South-South Capacity Building for Ecosystem Management in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)
| Project title | South-South Capacity Building for Ecosystem Management in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) |
| Implementing Institutions | UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME - INTERNATIONAL ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT PARTNERSHIP |
| Country(ies) | Lao PDR, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, China |
| Abstract | Enhancing ecosystem management capacities is a prerequisite to break the vicious cycle of ecosystem degradation and poverty.The proposed project will kick off a basin-wide process on capacity building for ecosystem management in the GMS. This is linked to IPBES's work programme. |
| Project Description | The GMS covers an area of approximately 800,000 km2. It is home to ~75 million people, a large proportion of which are poor. Community livelihoods within the GMS rely predominantly on ecosystem goods/services. Despite the financial crises in 1997 and in 2008, countries within the GMS have experienced rapid economic growth over the past two decades. The growth rate of the region in 2010, for example, was 7.4%, which was twice the world average and triple that of the G7 countries . This economic growth has resulted in a transformation of land-use patterns and a consequent stress on ecosystems. Examples of changes that have led to environmental degradation. There exist several donor funded initiatives operating in the wider environmental spectrum in the GMS. The Asian Development Bank’s Core Environment Programme (CEP) has 5 components, out of which the Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative (BCI) supports biodiversity conservation by establishing biodiversity corridors between national parks and wildlife reserves. The MRC’s Strategic Plan for 2011 – 2015 identifies four goals, one of which is building capacity to develop and implement Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) policy. Specifically, the project will meet the capacity needs for integration of ecosystem approach into national development and regional cooperation through enhancing knowledge, methods, tools and institutional and individual capacity. [Linked to IPBES's work programme: Regional and global assessments] |
| Project Objectives and expected Achievables | Project Objective: Enhancing ecosystem management capacities is a prerequisite to break the vicious cycle of ecosystem degradation and poverty. The proposed project aims to kick off a basin-wide process on capacity building for integrating ecosystem management into national and regional development planning through identifying and prioritizing capacity needs and providing methods and tools and interactive consultation in the GMS. Outputs: (1)Methods and tools for integration of ecosystem approach into national planning; (2)Increased preparedness and capacity for application of ecosystem approaches in national policy-setting and planning process in the region; (3)An assessment report on capacity needs of ecosystem management for national development, including an inventory of capacity needs and supplies; and, (4)Regional Strategic Framework of capacity building for integration of ecosystem management into basin-wide development strategies. How to measure: 1.Raised awareness of government officials of the six GMS countries on the importance of ecosystem management for national development and regional cooperation 2.Consensus on the list of priorities of capacity needs for ecosystem management and on a regional cooperation framework 3.Project results accepted and/used by stakeholders—government/intergovernment agencies, development partners, and science community 4.Regional /sub-regional development plans with an ecosystem management approach 5.Regional cooperation strategies with embedded ecosystem management approach/ plans |
| Timeframe | 2 years |
| Geographic Scale | Multinational |
| Seeking Resources for: | Project implementation |
| Type of Resources/Support needed: | Financial, Technical |