Cooperation and Support

International cooperation, and the provision of support to developing countries and to countries with economies in transition, are crucial to ensure the implementation of the Convention by all Parties. These would be impossible without support from the Convention's financial mechanism (the GEF), its implementing agencies, and a host of other international organizations. Both the SBI and the SBSTA have a number of standing agenda items that fit under this overall heading, and this section of the website gives access to the key areas of that work.

More information at: http://unfccc.int/cooperation_and_support/items/2664.php

Regional cooperation

Convention on Biological Diversity

Signed by 150 government leaders at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the Convention on Biological Diversity is dedicated to promoting sustainable development. Conceived as a practical tool for translating the principles of Agenda 21 into reality, the Convention recognizes that biological diversity is about more than plants, animals and micro organisms and their ecosystems – it is about people and our need for food security, medicines, fresh air and water, shelter, and a clean and healthy environment in which to live.

More information at: http://www.biodiv.org/default.shtml

World Health Organization WHO

The World Health Organization is the United Nations specialized agency for health. It was established on 7 April 1948. WHO's objective, as set out in its Constitution, is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. Health is defined in WHO's Constitution as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

WHO is governed by 192 Member States through the World Health Assembly. The Health Assembly is composed of representatives from WHO's Member States. The main tasks of the World Health Assembly are to approve the WHO programme and the budget for the following biennium and to decide major policy questions.

More information at: http://www.who.int/en/

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

The international community has long recognized that desertification is a major economic, social and environmental problem of concern to many countries in all regions of the world.

The Convention was adopted in Paris on 17 June 1994 and opened for signature there on 14-15 October 1994. It entered into force on 26 December 1996, 90 days after the fiftieth ratification was received. Over 179 countries were Parties as at March 2002. The Conference of the Parties (COP), which is the Convention's supreme governing body, held its first session in October 1997 in Rome, Italy; the second in December 1998 in Dakar, Senegal; the third in November 1999 in Recife, Brazil; the fourth in December 2000 in Bonn, Germany; and the fifth in October 2001 in Geneva, Switzerland. As of 2001, COP sessions will be held on a biennial basis.

More information at: http://www.unccd.int/main.php

Montreal Protocol

The issue of ozone depletion was first discussed by the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1976. A meeting of experts on the ozone layer was convened in 1977, after which UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) set up the Coordinating Committee of the Ozone Layer (CCOL) to periodically assess ozone depletion. Intergovernmental negotiations for an international agreement to phase out ozone depleting substances started in 1981 and concluded with the adoption of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer in March 1985.

The Vienna Convention encourages intergovernmental cooperation on research, systematic observation of the ozone layer, monitoring of CFC production, and the exchange of information.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was adopted in September 1987. It was designed so that the phase out schedules could be revised on the basis of periodic scientific and technological assessments. The Protocol was adjusted to accelerate the phase out schedules. It has also been amended to introduce other kinds of control measures and to add new controlled substances to the list.

Governments are not legally bound until they ratify the Protocol as well as the Amendment. Unfortunately, while most governments have ratified the Protocol, ratification of the Amendment and their stronger control measures lag behind.

More information at: http://ozone.unep.org/Treaties_and_Ratification/2B_montreal_protocol.asp

The World Meteorological Organization

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a Specialized Agency of the United Nations. It is the UN system's authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources.. 

More information at: http://www.wmo.ch/index-en.html

Technical Assistance to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova with respect to their Global Climate Change Commitments EuropeAid/115123/C/SV/Multi – Lot No. 2

To assist Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova in building institutional and technical capacity for participation in the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol.

The project specific objectives are:

A  To build capacity for hosting CDM projects in the beneficiary countries, including assistance in forming the institutional infrastructure required to support CDM projects and to develop a portfolio of possible CDM projects.

B  To enhance awareness among key-policy makers, the business community and the general public on the issues related to the UNFCCC and the Kyoto protocol, and of the development opportunities and issues with respect to CDM and GHG mitigation.

C  To develop local capacity in GHG emission forecast modelling and assessment of sectoral GHG mitigation potentials and options.

D  To assist the beneficiary countries in developing their national climate change strategies, including mitigation and adaptation measures.

More information at: http://www.meteo.md/cdm/project.html