development for cities with rural regions

• Ensure affordable and sustainable transport and energy Consider disaster risk reduction, resilience and climate risks in urban planning;

• Partnership arrangements and other implementation tools to advance the coordinated implementation of the Habitat Agenda with the active involvement of all relevant United Nations entities and with the overall aim of achieving sustainable urban development

• Create the supportive institutional, regulatory and policy environment for investment by the private sector into housing, and related infrastructure, with a particular focus on the provision of low-cost housing

• Guiding the driving forces towards sustainability that influence the consumption patterns in any society

• Transforming current systems (production patterns) to meet the imperatives of sustainability

• Transforming ways in which goods and services are used and disposed off (consumption styles)

Responsible Consumption and Production

• Raising awareness amongst various stakeholders on impacts of climate change

• Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) plans into the development planning and budgeting

process • Conducting vulnerability assessments and inform communities • Introducing technologies that help mitigate climate change • Accelerating implementation of the Hyogo Framework for

Action(HFA), at all levels, and build resilience to disasters with renewed sense of urgency

• Committing adequate, timely and predictable resources to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), to help with technical assistance and technology transfer;

• Ensuring early warning systems (EWS) and disaster risk assessments are a key part of disaster resilience efforts at all levels

• Ensuring investments and development plans integrate a comprehensive approach to reduce risk and enable smooth transitions between relief, recovery and development, including linking with climate change adaptation (CCA) and promoting gender based approaches.

Climate Action

Life on Land • Introduction of Eco-System based natural resource management. • Continuing to assess, map and document the biodiversity wealth of the

sub-region • Reviving the traditional knowledge, especially among local

communities, indigenous people and women • Minimizing the losses from soil erosion, landslides and desertification

by checking land degradation

Life Below Water • Five South Asian countries namely Bangladesh, India, Maldives,

Pakistan and Sri Lanka share the Indian Ocean and are part of the South Asian Seas Programme.

• SACEP and IMO undertook a jointly funded project to assist the region in developing a South Asian Regional Oil Spill Contingency Plan in 1989.

• so far four countries have already signed the MoU and the fifth one is in an advance stage of national approval.

• Development of a Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Strategy for the South Asian Seas Region- The Strategy was prepared, in parallel with the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and will assist the five maritime countries of South Asia to achieve Aichi Biodiversity targets relevant to coastal and marine biodiversity on national as well as regional level.

MOU ON COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF

ENVIRONMENT Between

THE SOUTH ASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION (SAARC) And

THE SOUTH ASIA COOPERATIVE ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (SACEP), 2002

Objectives of the MOU

• Promoting regional coordination and cooperation in agreed areas of mutual

interests;

• Developing mutually supportive arrangements to implement their

respective Environmental Programmes and Action Plans;

• Exchange information on the state of the global and regional environment

and emerging environmental issues;

• Collaborating in producing studies and reports on priority concerns in the

field of environment; and

• Strengthening capacity for effectively addressing global, regional and

national environmental concerns, including through participation in

multilateral environmental negotiations and the environmental agreements;

Sub regional Cooperation Development with Minimal External Assistance • Promote technology transfer within the region • Leverage corporate social responsibility towards development in the form of

partnerships • Consider setting up a South Asian Development Bank • Leverage remittances for development by introducing Remittance Tax Strengthening Institutional Systems

Building Local Capacities

• Building capacities at the local level to facilitate informed planning and decision making

• Creating a sense of ownership amongst local people over resources on which they depend

Improved National Governance

• Promote integrated and inter-generational planning for a long-term period (moving • beyond Five Year Plans) • Facilitate meaningful involvement in policy formulation and implementation by • representatives of the private sector, local authorities, NGOs, trade unions and other

major groups • Incorporate sustainable development principles in the national constitution or • legislation to accelerate the adoption of better development strategies • Strengthening the accountability and transparency of institutions • Decentralization of democratic governance to local levels through devolution,

appropriate administrative autonomy and assurance of a certain level of financial capability

Sub Regional Cooperation cont.….

Enhance South Asian Cooperation through

• Joint action on poverty Eradication and human security

• Sub-regional trade and economic policies

• Sub-regional sharing and management of natural resources

• Strengthening implementation systems

• South Asian action on climate change adaptation