UNDP in Ukraine

This year's World Environment Day finds the world at a critical juncture. Multiple crises are rocking the globe, from the economic and financial to food and energy price volatilities. The have-nots stand to lose the most as the haves scramble to shore up their financial losses and plan for the future.

As the international community charts its way forward through these uncertain times, it is crucial to remember that climate change and ongoing environmental degradation represent a crisis that will not go away. In fact, it will only exacerbate the threats to human development. At the same time, we have a real opportunity to address climate change in a way that promotes economic recovery for countries and their people, including the poorest and most vulnerable.

The time has come for a new way to think about how we, as a global community, approach and plan for economic growth and poverty eradication in the face of far-reaching environmental and climatic change.

"The economic and financial turmoil sweeping the globe is a true wake-up call sounding an alarm about the need to improve upon old patterns of growth and make a transition to a new era of greener, cleaner development," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

UN Development Programme (UNDP) estimates that due to climate change effects an additional 600 million people will face food shortages and malnourishment in the coming years, 1.8 billion will struggle to find water and 330 million will be displaced. UNDP is on the ground in developing countries across the world, providing policy and technical assistance to governments and people as they work to mitigate or prevent the rapidly intensifying effects of climate change.

In her World Environment Day Statement, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said that today was a reminder to us all to treat our planet better and lighten our carbon footprint.

"Climate change is a threat to everyone. But without action, the brunt of the impact would be felt by poor and vulnerable people in developing countries. With little capacity to cope, many more would become malnourished and in some circumstances struggle to find water, and even be displaced. This highlights just how intertwined the tasks of addressing climate change, reducing global poverty, and reaching the Millennium Development Goals are," she added.

 Full statement by UNDP Administrator Helen Clark.

In Ukraine, with the support from UNDP, public-private partnership helps promote energy efficiency in Ukrainian municipalities. Ukraine continues to be one of the least energy efficient countries in the world and has the greatest emissions level per unit of GDP among CIS countries. Heat supply in the buildings sector accounts for approximately 25% of all fuel consumed in Ukraine, and, therefore, there is a huge potential for energy efficiency improvement.

Since 2003, UNDP and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) together with a pilot Municipality of Rivne city (a middle-size Ukrainian regional centre) has been applying a market solution to reduce energy consumption by promoting municipal Energy Saving Company (ESCO) mechanism to implement both supply-side and demand-side measures and guarantee energy savings.

ESCO company, a concept well-known in the Western world since early 1980, is essentially an engineering consultant firm which uses energy audits as marketing tools to convince owners of the savings potential in their facilities and help them implement feasible projects achieving real cost and energy savings.

As a result of joint efforts in energy efficiency projects through ESCO-Rivne company, Rivne city was able to successfully deal with various environmental, social, technical and economic issues related to the district heating system. Specifically, these included the arrangement of the Combined Heat-and-Power Plant replacing 11 outdated inefficient boilers. The new modern boiler plants were installed at the Central Municipal Hospital, Regional Maternity House and Humanitarian Gymnasium Complex, introducing biomass technology at municipal boilers, etc.

All this resulted in enhanced quality of life for about 300,000 people, reduced energy bills for end-users serviced by ESCO-Rivne company, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and secured savings of 6,000 tce a year.

UNDP takes seriously its role to find and implement solutions that reduce poverty and sustain biodiversity in an environment degraded by climate change.

For example, in Croatia, UNDP is working with the Government to limit the amount of carbon produced by the building sector, its most energy-intensive. In Chile, UNDP used solar oven to help prevent deforestation.

In Indonesia, for instance, UNDP and its partners convinced local fishermen in Les to abandon fishing practices that were devastating a coral reef. As a result, the coral reef came back to life.  

In Africa, UNDP and the Global Environment Facility are getting people in remote areas onto the electrical grid by harnessing green sources of energy like hydropower and solar energy.

As we mark the World Environment Day this year, one fact can no longer be ignored: climate change effects will be increasingly felt by people from all walks of life. We will all be affected by food and water shortages, by the disappearance of species, by the expansion of warm weather killer diseases into new territories and by rising sea levels. This December, leaders from around the world will meet in Copenhagen for high-level climate change talks. But we cannot simply wait for decision-makers - our planet needs us now. The time for action is now.

As the Secretary-General said: "Although individual decisions may seem small in the face of global threats and trends, but when billions of people join forces in common purpose we can make a tremendous difference".

For more information: http://www.unep.org/wed/2009/english/ або http://www.undp.org/energyandenvironment/