Environment for Sustainable Development Programme

Sustainable Environment is one of the key elements for Sustainable Development. In line with the environment and development priorities and international commitments reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other international agendas and agreements, UNCRD's Environment Unit is currently focusing on three urban priorities - sustainable transport, 3R/circular economy, sustainable waste management, and biodiversity - that have significant impacts on the socioeconomic and bio-physical environment, and has been providing required technical assistance to developing countries at the local and national levels in following areas:

1. Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST)
2. Circular Economy/3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)/Sustainable Waste Management
3. IPLA - International Partnership for Expanding Waste Management Services of Local Authorities - a SDG partnership
4. Biodiversity

Goals

The overall goal of the Environment Unit is to address and mainstream environmental considerations in the overall development agenda and policy-making and planning at local, regional, and national levels. In this regard, the specific goals of the Environment Unit are:

1. Building capacity of local and national governments to effectively address specific environmental issues, concerns, and strategic measures in areas such as transport, waste management, agriculture, biodiversity and freshwater, among others that have significant relevance and implications in the context of sustainable regional development and achieving the SDGs;
2. Responding to emerging issues of concern, such as climate change, hazardous wastes, plastics and their impacts on human health and natural ecosystems; and
3. Fostering sound management of natural resources and environment, including community-based natural resource management, to achieve the SDGs and other international agendas and agreements such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the New Urban Agenda (NUA), the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), the Nairobi Mandate, among others.

Strategy

The strategy of the Environment Unit is to address the environment in the context of sustainable development. While the actions and/or policies at the national level have regional (development) implications (top down), the awareness or responses and actions at the local and regional levels also have significant implications at the national level (bottom up) in achieving the goals under national development agenda or action plans. Yet regional disparities continue to persist in and among many of the developing countries that hampers the achievement of the SDGs.

Focal Points

Environment Unit
Nagono 1-47-1, Nakamura-ku,
Nagoya 450-0001, JAPAN
Email: environment@uncrd.or.jp

Environment Unit Staff