unep in china newsletter

UN Office for South-South Cooperation awarded Chinese government the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Champion Award to honor its contribution in promoting South-South Cooperation. The Vice Minister of Environmental Protection, Wu Xiaoqing received the award on the behalf of Chinese Government.

UNEP in ChinaNEWSLETTER

JULY-OCTOBER 2013ISSUE NO. 25

I. Good to Know p.2

• China reveals air pollution battle plan

• Building Eco-civilization: Eco-Forum Global 2013 held in Guiyang, China

• 40 billion yuan to enhance environmental supervision in 12th Five Year Plan

• 17th BASIC climate change meeting appeals for financial support

• China and UK collaborate on harnessing offshore wind energy

• China’s top economic planner issues 12 measures to accelerate energy saving

• China to charge more on power to subsidize green energy

• Central China launches strategic environmental assessment

• China eyes fivefold jump in solar capacity

• China’s Five-Year Plan to treat water and soil erosion

• Facts

III. On the Calendar p.13

• UNEP Finance Initiative 2013 Global Roundtable to be held on12-13 November in Beijing, China

• The China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) Annual General Meeting 2013 to be held on13-15 November in Beijing, China

• The 10th Board Meeting of UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development to be held on 11 November in Beijing, China

UN Under Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, Mr. Achim Steiner, praised China’s leadership on a wide range of activities contributing to a green economy transition and South-South Cooperation at the 2013 Eco-Forum Global in Guiyang, China.

II. UNEP On the Ground p.6

• The Global South-South Development Expo 2013 and China

• Kubuqi International Desert Forum: UN and partners renew efforts to promote green economy in drylands

• Winners of the Chinese Children’s Painting Competition on the Environment

• UNEP Goodwill Ambassador Li Bingbing uses sculpture and a social media campaign to highlight the plight of elephants

• Technology and experience on dryland agriculture and ecosystem sustainability shared internationally

• UNEP Coordinator for the Ecosystem Management Programme visits Chongming Eco-Construction Project

• Tongji’s “Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education” Programme

• Sino-African Summer School of Tongji University visits UNEP Headquarters

China reveals air pollution battle plan

China has vowed to use a multi-pronged approach to tackle the country’s air pollution, according to a government action plan unveiled in September.

China aims to cut its total coal consumption to below 65 percent of its total primary energy use by 2017 as part of the country’s efforts to accelerate adjusting its energy structure and increase its clean energy supply, says the Plan.

New projects set to be constructed in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and both the Yangtze Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions will be banned from setting up their own coal-fired power plants, it says.

By 2017, the total capacity of China’s nuclear power reactors in operation will reach 50 mil-lion kilowatts, and the share of non-fossil fuel energy will be raised to 13 percent in overall primary energy use, the Plan adds.

Under the Plan, the country is also eyeing some 20 percent cut in energy consumption per unit of industrial value added by 2017, compared to 2012.

The new Plan will see 1.7 trillion yuan, or more than US$ 276 billion, invested over the next five years to battle air pollution. An estimated 2 trillion yuan will also be put in to enhance the monitoring of drinking water sources and control poisonous contaminants as part of a water pollution prevention and control action plan.

The Chinese government said combined heat and power plants will gradually replace decen-tralized coal-fired boilers in industry clusters of chemical engineering, papermaking, dyeing and tanning for the sake of emissions cuts.

China will also quicken construction of desulfurization, denitrification and dedusting facili-ties in coal-fired plants, steel mills and cement plants, it added.

The Plan calls for technological upgrades of refineries to improve the quality of fuel oil, which affects vehicle emissions.

The government aims to clear heavy-polluting “yellow-label” vehicles from roads across the country by 2017.

As part of a broader air pollution campaign, China will promote the transformation and up-grading of industries, and further tighten control over high-polluting and energy-intensive industries.

page 2I. GOOD TO KNOWUNEP IN CHINA

NEWSLETTERJULY-OCTOBER 2013

40 Billion Yuan to enhance environmental supervision in 12th Five

Year Plan

China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, the National

Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the 12th Five-Year Plan on Capacity Building for Environmental Supervision (2011 – 2015) in August.

The Plan states that 40 billion yuan (about US$ 6.57 billion) will be invested into three major programs for infrastructure, support system and human resources in the fields of pollution sources and total pollution reduction supervision, environment monitoring and assessment, early warning and emergency response system, and infrastructure improvement for environmental supervision and management.

