UNEP TECHNOLOGY CENTRE IN JAPAN WILL HAVE WORLD-WIDE WEB HOMEPAGE ON INTERNET BEGINNING 15 FEBRUARY
Press Release
HE/924
UNEP TECHNOLOGY CENTRE IN JAPAN WILL HAVE WORLD-WIDE WEB HOMEPAGE ON INTERNET BEGINNING 15 FEBRUARY
19960205 OSAKA/NEW YORK, 5 February (UNEP) -- Beginning 15 February, the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC), which facilitates the North-South and South-South transfer of environmentally sound technologies, will have a World-Wide Web homepage on the Internet at: http://www.unep.or.jp/.Visitors to the new Web site will find several sub-menus, including an introduction to IETC, news and events, publications, information sources on environmentally sound technologies and environmental technology related organizations. The IETC homepage will be complemented by a searchable database on environmentally sound technologies and a comments and suggestions box for users with ideas on how to add valuable information on the rapidly changing area of developing, transferring and applying those technologies.
The creation of the Centre was called for by the sixteenth session of the UNEP Governing Council in May 1991 to strengthen the Programme's work in managing large cities and their freshwater resources. Since its opening in April 1994, the Centre has been responding to the tremendous need for green technologies in cities of developing countries and of those with economies in transition. The cities require access to those technologies to achieve sustainable development, but their capacities to make informed decisions is often compromised by the lack of knowledge about the technologies.
The Centre serves as an intermediator between sources and users of environmentally sound technologies by bringing together all interested parties in a variety of forums. The Centre's main objective is to build the partnerships necessary to assist governments in addressing environmental problems that threaten quality of life and freshwater resources for urban development. For example, the Centre is working with the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) on the joint sustainable cities programme, which seeks to enhance the environmental planning and management capacities of the world's metropolises. Its main contribution is the development of ecological risk assessment criteria which provides the scientific basis for the priorities identified in local Agenda 21 initiatives, and a joint effort with UNEP's Industry and Environment Programme Activity Centre to develop environmental technology assessment methods for addressing environmental problems.
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In the 1996-1997 biennium, the Centre plans to produce an overview of existing environmentally sound technology information sources; a prototype database of information on those technologies; a quarterly newsletter, a technical publication series; local Agenda 21 documents for selected cities; action plans for sustainable management of selected lake/reservoir basins; training needs assessment surveys; and training materials for technology management of large cities and lake/reservoir basins.
The Centre operates as an integrated entity from two locations in Japan -- Osaka and Shiga -- and is supported in implementing its activities by two Japanese institutions well known on the international scene -- the Global Environment Centre Foundation, specializing in urban problems; and the International Lake Environment Committee Foundation whose expertise lies in the management of freshwater resources.
The Centre is closely coordinating its activities with substantive organizations within the United Nations system, including Habitat and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It also seeks partnerships with international and bilateral financial institutions; technical assistance organizations; the private, academic and non-governmental sectors; foundations; and corporations. An International Advisory Board has been established to provide policy-level advice on the Centre's strategy and the orientation of its programme to the Executive Director of UNEP.
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