United Nations Environment Programme

UNEP Initiative on Capacity Building for Integrated Assessment and Planning for Sustainable Development

The Economics and Trade Branch of UNEP launched an initiative on "Capacity Building for Integrated Assessment and Planning for Sustainable Development". The main objective of this initiative is to undertake integrated assessment that takes into account the environmental, social and economic aspects in policy design and implementation. The initiative aims to explore and build on existing experiences and approaches for integrated assessment and planning, balancing environmental, social and economic objectives and relating them to poverty alleviation and sustainable trade promotion, with the intention of identifying best practices and approaches, as well as areas which require improvement. It will focus on looking into the sustainability concerns of a broad-based strategic planning process, with particular emphasis on the agriculture sector. Projects will be implemented in eight countries, from Latin America, Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, and Eastern and Central Europe.

This initiative implements the UNEP Governing Council decision GC21/14 which relates to providing assistance to Governments to integrate environmental considerations in the design and assessment of macroeconomic policies, adopt an integrated approach to design and implement mutually supportive trade and environment policies, and promote greater understanding of the linkages between poverty and the environment. It is also in response to decision GC22/10, to develop a strategy for the actions committed to in the plan of implementation of the WSSD on poverty alleviation.

Governing Council decision GC22/10:

"Calls on Governments, international organizations, donor organizations and major groups to actively work towards fulfilling the actions committed to in the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development on poverty eradication, as well as operationalizing the work solidarity fund, which was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 57/265 of 20 December 2002, and requests the Executive Director to develop a strategy for the implementation of those actions within the mandate of the United Nations Environment Programme".

Moreover, at the WTO Ministerial Meeting held in Doha, Ministers noted the efforts by Members to conduct national environmental assessments of trade policies on a voluntary basis, and encouraged expertise and experience to be shared with WTO Members wishing to perform environmental reviews and assessments at the national level.

In order to address these issues, a preparatory meeting was convened by UNEP in February 2003 consisting of a Working Group of experts representing relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, including the World Bank, UNDP, UNECE, UNCTAD, IISD, IIED, WWF, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Centre International des Technologies de l'Environnement de Tunis (CITET), AidEnvironment and the Regional Environmental Centre. The main purpose of the meeting was to agree on an implementation strategy and develop a framework document outlining the objectives and the process to be adopted in the implementation of the country projects.

In order to launch this initiative, UNEP convened a planning meeting in Geneva on 25 and 26 June 2003. The main objectives of this meeting were to identify the methodologies and approaches as well as the process to be adopted in undertaking the country studies.

As a first step, potential countries had been invited to submit a preliminary overview of planned (strategic) planning processes relevant for poverty reduction, environment and trade. This involved domestic plans and planning processes and sustainable development strategies, e.g. agricultural policies, rural or urban development strategies as well as externally driven plans and planning processes. It also involved planning processes aimed at revising or updating existing plans or policies, or focusing on designing new ones. Based on this overview, countries were requested to identify one key strategic planning process to be undertaken during 2003-2004 and to submit this as a candidate for a pilot case to be supported by UNEP. The pilot country studies will be led by a national institution to be identified by each country.