Focusing on the reduction of total pol-lution, environmental quality improve-ment, risk control and infrastructure improvement, the Plan aims to build up capacity in environmental monitoring, supervision, early warning, emergency response, environmental information and statistics, assessment, science and technology and education and public awareness in a bid to enhance the envi-ronmental supervision capability.

The Plan requires that the rate of standard equipment in environmental supervising institutions at county level will reach 85% by 2015, 90% at municipal level and 95% at provincial level.

TONGUE ORCHID by Sandra Batorcha

EARTH - BLOSSOMING BLUE FLOWER OF LIFE:First prize winner of the Chinese Children’s Painting Competition 2013

Building Eco-civilization: Eco-Forum Global 2013 held in Guiyang, China

T he Eco-Forum Global 2013 was held from 19-21 July in Guiyang in southern Guizhou province with the theme of “Building Eco-Civilization: Green Transformation and Tran-

sition – green industry, green urbanization and green consumption led sustainable devel-opment.” Among the outcomes of the forum was the adoption of the Guiyang Consensus, which recommended that the issue of eco-civilization be included in the UN Post-2015 De-velopment Agenda.

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the forum and stressed that eco-logical progress and building a beautiful China is an important part of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. He added that China will commit to its international obligations and work with countries around the world to build an eco-civilization for a better Earth.

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli gave a speech at the opening ceremony. He said building an eco-civilization is of great significance to China’s construction of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. “It is also conductive to the sustainable development of the world.” he added.

UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, Mr. Achim Steiner, praised China’s leadership on a wide range of activities contributing to the transition to a Green Economy and South-South Cooperation, and said “China’s concept of eco-civilization also echoes to a further dimension that should not be ignored, namely the cultural and spiritual values of nature and human dignity within societies.”

The Guiyang Consensus proposed policy measures for promoting green development and industrial transition, accelerating inclusive development and the restoration and rehabilita-tion of the environment, and strengthening environmental governance, as well as the pub-licity of ecologically-oriented values.

Swiss President Ueli Maurer, Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, Tongan Prime Min-ister Siale’ataonga Tu’ivakano, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Nivatthamrong Boonsongpaisal and former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi attended the opening ceremony and de-livered keynote speeches. The Eco-Forum has brought together over 4,000 environmental experts, NGOs and business leaders, as well as decision makers from home and abroad.

Founded in 2009, the Eco Forum Global, is an independent international organization com-mitted to promoting the sharing of knowledge and experience in the implementation of policies regarding green economic transformation and ecological security.



China’s Top Economic Planner issues 12

measures to accelerate energy saving

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top

economic planner, published 12 measures to accelerate energy saving and emissions reduction this year.

China plans to cut energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by over 3.7 percent by the end of 2013.

The NDRC’s new measures stressed closing down outdated and excessive production capacity and promoting green products and technology, as well as enhancing supervision.

The NDRC urged improvements be made to economic policies to establish a pricing mechanism for oil products and natural gas and implement differential prices for electricity and water.

The NDRC, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Energy Administration, will list companies with over-capacity for steel, cement, electrolytic aluminum, and flat glass industries.

The listed outdated equipment and production lines will be closed down before the end of September and be demolished before the end of December, with location changes prohibited, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the country will continue promoting new energy, green buildings, energy saving in urban areas and replacement or upgrades of coal-fired boilers.Visitors peruse an eco-product exhibition at the Eco-Forum Global on July 17 in Guiyang, capital of

southwest China’s Guizhou Province.

China and UK collaborate on harnessing offshore wind energy

The United Kingdom and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on off-shore wind power in September, the first of its kind that China has signed with another

country.

The enhanced cooperation is built upon the bilateral Energy Dialogue that was initiated in 2010 wherein both countries identified offshore wind as a priority area for United Kingdom-China collaboration.

Existing bilateral cooperation on climate change and energy includes extensive joint work supporting the development of carbon markets in China, China’s low carbon pilot cities on policy development, standards and capacity building, joint research in renewable energy technologies and climate change adaptation.

The MoU is expected to remove the technological and market barriers for both countries to boost wind power development and unleash significant investment potential for industries. Both countries have agreed to cooperate more closely in their policy development, technol-ogy transfer, personnel training, and to increase access to the markets in the United Kingdom, China, and other countries.

China currently is the world’s third largest offshore wind power installer after the United King-dom and Denmark, but its target to increase offshore wind capacity to 30GW by 2020 will make it the largest global offshore wind market.



China to charge more on power to subsidize green

energy

China began to raise tariffs on power for subsidies for renewable energy

starting from September 25 in a bid for better air quality. The charge on power for clean energy will increase to 0.0024 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour.

