Environment and Management of Natural Resources. Towards Sus

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Activities and services

In the biodiversity field GTZ supports

partner countries with more than 70

bilateral development programmes

and projects. We work closely with

other implementing agencies of Ger-

man Development Cooperation, suchas the KfW development bank, the

German Development Service (DED),

the Centre for International Migration

and Development (CIM) and Capacity

Building International (InWEnt).


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The modern pharmaceutical and cosmetics

industry has recognized the value of biodiver-

sity and traditional knowledge.

The Convention of Biologigal Diversity is

demanding the consent of the holders of

such knowledge as well as their equitable

sharing of the benefits arising from the use of

genetic resources

Ecotoursim is sustainable to biological diversity

it is conservation, use and benefit sharing

Thematic focus

< Management of protected areas:

support of co-management, buffer

zone development with local com-

munities, sustainable financing and

integration into regional development

in more than 30 projects, e.g. in the

Brazilian Amazon forest, the Pendjari

National Park in Benin or the Tam

Dao National Park in Vietnam.


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and capacity building measures as

well as provision of appropriate in-

struments and planning procedures in

the following thematic areas:


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GTZ focuses on building the human

and institutional capacities of its part-

ner countries in Asia, Africa and Latin

America. We indicate ways of improv-

ing chemical safety in selected coun-

tries and support them in implement-

ing the conventions and internation-

ally accepted standards.

The responsible authorities in part-

ner countries need to be enabled to


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Examples of our main nature con-

servation services:


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Approach

The growing interdependence in the

use and management of natural re-

sources and raw materials and the

transboundary character of many re-

sources such as large forests, water

catchments, wild life habitats, etc. make it necessary for national organi-

sations and institutions to co-operate

increasingly with neighbours. For that,

transboundary mechanisms and insti-

tutions need to be strengthened.

Regional approaches that comple-

ment the co-operation with individual

partner countries are hence becoming

more and more important. Depending

on the context, these approaches are

implemented with existing regional

organisations or within regional net-

works of various partners and stake-

holders. In many cases transboundary

co-operation is politically sensitive,

especially when regulations of access

to and benefits from natural resources

are concerned. Not only national in-

terests are coming into play but also

duced in line with social and environ-

mental standards or also in the in-

ternational discussion about global

environmental goods and services

and their adequate valuation. Regio-

nal governance of natural resourcesand global sustainable development

are inseparable.

ContextNatural resources and global envi-

ronmental concerns extend beyond

national borders. Thats why a whole

lot of problems cant be solved na-

tionally. The sustainable manage-

ment of natural resources, their pro-tection as well as the long-term se-

curity of environmental goods and

services important to everyone on

earth, need aims and procedures

that are agreed and accepted across

borders and implemented by each of

the countries involved.

To put regional co-operation into

practice is not just a matter of sup-

porting partner countries in their ne-

gotiation processes and of capacity

development of regional organisa-

tions. It also means to advance re-

gional stability, to support peace

building and to assist partner coun-

tries in successfully positioning them-

selves in the international arena: in

accessing international markets for

example for goods and products pro-

Regional environmental co-operation forsustainable development and resource governance

Environment and Infrastructure Division

Topicsheet

Section: Environment and wanagement of natural resources

Topic: Regional environmental co-operation for

sustainable development and resource governance

commissioned by:


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the rights, concerns and interests of

local communities as well as the pri-

vate sector. Effective support by the

GTZ is not only based on sound tech-

nical know-how and methodological

competence and experience. It also

requires confidence building and a

careful clarification of roles and man-

dates of the various actors involved.

Services


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Approach

GTZ supports developing countries in

political and institutional reform proc-

esses at different administrative lev-

els, with the aim to use resources

most effectively and target incentives

as effectively as possible. This in-cludes:


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nancing of nature conservation,

debt for nature swaps, environmen-

tal certificates under the clean

development mechanism).

Relevance

In a number of countries policy instru-

ments to mobilise resources and pro-

viding incentives for sustainable de-

velopment have gained importance in

the course of the last decade. This

applies in particular to countries with

a dynamically evolving institutional

landscape. Subsidies on raw materi-

als and energy are being reconsidered

in the context of structural adaptation

and international market exposure.

Under the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change and

its Kyoto Protocol, emission reduc-

tion credits are being traded world-

wide. Countries like China, India and

South Africa have gradually intro-

duced environmental taxes and

charges. Colombia charges levies on

air pollution and solid waste disposal,

Brazil charges fees for water use andindustrial sewage, Mexico, Chile and

Argentina have introduced different

forms of waste disposal levies. Instru-

ments applied range from taxation

and tax breaks to fees, certificates

and tradable permits to certification

and liability regulation.

GTZ experiences


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ing PRSP, MDG-based development

strategies or the like. For this SEA is

a key to open the door.

Activities and services

With regard to EIA, GTZ can look back

on many years of experience support-

ing partner countries in various ways.

In the field of SEA, GTZ is cooperating

closely with several donors (e.g. DFID,

SIDA, NDL, World Bank, UNDP) in de-

veloping a common OECD-DAC guid-

ance and approach on SEA. The same

is the case in supporting partner coun-

tries on the ground.

deal with general environmental is-

sues in a region or sector, thereby

guiding and reducing the workload of

project level EIA.

EIA is a mandatory element ofproject development in most coun-

tries. With the EU-Directive and the

UNECE-Protocol on SEA, also the

SEA approach is now spreading rap-

idly in industrialised countries. In

addition, donors have highlighted the

importance of EIA and SEA in the

Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness

of 2005.

In most developing countries the

majority of the poor depend for their

livelihoods on natural resources and

suffer disproportionally from environ-

mental pollution. They are also par-

ticularly vulnerable to the effects of

environmental disasters. For sustain-

able and sustained poverty reduction

these poverty-environment linkages

need to be considered when develop-

ContextThe majority of development plan-

ning processes fail to take sufficient-

ly into account the environmental

impacts of their implementation. This

holds true from project to policy

levels and in turn often producesunsustainable development results.

Environmental impact assessment

(EIA) and strategic environmental as-

sessment (SEA) are tools to avoid

such unwanted side effects. They

help optimise planning processes by

comparing alternative development

options and ensuring that decision-

making integrates relevant environ-

mental aspects.

While EIA focuses on the project

level (e.g. construction of a major

road or an industrial estate), SEA is

applied to policies, plans and pro-

grammes (like PRSPs or sector plans).

As such, SEAs e.g. also capture cu-

mulative effects of several clustered

developments that often are not

covered in EIA. In addition, SEAs can

Environmental assessments

Environment and Infrastructure Division

Topicsheet

Section: Environment and management of natural resources

General Topic: Environmental policy and institutional development

commissioned by:


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While technical specifications are more

important for EIA the real challenge for SEA

lies in managing a political process

including participation

Thematic focus:

Environment and Management of Natural Resources. Towards Sus

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