Issue: 112
The scale and protracted nature of the crisis is challenging the ability of the international community to meet the continuing need for essential, life-saving humanitarian aid. It is imperative that these humanitarian efforts are coupled with a development-oriented approach to build the resilience of individuals, households, communities and institutions in affected countries.
The Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) is a global first for the United Nations (UN) in terms of its response to crises, which was launched in December 2014. It is an inclusive model for delivering an effective, comprehensive, and coordinated response which addresses, through national plans, immediate vulnerabilities, strengthens social cohesion, and builds the resilience of people, communities and national system.
The national launch of the 3RP was held on 19 March 2015 in Ankara with the participation of H.E. Ambassador Naci Koru, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Turkey, and H.E. Kamal Malhotra, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Turkey along with diplomatic and donor community and high-level representatives from other UN agencies participating in 3RP.
With the massive influx of Syrian refugees over the past four years, Turkey had become the world’s biggest refugee hosting country, and hosting currently over 1.7m registered Syrian refugees of whom around 85% of them are living outside of the camps. The UN and its partners will implement the 3RP in 2015 and 2016 to support the Government of Turkey’s protection and assistance response to meet the needs of refugees and host communities, under the regional and global leadership of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for refugee and resilience components respectively.
In his speech, H.E. Ambassador Naci Koru, Deputy Foreign Minister, underlining that the new emphasis in the 3RP on resilience while retaining the refugee component is appropriate and timely; said “We appreciate the leading role of the UNHCR on the protection of Syrian refugees. Indeed, it has been effective in ensuring protection of the internally displaced Syrians and supporting the refugees in the neighboring countries. With the resilience part of the 3RP, we are pleased that the UNDP will also be included in this process in a more effective way.”
Underlining that the financial burden on Turkey due to the Syrian humanitarian crisis is increasing day by day, with more than USD 5.2 billion spent by Turkey up until now, H.E. Ambassador Naci Koru noted, “We see 3RP 2015-2016 as an opportunity for international community to realize a fair burden-sharing which so far has not been the case.” H.E. Ambassador Naci Koru also added that since the Syrian crisis started Turkish authorities have been closely cooperating with the UN and that Turkey would spare no effort in its commitment to strengthen international cooperation with a view to better managing protecting human lives and life conditions of Syrians.
H.E. Kamal Malhotra, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Turkey, underscored the spill-over effects of the crisis on the region, especially in host countries and communities, in addition to its actual impact on the Syrian community. H.E. Kamal Malhotra then noted that the 3RP was developed against this call for a renewed, somewhat different, although equally urgent and joint effort by the international community. He also added, “The 3RP is a regionally coordinated but country-driven process which offers a collaborative platform for a humanitarian, resilience and development response to the Syrian Crisis and its spill-over effects.”
Margarita Vargas Angulo, UNHCR Assistant Representative for Programme and Supply, noted that the refugee part of the 3RP appeal is centered on core protection issues and life-saving response and that it is not an appeal to do a perfect job, but it is for the absolute minimum that is required for people in extremely dire situations. Margarita Vargas Angulo also added “The 3RP brings an opportunity for more partners to play an active role in a refugee response, and we hope by doing such, we can establish a more effective and efficient way in handling large and complex humanitarian crisis.”
Matilda Dimovska, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Turkey, stated “With the resilience approach we aim to build the capacities of households, communities and national institutional systems that have been impacted by the crisis, and provide the strategic, technical, and policy support to advance national responses.” Matilda Dimovska also added that this new approach means a wider range of response, focused more on capacity building for both communities and the institutions and it means to work with a higher number of actors, through new engagement models.
Representing a strategic shift in the approach to delivering aid for the region, 3RP brings together emergency humanitarian operations and host community support with longer-term programmes aimed at boosting resilience. The 3RP requires USD 5.5 billion in funding for 2015, of which USD 3.4 billion is for the refugee response while USD 2.1 billion is for the resilience component. Within the 3RP, Turkey’s financial requirement for 2015 is USD 624,089,475.
The International Day of Forests aims to raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests and trees outside forests on which some 1.6 billion people depend for food, fuel, shelter and income.
Three quarters of freshwater comes from forested catchments. Forests prevent landslides and erosion and – in the case of mangrove forests - reduce loss of life and damage caused by tsunamis.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said ‘For these reasons, and more, forests are integral to the post-2015 development agenda. Among their most important functions is their role in building climate-resilient societies. That is why, in this year of action for sustainable development, climate change is the theme for the International Day of Forests.’
Sustaining healthy forests and mitigating and adapting to climate change are two sides of the same coin.
Forests are the largest storehouses of carbon after oceans. The carbon they store in their biomass, soils and products is equivalent to about 10 percent of carbon emissions projected for the first half of this century.
At the same time, deforestation and land-use changes account for 17 percent of human-generated carbon dioxide emissions.
Despite the ecological, economic and social value of forests, global deforestation continues at an alarming rate – some 13 million hectares of forest are destroyed annually. This is not sustainable for people or the planet.
‘However, there are some encouraging signs. In the past decade, the rate of global deforestation has decreased by almost 20 percent, which indicates that solutions exist to reverse this destructive trend,’ added Ban Ki-moon.