The price adjustment will exclude residen-tial and agricultural power, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said.

The NDRC also announced it would im-prove subsidies for power plants on deni-tration by 20% and add a new subsidy of 0.0125 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour to power plants which cut dust emissions below 30 milligram per cubic meter.

China eyes fivefold jump in solar capacity

China is aiming for a fivefold increase in solar power generating capacity

by 2015 to shore up domestic solar panel makers struggling with overcapacity.

The country aims to install about 10 gi-gawatts of solar capacity annually from 2013-2015, bringing the total to more than 35GW by the end of 2015, accord-ing to a statement issued by the country’s State Council in August.

Boosting the domestic market will help Chinese solar panel makers – the world leader in this industry due to well-developed supply chains and economies of scale, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Energy and Massachusetts Institute of Technology – to cut their reliance on foreign markets at a time when trade disputes with Europe and the United States are hitting China’s exports.

17th BASIC climate change meeting appeals for financial supportMinisters from Brazil, South Africa, India and China, also known as the BASIC countries,

issued a joint statement on climate change at a press conference following the 17th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change in October in China.

The joint statement stressed that an agreement on finance will be the key to the success of the forthcoming Warsaw Climate Change Conference. They urged developed countries to fulfill their financing pledges to developing countries in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner, with firm and secured commitments of funding from 2013 to 2020 and a clear roadmap to provide US$100 billion per year by 2020.

Xie Zhenhua, Vice Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, highlighted the importance of the funding by explaining that only with such funding can developing countries take action in adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer as well as capacity building.

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Facts



Central China launches strategic environmental

assessment

A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has been initiated in August for

China’s central regions, a major breadbas-ket, to balance economic development and environmental protection. The SEA en-tails research on the law and methods that are used to govern or ensure food security, safety of water basin ecology, and safety of human settlements, according to an official.

The move will integrate ecological ideas into central China’s urbanization and bring about a proper layout of development projects, said Wu Xiaoqing, Vice Minister of of Environmental Protection of China.

China’s central regions include six provinces of Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunan, which face a number of problems preventing their long-term development.

China’s Five-Year Plan to treat water & soil erosion

The Ministry of Water Resources an-nounced a plan to treat water and soil

loss problems over the next five years. The plan, covering 279 counties across 20 pro-vincial-level regions, aims to treat water and soil losses over 30,000 square kms of land during 2013-2017.

It is expected that 70% of the land affected by such problems will be treated and the forest coverage ratio in these regions will be raised to 50%. The project will boost economic growth in local regions and en-vironmental protection.

Thirteen million residents will be lifted out of poverty through the expansion of farm-land and forest covered under the Plan.

Since the first launch of such projects in 1983, over 58,300 square kms of land af-fected by water and soil losses have been treated.

294 billionChina’s investment in renewable energy during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) will reach 1.8 trillion yuan (US$ 294 billion) in addition to 2.3 trillion yuan being spent on energy-saving and reducing harmful emissions to realize a commitment to cope with climate change.

28 % About 28% of China’s national total energy is provided by renewable energy by the end of 2012.

1500 square km China’s desertification situ-ation has been overturned, and about 1,500 square km of desert is turned into greenery every year.

50 % From 2013 to 2015, vendors of self-produced power products using solar energy will receive immediate refunds of 50 % of the value-added taxes.

4.8 billion China’s Tibet Autono-mous Region will invest US$ 4.8 billion in an af-forestation project (2014-2030) to cover six major rivers in the region.

93800 China has set the maxi-mum amount of rare earths for the exploration at 93,800 metric tons for 2013 to curb environmental degradation and protect resources.

10 % The average spot price at six major coal shipping ports in northern China in July fell to US$ 93 per ton, down 10 % from the beginning of 2013, indicating slowdown in fossil fuel dependence and a transition towards green energy.

300 millionSince the Shelter Forest System Programme in Three-North Regions of China (the Northeast, North and Northwest) launched in 1978, sedi-ment eroded by the Yellow River is reduced by 300 million tons yearly.

BooksResource Efficiency: Economics and Outlook for China:

China’s rate of economic development and social progress in recent decades has been extraordinarily rapid. As is generally the case when a nation industrializes and urbanizes, China’s rapidly improving material standards of living have come with a greatly increased per capita demand for natural resources, and a corresponding increase in the environmental pressures associated with extracting, processing and using these natural resources.

