UNU Annual Report, 2005 - United Nations University

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tion. A case study of catastrophic flood riskassessment programmes was implementedViet Nam (in Hanoi), and an InternationalProgramme on Landslides, developed by UNUand the International Centre for Landslides ofKyoto University, was launched in January.Immediately after the Kobe conference,UNU-EHS convened a January expert workshopon vulnerability measurement. A researchbrief was distributed at the 6th Open Meetingof the International Human DimensionProgramme of the Global EnvironmentalChange project (co-organized by UNU), anda book (Measuring the Unmeasurable) based onthe conference presentations and other invitedpapers will be published by UNU Press in 2006.UNU-EHS also developed a questionnaire forpost-disaster assessment of the vulnerability ofaffected households; surveys were started inseveral nations with particular reference to theIndian Ocean tsunami, hurricanes Katrina andRita, and other recent flood events.Environmental governance andinformationThe Innovative Communities Initiative seeks toidentify the innovative elements in communitylevelenvironmental management initiatives,and to develop applicable concepts and methodologies,primarily for countries of the Asia–Pacific region. The long-term objective is todevelop a framework of innovative communitiesand community-based education forsustainable development. A book and a researchbrief summarizing several case studieswere published.The Zero Emission Forum (ZEF), whichbrings together representatives from business,government, and the scientific community forresearch, capacity development, and networking,held two major symposiums at UNUCentre: one in May (in conjunction with theZEF Annual Meeting) to mark the coming intoeffect of the Kyoto Protocol, and another inOctober on the theme “Climate Change andZero Emissions”.The Globally Integrated EnvironmentalAssessment Modeling (GLEAM) projectundertook a multi-disciplinary study in SriLanka on the climate change impacts of atmosphericbrown cloud and greenhouse gases onwater resources, crop yields, and nationaldevelopment. A Graduate Research Programmewas launched to support UNU research effortsin the region.The Information Society and EnvironmentalIssues project cooperated with ZEF to developan initiative on Solving the E-waste Problem.This initiative, which focuses on the growingproblem of disposing of end-of-life electronics,has broad participation by other UN agenciesand receives cooperation and support fromHewlett Packard and Dell.The Inter-linkages Initiative of the GlobalEnvironment Information Centre (GEIC, a jointinitiative of UNU and the Japan Ministry of theEnvironment) focuses on the synergies andcoordination among multilateral environmentalagreements (MEAs). The Inter-linkagesInitiative concentrated in 2005 on strengtheningmulti-stakeholder partnerships at national andregional levels and on developing and conductingintegrated capacity development andknowledge management activities for MEAimplementation. Training workshops were heldin Sri Lanka (in February and April) and at UNHeadquarters in New York (in March).Capacity developmentNumerous UNU capacity development activitiesin 2005 were focused on Environment andSustainability.• The first UNU Summer School for Bird’s-eyeView Experts on Environment, a two-weekcourse attended by 19 postgraduate environmentalstudies majors, was held at UNUCentre in August/September.• A module of environmental managementand policy studies courses developed byUNU-INRA was piloted as part of the M.Sc.(Environment) programme at Ghana’sKwame Nkrumah University of Science andTechnology (Kumasi). Eleven studentscompleted the courses in June, while 18 moreenrolled for the 2005–2006 academic year.• UNU-INWEH’s flagship distance educationinitiative, the Water Virtual Learning Centre,welcomed its first groups of students at three24UNU ANNUAL REPORT 2005
