UN Foundation Biodiversity Priorities
World Heritage sites (designated under the World
Heritage Convention- UNESCO, 1972) are places
of “outstanding universal value…for
whose protection it is the duty of the international
community as a whole to cooperate.” The
UN Foundation is focusing its support on the subset
of World Heritage sites recognized as containing
the most important habitats for biodiversity conservation
in the world—the world’s most wondrous
places.
Despite their international
recognition, World Heritage sites face many of
the same problems threatening biodiversity around
the globe, including habitat loss, invasive species,
over-exploitation, or pollution. Furthermore,
the status of these sites has not often translated
into national or international assistance for
their conservation, and many sites suffer from
a lack of resources.
An Integrated Approach The UN Foundation has partnered with
the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) World Heritage Centre to support and
promote the management and conservation of natural
World Heritage sites.
By nurturing World Heritage
sites, the UN Foundation hopes to help sustain
some of the planet’s most important biological
jewels while using projects in these sites to
promote replicable conservation approaches that
respond to human concerns, build greater public
urgency about the need to protect biodiversity,
and leverage increased funding for biodiversity
initiatives. The UN Foundation aims nothing short
of supporting UN leadership in conserving the
wonders of the natural world towards promoting
sustainable development.
Sustainable Energy and Climate Change
Priorities The international community has charged
the United Nations with the task of assembling
the science in order to create a process to address
climate change. The UN Foundation recognizes the
importance of international action and seeks to
identify activities that promote sustainable,
climate-friendly energy policies and practices.
We focus our climate change program on activities
that strengthen UN leadership on climate change
and energy, promote bipartisan support for climate
change action in the United States (through the
Energy Future Coalition), and take advantage of
strategic opportunities to expand global action
on climate change.
UN Leadership The UN Foundation advances UN leadership
by supporting emerging climate change policies
and promoting public-private partnerships with
UN agencies that advance innovative sustainable
energy programs, particularly in developing countries.
Through grantmaking, partnership building, and
advocacy, the UN Foundation supports strategic
UN activities that expand energy access for the
poor, promote economic development, and develop
catalytic partnerships both within and outside
the UN system. These activities support national
clean energy policies and regulatory programs,
promote clean energy technologies and energy efficiency
standards, design innovative financing mechanisms,
and build capacity to expand clean energy enterprise
development.
Much of the UN Foundation’s
grantmaking focuses on renewable energy and energy
efficiency. Renewable energy projects have focused
on demonstrating sustainable business models to
provide clean and affordable energy to the rural
poor, as small-scale renewable energy projects
are often the best way to provide remote rural
areas with modern energy services. Energy efficiency
projects have promoted market-oriented energy
conservation initiatives with strong potential
for replication.
U.S. Leadership With the support of the UN Foundation’s
sister organization, the Better World Fund, the
Energy Future Coalition is working to support
leadership on climate change and domestic energy
policy. The Energy Future Coalition is a broad-based,
nonpartisan alliance that seeks to bridge the
differences among business, labor, and environmental
leaders and identify energy policy options with
broad political support. The Energy Future Coalition
offers a platform for examining U.S. energy policy,
global dependence on oil, energy needs of the
world’s poor and the challenge of climate
change. It seeks to align a variety of U.S. constituencies
behind an agenda that advances technology, promotes
good science, and advocates for energy security.
Strategic Opportunities
In a forward-looking approach to global challenges,
the UN Foundation seeks to identify and leverage
strategic opportunities for movement on climate
and energy issues. Building on the historic Institutional
Investors Summit on Climate Risk convened in November
2003, the UN Foundation continues efforts to catalyze
innovative approaches to climate change. The Summit
brought together key pension fund managers with
$3 trillion in investments, senior Wall Street
executives, insurers, labor, environmental, and
political leaders to explore the financial risks
for countries and industries if they neglect the
threat of climate change. Chartering a new Investor
Network on Climate Risk (INCR) at the Summit,
the Network plans to develop analytic tools to
improve disclosure of financial, liability, regulatory,
and other risks related to climate change.