China International Energy Cooperation Report (2012-2013) - Development of International Energy Finance and Its Implications to China:

This report reviews the energy cooperation between China and the world and summarizes the features of China’s international energy cooperation in terms of products, partners, and approaches of cooperation.

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UN presented Chinese government South-South and TriangularCooperation Champion AwardThe UN highly praised the Chinese Government for its continuous and substantial contribution to South-South development in the

context of green economy and sustainable development during the closing ceremony of the GSSD Expo 2013.

John Ashe, the 68th President of the United Nations General Assembly hosted the closing ceremony. Wu Xiaoqing, China’s Vice Minister of Environmental Protection, Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, Mariyam Shakeela, Maldives Minister of Environment and Energy attend the closing ceremony and delivered speeches.

“China, like many developing countries, is challenged with the issue of balancing environmental and economic development. But in the global development dialogue in South-South Cooperation, China shows the world significant efforts have been made in the green transi-tion in the economy.” Achim Steiner said, “The Chinese government encourages enterprises to forge a path towards clean production. That is the requirement of China’s ecological civilization, which indicates that China’s future development will be built on the environment – economic balance, the concept of which serves as the baseline. The balance is a great opportunity for China as well as other countries faced with development bottleneck,” he added.

Wu Xiaoqing said that the successful conclusion of the Expo demonstrates to the world the solidarity and friendship among developing countries in an effort towards the commonly shared vision of synchronic prosperity. He commented that South-South Cooperation will continue to play an active role in international affairs. He hopes developing countries can further strengthen multi-channel dialogues and cooperation, promote an inclusive Green Economy and poverty eradication, and facilitate sustainable development that integrates social, economic and environmental progress.

The United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation awarded the Chinese government the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Champion Award to honor the contribution made by the Chinese government in promoting South-South cooperation, especially in the cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Africa and other regions. Vice Minister, Wu Xiaoqing received the award on behalf of Chinese Government.

For more information: [email protected]

II. UNEP ON THE GROUND page 6

About the GSSD Expo

The GSSD Expo is a UN system-wide global high-profile event for South-South Cooperation. It was launched in 2008, by the UN Office for South-South Cooperation in its capacity as the General Assembly-mandated global and UN system-wide facilitator of South-South and Triangular Cooperation.

With the motto ‘Solutions, Solutions and Solutions’, the GSSD Expo is designed to showcase and scale up the impact of successful evidence-based solutions developed by developing countries in addressing various development challenges.

With the overaching theme Building Inclusive Green Economies: South-South Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication, the GSSD Expo 2013 was an occasion to demonstrate the collective response of the UN system to relevant provisions of the Rio+20 outcome document and its capacity to facilitate South-South Cooperation and an exchange of experiences in green economies.

GSSD Expo 2013 saw over 1,500 delegates, from more than 150 countries, 29 UN agencies, and more than 100 private sector, civil society and academic institutions in Nairobi, kenya. This is the first time that the United Nations Global South-South Development Expo was held in a developing country.

UNEP IN CHINANEWSLETTER

JULY-OCTOBER 2013

Global South-South Development Expo 2013 and China



JULY-OCTOBER 2013

Sharing lessons in the South on ecological civilization and green transformationThe Forum on Ecological Civilization and Green Transformation was held at UNEP Headquarters during the recent GSSD Expo 2013.

Government and non-governmental institutional leaders shared knowledge and experiences in the Forum for promoting sustainable development and South-South Cooperation.

Wu Xiaoqing, the Vice Minister of Environmental Protection of China said: “The concept of ecological civilization in achieving a beautiful China integrates all aspects of economic, political, cultural and social construction, which requires the synchronic devel-opment of environmental protection and economic transition from an extensive to an intensive mode with an emphasis on green development.”

Ecological civilization and green transition are com-monly shared by Chinese policy makers and econom-

ic planners. China continues to develop the concept of ecological civilization to further unearth an appropriate balance between human well-being and nature for global sustainability.

“A transformational agenda is emerging in China which will influence development thinking across the planet. This Forum has assembled some of the frontline thinkers and policy-makers in terms of not just talking about the sustainable development paradigm, but also about the necessity to do things differently”, said UN Under Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner.

This Forum was convened by the UNEP-International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP-IEMP) with support from the Secretariat of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) and UNEP. Experiences from other coun-tries were also shared by Judy Wakhungu, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Water and Natural Resources and Jan Ilavsky, Slova-kian State Secretary of the Ministry of Environment. Over 200 high-level delegates from governments, non-governmental institutions, the private sector and other stakeholders attended the forum.