Regional Centres: University of Ghana,Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand),and University of the South Pacific (Fiji).• UNU-IAS held capacity developmentworkshops on topics related to intellectualproperty rights and traditional knowledge inUzbekistan and Australia, and on “RegionalCentres of Expertise on Education forSustainable Development” in Malaysiaand Japan.• The 15-day International Training Course onMangroves Biodiversity, organized jointly byUNU-INWEH, UNESCO’s Man andBiosphere Programme, and AnnamalaiUniversity (India), was attended by 16participants from the Asian region.• A new Master’s Degree Programme inIntegrated Land Management in Dry Areaswas launched in April (with five internationalstudents) as a joint undertaking of UNU-INWEH, UNU Environment and SustainableDevelopment Programme, Institut desRégions Arides (Tunisia), Cold and AridRegions Environmental & EngineeringResearch Institute of the Chinese Academyof Sciences, and Institut NationalAgronomique de Tunisie.• UNU-GTP expanded its capacity developmentactivities beyond its core six-monthspecialized courses in Iceland (May toOctober, attended by 20 participants) byoffering a November workshop on“Geothermal Projects and theirManagement” in Kenya, in collaboration twolocal partners. Three M.Sc. Fellows defendedtheir theses at the University of Iceland.• UNU-EHS co-organized a training seminaron vulnerability in October, in Bonn, for 15young scientists, and supported threestudents in a November seminar (by theInternational Ocean Institute) in Malta oncoastal zone and ocean governance. Twentyinternational participants attended a UNU-EHS training seminar on water-related riskand vulnerability management of urbanagglomerations, held in November/December in Bonn.• The UNU/GIST Joint Programme on Scienceand Technology for Sustainability held aworkshop on “Environment andSustainability” in November, and conductedpostgraduate International InternshipProgrammes in March–June and inSeptember–December (for 13 interns).• UNU-INRA supported training by 12African academics and scientists in computerapplications for analysing and managingnatural resources, and for eight technologistsin plant tissue culture applications toagriculture.• Six Postdoctoral Fellows and three Ph.D.Fellows successfully completed UNU-IASfellowships in July, while six newPostdoctoral Fellows arrived in October. SixJunior Professional Fellows also participatedin UNU-IAS programmes and activities.• Five Fellows started research at UNU-IAS inNovember 2004 under the Japan Society forthe Promotion of Science/UNU PostdoctoralFellowship Programme, and five more joinedthe programme in November 2005.• Four recent graduates received UNU-IASAgriculture for Peace Split Fellowships forresearch activities in Africa, with a onemonthstay in Japan.• UNU-EHS launched a Ph.D. programmewith the ZEF of the University of Bonn withnine students working on topics related tothe mandate of UNU-EHS.RESEARCH THEMES: ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY25
Page 1 and 2: UNITEDNATIONSUNIVERSITYAnnual Repor
Page 3 and 4: Rector’s PrefaceIn 2005, UNU comp
Page 5 and 6: CONTENTSRector’s Preface ........
Page 7 and 8: external discussions, as well as on
Page 9: volumes of UNU-WIDER materials were
Page 13 and 14: AFGHANISTAN Kabul — Sitting besid
Page 15 and 16: nance and, in particular, the role
Page 18 and 19: Research ThemesDevelopment andPover
Page 20 and 21: Sharing global prosperityAlthough t
Page 22 and 23: Research ThemesEnvironment andSusta
Page 25: for Namibian farmers and for the gl
Page 30 and 31: Research ThemesScience, Technology,
Page 32 and 33: Contributing to the information soc
Page 34 and 35: SelectedCross-Cutting Issues32UNU A
Page 36: legitimacy of a network of mutually
Page 40 and 41: Networking Activities38UNU ANNUAL R
Page 42 and 43: 1,401 networkassociates worked with
Page 44 and 45: PARTNERS IN THE UNITED NATIONS SYST
Page 46 and 47: the first research brief came from
Page 48 and 49: 164UNU discussion andworking papers
Page 50 and 51: Human and FinancialResourcesUNU rec
Page 52 and 53: Selected Titles Published in 2005Ma
Page 54 and 55: Annex 1CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED BY UN
Page 56 and 57: Annex 2MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL OF UN
Page 58 and 59: Capacity Development Activities - 2
Page 60: Office of CommunicationsUnited Nati

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