A Landmark Initiative to Translate China's National Climate
Change Programme into Local Action


    BEIJING, June 30 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- A joint
initiative was launched today to assist provincial
governments in China to take action on climate change
mitigation and adaptation. 

    (Logo:
http://www.xprn.com/xprn/sa/20061107113358-34.jpg )

    Entitled "The Provincial Programmes for Climate
Change Mitigation & Adaptation in China," this
initiative is a joint effort between the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC), the China International Centre for
Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE) under Ministry of
Commerce, the Government of Norway and the European Union
(EU), aimed at translating China's National Climate Change
Programme into local action in priority provinces. 

    The programme will receive a generous contribution of
$2 million from Norway and $400,000 from UNDP China, while a
further $2 million contribution is under review by the EU.
Further international partners are expected to join the
landmark initiative. 

    As highlighted at the UN Climate Change Convention last
December in Bali, of key concern in combating global climate
change is the need to move from global dialogue to local
action and to create new innovative partnerships. While the
National Climate Change Programme and several new national
priorities were enacted in 2007 to set the vision for future
action, much effort is needed to see results on the ground.

    "While new national policies have been enacted to
set the vision and overarching direction for climate change
mitigation and adaptation in China, more work is needed to
translate such policies into on-the-ground action,"
said Kishan Khoday, Assistant Country Director and Team
Leader for Energy & Environment with UNDP China. 

    A total of 14 provinces will be supported for
development of local climate change strategies and policies
to both reduce emissions and take adaptation measures. The
programme will help establish new local institutional
mechanisms, undertaking strategic assessments of ways to
mainstream climate risks into development policies, and
design of a series of new Provincial Climate Change
Programmes in priority provinces in Western and Northern
China. 

    "The consequences of global warming are emerging
and the impacts of climate change are already being
felt," Khoday said. "As highlighted in the
2007/2008 UNDP Global Human Development Report, climate
change presents a daunting challenge for sustaining over the
next decades the hard won gains of many developing
countries, including China. Through this new programme,
climate risks will be explored in key vulnerable areas of
the country and concrete local strategies and actions will
be designed," Khoday added. 

    On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, for example, the project
will help local governments to find integrated way to adapt
to the adverse effects of Himalaya glacial melting. These
glaciers are the world's second largest store of freshwater
and feed seven of the great rivers of Asia; however, they
are receding at a faster rate than any glaciers on the
planet. Their disappearance jeopardizes the water security
of hundreds of millions and would erase decades of
development gains in the region. 

    "The risks from future impacts of warming will
vary between and within provinces. If measures are to have a
real effect in coming years, swift action must be made at
the local level to develop policies, partnerships and
implementation capacities," said Khoday.

    In addition, the project will work with Chinese local
government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the largest
coal producing provinces of Shanxi and Inner Mongolia by
improving efficiency and pollution controls in local
industries. In Ningxia and Gansu Provinces, climate change
and water shortages threaten to undermine food security. The
project will work with governments to develop action plans
to for crop adaptation and increase water efficiency to
mitigate the effects of warming on agriculture.  
 
    UNDP fosters human development to empower women and men
to build better lives in China. As the UN's development
network, UNDP draws on a world of experience to assist China
in developing its own solutions to the country's development
challenges. Through partnerships and innovation, UNDP works
to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and an equitable
Xiao Kang society by reducing poverty, strengthening the
rule of law, promoting environmental sustainability, and
fighting HIV/AIDS.   http://www.undp.org.cn

SOURCE  UNDP China