The CCICED is an international advisory body established in 1992 by the Chinese government to carry out policy studies and provide recommendations to the government. For more information: [email protected]

UNEP-Tongji GE Textbook and Piloting Project launched

UNEP and Tongji University signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Green Economy (GE) Textbook and Piloting Project to promote global higher education on the Green Economy. This project will share the GE theories and practices through the network of Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability (GUPES) and the Regional Offices of UNEP so as to enhance

the understanding of youth towards sustainable production andconsumption and green development in regions, countries and the world.

Zhou Zuyi, the Chairman of Tongji Council, said: “Green and sustainable development requires advanced education in universities, which shoulder vital responsibility to dis-seminate environmentally sustainable development concepts and technology.”

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, ensured Tongji of UNEP’s support to this project. “The younger generation’s role in the Green Economy and sustainable development should be highly valued. The integration of GE into higher education will promote the post-2015 Agenda and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, “he said.

The GE textbook will be compiled by experts from both home and abroad, and is sched-uled to be completed in the second half of 2015.

Li Fengting, Vice Dean of UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development (IESD) was hon-oured by the United Nations for his Special Contribution to South-South and Triangular Cooperation, espe-cially for his contribution to the UNEP-China-Africa program. Under his leadership, IESD conducted more than 50 training programs for nearly 3,000 representatives from governments, NGOs, academia and enter-prises on environmental technology and sustainable development.

During the mission to Africa, Tongji signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UN Human Settle-ments Programme with the purpose to collaborate on sustainable urban planning. The Tongji delegation also visited the projects of the second-phase construction of the African Union Conference Center, the Chi-nese Embassy to Tanzania and the projects on sustainable development education in Addis Ababa University and Zanzibar University.

For more information: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]



JULY-OCTOBER 2013

Academia Partnership Forum explores the role of higher educationsustainable development

The Academia Partnership Forum discussed the role of higher education as a transformative agent in sustainable development when it comes to issues such as capacity building, research, technologicaly innovation in the field of climate change adaptation, deforestation

and degradation and low-carbon campuses. The Forum stressed that results would be achieved through South-South Cooperation.

Discussion in the Forum revolved around Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) Curriculum Source-book, Capacity Development for Climate Change (C3D+), sustainability indicators for universities and South-South Cooperation in higher education for sustainability.

Elizabeth Mrema, Officer- in Charge of UNEP’s Division of Environmental Policy Implementation (DEPI), emphasized UNEP’s enhanced engagement with universities through the Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability (GUPES) through education, training and networking.

Mahesh Pradhan, Chief of the Environmental Education and Training Unit (EETU) of DEPI concluded the Forum and highlighted the role of higher education in promoting South-South partnerships through cooperation among partners.

Zhou Zuyi, the Chairman of Tongji University Council, made a closing remark and streesed that Tongji will conntinue to work with other institutes and universities throught the network of GUPES in promoting the education and research of sustainable development.

As the Partnership Forum was exclusively for academia and education in the Global South-South Development Expo 2013, this Forum was hosted by EETU to enhance the engagement with universities through GUPES.

The Forum was attended by over 70 representatives from academia, policymaking groups makers, civil society and international organiza-tions.

For more information: [email protected]

By Chinese artist Dong Xiyuan

Kubuqi International Desert Forum: UN and partners renew efforts to promote Green Economy in drylandsTackling desertification and harnessing the economic opportunities from renewable energy,

desert tourism and other sustainable development projects in drylands are the focus of new agreements signed by UNEP and partners in China.

Renewed collaboration between UNEP, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertifica-tion (UNCCD) and China’s Elion Foundation was announced at the conclusion of the Kubuqi International Desert Forum - the only international forum dedicated to supporting the green development of the world’s deserts, held in Inner Mongolia. At the Forum, UNEP signed Memo-randum of Understanding with the Foundation that aim to improve the management of dryland ecosystems.

The Elion Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports desertification control, local community development and education in the Kubuqi region (China’s seventh largest desert) and beyond.

Collaboration will include support for pilot projects in China, Mongolia, and other countries in Central Asia, including payment for ecosystem services projects, as well as investments in initia-tives to improve the sharing of knowledge, technology and data on desertification between developing countries.

