The UNDP-GEF POPs Resource Kit - International POPs Elimination ...

Introduction
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) provides incremental funding to support the
additional costs of protecting global environmental goods: biodiversity, climate stability,
transboundary water resources and the ozone layer. Through its Implementing Agencies--the
World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)---the GEF has catalyzed actions over the last ten
years to protect these global amenities at the local, national, regional and international levels.
As one of the GEF Implementing Agencies, UNDP has leveraged its comparative
advantage in the areas of capacity building and technical assistance to develop a
comprehensive GEF portfolio in each of the four GEF focal areas: biodiversity, climate
change, international waters, ozone layer depletion. UNDP’s GEF portfolio presently totals
over $960 million and is operational in over 130 countries. UNDP has played a leading role
in providing assistance to recipient countries in the conduct of their Biodiversity and Climate
Change “Enabling Activities”, aimed at helping countries fulfill their obligations under the
respective Conventions; to date, UNDP has assisted 94 (82%) and 83 (64%) of the countries
receiving GEF assistance in their Climate Change and Biodiversity Enabling Activities,
respectively.
In recent years, the negative health and environmental effects of certain synthetic
chemicals, characterized by their persistence, bio-accumulation and potential for long-range
transport, has been firmly established. In December, 2000 in Johannesburg, the international
community completed negotiations on a global Convention to phase out emissions and
dispose of stocks of Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPs. The International Legally
Binding Instrument for Implementing International Action on certain Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPs) will be opened for signature in Stockholm, Sweden on May 22, 2001. The
international community has selected the GEF to serve as interim financial mechanism for
the Stockholm Convention and has asked the GEF to create a new POPs focal area.
The broad, multi-sectoral linkages between sustainable human development and
POPs are well established (see section 3). Through its country office network, strong
linkages with government and civil society, and extensive experience in several of the
principal assistance areas of the POPs Convention (capacity building, institutional
strengthening, technical assistance), UNDP can be a valuable partner to assist countries in
their implementation of the Stockholm Convention. As the leading GEF Implementing
Agency in supporting Climate Change and Biodiversity Enabling Activities, UNDP also has
extensive relevant experience applicable and transferable to the POPs Enabling Activity
process.
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