“Desertification continues to be an important challenge for China, but investments by govern-ment and the private sector have led to some major successes, including the reversal of deserti-fication trends in some regions,” said UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

“As demonstrated by companies attending this forum, there are major economic opportunities in a desert green economy. By investing in natural capital, ecological restoration projects and clean technologies, businesses can tap into new markets in desert tourism, renewable energy and other sectors. When managed sustainably, such actions can stem the tide of desertification, and support healthy, productive ecosystems in the world’s drylands,” added Mr. Steiner.

During the Forum, UNEP led a special session for Chinese entrepreneurs entitled ‘Investing in Natural Capital to Create Corporate Value’. The event included a presentation of UNEP’s recent GEO-5 for Business report.

Mr. Steiner also held a bilateral meeting with Minister Wan Gang of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and Minister Zhao Shucong of the State Forestry Administration.

Over 300 delegates from governments, businesses, and environmental organizations attended the Kubuqi International Desert Forum, including Yukio Hatoyama, the Former Prime Minister of Japan, and Mike Moore, the Former Prime Minister of New Zealand.

UNCCD Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja also signed a five-year strategic cooperation plan with the Elion Foundation at the event to facilitate international efforts to combat desertification.

For more information: [email protected], [email protected]


UNEP Coordinator for the Ecosystem Management

Programme visits Chong-ming Eco-island Project

To facilitate the international assessment of Eco-Chongming Island Project, Ak-

pezi Ogbuigwe, UNEP Coordinator for the Ecosystem Management Prgramme, visited Chongming Island with the accompany of project officers of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission and Tongji Univer-sity in July.

Ms. Ogbuigwe emphasized the important role that circular farming and ecological breeding technology plays in the Chong-ming eco-construction. She suggested the experience of Chongming could be repli-cated in developing countries and similar regions.

The on-site survey focused on eco-system management, the living environment, energy-efficient technologies and eco-agri-culture. Ms. Ogbuigwe visited the Dongtan wetlands, the migratory birds reserve, the eco-construction of Yingdong village, Ma-hota ecological farm, and Chenjia Town’s eco-building using 10 energy-efficient tech-nologies.

Ms. Ogbuigwe spoke highly of the ecological construction in Chongming Island and agreed on the significance of ecological construction and sustainable development, which not only meet today’s needs but also consider the welfare for future generations.

UNEP was invited by the Shanghai Govern-ment in 2010 to provide technical advice to the Chongming Eco-Island construction and the Shanghai EXPO.

The Chongming Eco-Island Assessment Re-port will be released in January, 2014.

UNEP’s work in China is growing and getting more visibility. Since 2008, Mr. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, has been the Senior Advisor on Environmental Protection and Contruction of Shanghai’s Mayor.

For more information: [email protected], [email protected],


JULY-OCTOBER 2013



JULY-OCTOBER 2013

Winners of Chinese Children’s Painting Competition on the Environment

UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner emphasized the im-portance of joint efforts on three layers, i.e. countries, communities and schools, in the chil-

dren’s environmental protection education at the Awarding Ceremony of the Chinese Children’s Painting Competition on the Environment 2013 at UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, in July.

Winning artists were selected out of over 630,000 Chinese schoolchildren who entered this year’s competition received their prizes for their outstanding understanding of the theme “Water: Where does it come from”.

Following the ceremony, the schoolchildren and their teachers visited the Maasai Mara wildlife reserve, and took part in a joint painting activity with children from the MCEDO-Beijing School in the Mathare slum.

The painting competition is part of the Chinese Children’s Environmental Education Programme, supported by UNEP and the Luo Hong Environment Fund and organised by China’s Holiland Com-pany.

As part of the initiative, a course on environmental awareness was carried out in Chinese schools. This year, over 3 million children participated in the programme. Around 20,000 teachers have also received training on the environment and sustainable development.

Each year, the Chinese Children’s Environmental Education Programme designs a special course for the prize winners of the painting competition. The course aims to equip the young artists with the knowledge and confidence to become future environmental leaders, and to encourage their peers to take an active interest in biodiversity, sustainable lifestyles and other issues.

Since 2007, this Programme has trained 70,000 teachers through lectures and on-line train-ing courses on environmental protection and over 15.9 million students finished training pro-grammes. The winner’s paintings exhibition has seen over 50 million people.


Sino-African Summer School of Tongji Univer-

sity visits UNEP HQs

Tongji University’s Sino-African Summer School visited UNEP Headquarters in

Nairobi, Kenya, in August. Both Tongji and UNEP agreed that partnerships on trans-formative innovations and education will ensure sustainable development, and that UNEP-Tongji collaboration in the water quality guidelines and global water assess-ment serves as an example for African re-search capacity-building.

UNEP’s Division of Environmental Policy Implementation (DEPI) introduced UNEP policies, projects and approaches on eco-system management, sustainable urban development, natural forest resource use in Africa, sustainable watershed manage-ment and higher environmental educa-tion.

The Tongji team gave an overview on the current environment situation in China and green campus program strategies employed by the university. Its green initiatives strive to promote resource effi-ciency (water and energy) and ecosystem management (artificial marshes and green buildings) within the campus.

The Sino-African Summer School’s visit to UNEP was attended by nearly 50 partici-pants from the College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University and UNEP-DEPI Guest Speakers.

The Summer School also carried out field research on waste-water treatment, urban-ization, and ecology and wildlife conserva-tion in the Nairobi Water Company, Ruai Sewage Company, Nairobi University, and Maasai Mara wildlife reserve.

For more information: [email protected]; [email protected]

2013 first prize winners’s painting (from left to right):Auction of the last bucket of water; Where has the water gone?



JULY-OCTOBER 2013

UNEP Goodwill Ambassador Li Bingbing uses sculpture and a social media cam-paign to highlight the plight of elephants

Global film star Li Bingbing, the UNEP National Goodwill Ambassador for China, has joined

dozens of other celebrities and artists to create a sculpture as part of an art exhibition highlighting the plight of the Asian elephant.

The actress had already joined UNEP in its cam-paign to reduce demand for ivory, which has led to the decimation of elephant herds in recent years in Africa and Asia.

Ms. Li took time out from shooting her latest film to join the Elephant Parade, which asks artists to design and hand paint a life-size model of a baby elephant for display in open-air exhibitions.

Her own designed elephant, which is displayed in Dana Point, California, is a sad-eyed baby painted with a tree from which 100 apricot flowers blom-ing-symbolizing freedom of life, thought and ex-pression.

“Any place where fresh flowers can bloom like this means there is ample vegetation and water,” she said. “That’s all elephants need to survive, and people should restore that for them. The threat of extinction is more real than many realize.”

Li Bingbing’s elephant sculpture (the second on from the right) on display in California

The Asian elephant population is believed to have shrunk to less than 3,500 from 35,000 in 1960. The situation in Africa is just as grim. Earlier this year, Bingbing travelled to Kenya to highlight the recent spike in poaching in Africa.

“Many consumers in Asia do not realize that by buying ivory, they are playing a role in the illegal wildlife trade and its serious consequences,” she said during the trip. “As global citizens, we need to take responsibility by learning more about the potential impacts of our lifestyle choices.”

To urge greater effort by governments and consumers to combat illegal wildlife trade, the actress and her studio also initiated the social media campaign on China’s leading social media service , Weibo, entitled ”Say No to Ivory”.

A variety of approaches are being used in the anti-poaching campaign including text messages, photos, videos, prizes and quizzes which pushed the message to become one of the ‘hottest top-ics’ on Weibo list for four days. By end of last June, there were 417, 937 tweets about# Say No to Ivory# on the Sina network and UNEP is branded in more than half of these tweets. To date, Ms. Li has managed to mobilize 1.5 million people to join her campaign against the illegal wildlife trade.

For more information: http://www.unep.org/gwa/

Powerful posters bring the wildlife protection

message to millions on the Shanghai metro

A major poster campaign aimed at sensitizing the public to the true cost

of illegal trade in wildlife products such as ivory and rhino horn is reaching millions of travellers on the Shanghai metro system each day.

The recent spike in elephant killings in Africa, now at their highest levels in around a decade, is threatening the future of some elephant populations and the livelihoods of millions of people linked to tourism.

Demand for illegal ivory remains highest in the rapidly growing economies of Asia. Large-scale seizures of ivory destined for Asia have doubled since 2009. Weak governance at the source, transit and destination countries is also contributing to the problem.

Shanghai, one of China’s most-populous cities with estimated 24 million inhabitants, in February pledged to use its resources to sensitize the public to the work of the UNEP.

As part of the agreement, the city agreed to use its large-screen displays in the city centre and posters in stations of the extensive Shanghai metro rail network to demonstrate UNEP’s prioritized themes, including the campaign for wildlife protection being run in conjunction with CITES and the GoodPlanet Foundation.

There are now twenty posters in five different stations, and they will remain there until late December. The Shanghai metro is one of the busiest in the world, carrying almost 2.3 billion passengers in 2012.

For more information: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]



JULY-OCTOBER 2013

Technology and experience on dryland agriculture and ecosystem sustainability shared internationallyThe 2013 International Workshop on Dryland Agriculture and Ecosystem Sustainability was

convened in China’s Lanzhou University in collaboration with the UN Environment Pro-gramme (UNEP) in October. The latest theories and practices on dryland agriculture, food secu-rity, and regional ecosystem sustainable development were shared among representatives from China, Ethiopia, Kenya and Pakistan.

Experts from Lanzhou University introduced Chinese knowhow on water-harvesting agriculture with African countries to improve the productivity and sustainable development of fragile arid and semi-arid agro-ecosystems during field trips to local farms equipped with rain-harvesting systems.

Lanzhou University is the leader of the sub-project of “Development and demonstration of water-saving techniques for dryland agriculture and agricultural mapping in Africa” as part of the China-Africa Cooperation Program on the Environment. The sub-project aims to share the Chinese relevant experiences and technology on water-harvesting agriculture with African countries to improve the productivity and sustainable development of fragile arid and semi-arid agro-ecosystems.

Mohamed Abdel-Monem, UNEP’s Regional Team Leader for Ecosystem Management, recog-nized the University’s efforts in China-Kenya water saving agricultural collaboration, which rep-resents a successful story of South-South Cooperation to cope with climate change and food security.

Lanzhou University and the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology signed an agreement to co-establish the China-Kenya Research Center for Arid Agricultural Ecology, to build new research for securing support for sustainable agricultural and ecological research.

18 experts and 10 young scientists attend this workshop with the theme of “improving rainwater resource use efficiency and ecosystem management sustainability in dry area”.


Tongji’s “Education for Sustainable Development

in Higher Education”Programme

The International Training Programme on “Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Higher Education” in Asia was completed in UNEP-Tongji Institute of En-vironment for Sustainable Development (IESD) in October.

Trainees of this programme learned the UNEP ESD Curriculum Innovation Guide-lines, Tongji’s theory and practice in ESD, community service and green campus ini-tiatives and the experiences in sustainable development in local industries through lectures and on-site visits.

Jiang Bo, Vice President of Tongji Univer-sity, and Viktoria Li, Consul General of the Consulate General of Sweden in Shanghai, inaugurated the programme.

During the two weeks’ programme, ex-perts on urban planning, water manage-ment, sustainable development, green economy, health care and bio-pharmacy delivered lectures. Discussions were also integrated in the programmes for trainees to exchange views and share experiences.

Trainees visited Happy Farm and Ecologi-cal park, Tongji University’s Projects of So-lar Decathlon and traditional Chinese Gar-den in Suzhou City and exchanged views with experts on green urban planning and agriculture.

This programme is in support of the ongo-ing UN Decade of Education for Sustaina-ble Development, 2005-2014. The ITP-ESD is financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, and is organized jointly by UNEP and NIRAS Natura AB, in partnership with IESD in Asia and Rhodes University in Africa.

The 2013 regional training programme consists of 30 participants and co-partici-pants from the governmental and educa-tional sectors of Bangladesh, Cambodia, China and Indonesia.


Right: the group photo of Training Program on ‘Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education’ 2013

III. ON THE CALENDAR page 13


JULY-OCTOBER 2013

UNEP Finance Initiative 2013 Global Roundtable (GRT) 12-13 November 2013, Beijing, China

The Global Roundtable (GRT) is the flagship biennial event of UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) that brings together high-level representatives from financial institutions, governments, regu-lators, civil society, academia and the scientific community to galvanize action on sustainable finance. This year’s theme is Financing the Future We Want: China, Emerging Markets and the World Economy.

The China Council for International Cooperation on Environ-ment and Development Annual General Meeting 201313-15 November 2013, Beijing, China

The China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) An-nual General Meeting 2013 is themed ‘Environment and Society for Green Development’. The CCICED is an international advisory body established in 1992 by the Chinese government to carry out policy studies and provide recommendations to the government.

Cattleya-by Chinese artist Xiao Yingmei

Published by China DeskRegional Support Office/UNEP Contact: [email protected]

http://www.unep.org/Chinese/

By Chinese calligrapher Zhang Biao

The 10th Board Meeting of UNEP-Tongji Institute of En-vironment for Sustainable Development11 November 2013, Beijing, China

The 10th board meeting of UNEP-Tongji Insti-tute of Environment for Sustainable Develop-ment (IESD) of Tongji University will be held to review the development of IESD in 2013 and challenges as well. The cooperation on the key labs of climate change adaption and chemical risk assessment will be discussed.

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