‘To build a sustainable, climate-resilient future for all, we must invest in our world's forests. That will take political commitment at the highest levels, smart policies, effective law enforcement, innovative partnerships and funding. On this International Day of Forests, let us commit to reducing deforestation, sustaining healthy forests and creating a climate-resilient future for all,’ concluded Ban Ki-moon.
Activities of “Integrated Management of High Conservation Value Mediterranean Forests in Turkey” project, executed by General Directorate of Forestry and is implemented by UNDP Turkey with the financial support of GEF, was shared during a side event on “Forestry in Turkey for Sustainable Development”.
The project is known shortly as Integrated Forest Management.
The project aims to demonstrate the multiple benefits of the high conservation value forests in the Mediterranean forest region, to ensure the conservation of biodiversity and carbon storage in these areas, thus to promote integrated management approach for the management of Turkey’s forests.
Through practices that will be implemented in 500 thousand hectares of area; carbon storage capacity and emissions reductions will be increased and 80 thousand hectares of protection forest will be established.
Ecotourism activities will also be realized within the project that aims to plan non-wood products through value chain planning for creating more employment and revenues.
Through new management plans that take into account the relations between sectors in the Mediterranean region, the functions provided by forests will be strengthened in terms of climate and biodiversity.
Project pilot areas are Köyceğiz Forest Enterprise Directorate (FED), Gazipaşa FED, Gülnar FED, Pos FED, and Andırın FED.
In villages in Ardahan and Kars, range and plateau model is applied in animal husbandary. Animal droves are taken to ranges and plateaus for nearly 6 months to be fed in summer.
However, the access to fresh drinking water in pasturage areas are quite limited. Especially, it is significant to have drinking waters for animals accessible to increase the efficiency in milk and mea. Diseases of animals due to insufficient or polluted water affect negatively the animals’ environment.
Hence, in the villages of Kars and Ardahan, local dinamics were mobilized to provide drinking water for animals and to rehabilitate roads’ infrastructure in ranges and plateaus.
Financial resources, experience in rural development and project management of ‘Ardahan-Kars-Artvin Development’ project which is conducted by Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock with the implementation support of the UNDP are pooled together with technical and administrative capacities of Special Provincial Administrations.
Within the scope of the project, activities regarding drinking water for animals will be carried out in total 35 villages in Ardahan and Kars.
3759 houses will be totaly benefited by these activities in the villages where people make their livelihoods with animal husbandary and where 65,465 cattles are living.
It is aimed to increase the incomes of small-size producers and improve their access to rural production infrastructure.
Governorates and Directorate of Provincial Food Agriculture and Livestock are providing supports to these studies.
Plateau roads to be rehabiliated
For the rehabilitation of plateau roads, a total of 38,5 km work is planning to be carried out. It is expected that 1432 houses in the region will be directly influenced by these works.
Village elections, feasibility and project planning are already finished with the cooperation among institutions and constructional works will start with the construction season.
Total cost is expected to be 4,450,000 TRY.
As a result of animal drinking water in plateaus, it is aimed to increase the animal efficiency and income of people living in rural areas and making their livings on animal husbandary.
Through rehabilitation of plateau roads which farmers using to go plateaus, easiness and comfort in reaching pasturages will be provided.
In this context,with the participation of Ahmet Deniz and Günay Özdemir, Governors of Ardahan and Kars, Mustafa Tanı and Dr. Hüseyin Düzgün, Directors of Provincial Food Agriculture and Livestock, Hakkı Özgür and Akif Pektaş, Secretary Generals of Special Administration of Ardahan and Kars and Ümit Mansız, Regional Administrator of AKAKP, protocols are signed and works are began on March.
The visit is held on March as part of cooperation between Russia Standards and Labels (S&L) project and Market Transformation of Energy Efficient Appliances in Turkey Project (EE Appliances Project).
The Russian Delegation was highly interested in the laboratories developed under EE Appliances Project and stated their will to cooperate with Turkish Standards Institute (TSE) in elaborating the technical specifications, development of laboratories as well as training of testing staff for the proposed laboratory investment in Russia under Russia S&L Project.
This study visit is proposed to be followed by another one in May 2015 for senior management staff of relevant ministries like Russian Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Science and Education and Russian Testing Authority (ROSTEST) during which the Russian Delegation will visit Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Ministry of Science Industry and Technology, TSE and manufacturers’ facilities.
Announced during a session entitled 'the power of partnerships', held on the sidelines of the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held on March in Sendai, Japan, the Programme is intended to help countries achieve the goals of the Post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
UNDP used the event to highlight the key elements of the Programme, as well as to bring on board like-minded partners.
“The only way to protect development gains from disasters and to eradicate poverty is to integrate disaster risk reduction into development and to make all development risk-informed”, noted UNDP Chief Helen Clark. “Our new programme will help our partners achieve this by strengthening laws, policies and institutions that enable a comprehensive, all-of-society approach to DRR.”
Called ‘5-10-50’, the programme will support countries and communities to deliver better risk-informed development, and targets 50 countries over 10 years, with a focus on five critical areas: risk awareness and early warning; risk-governance and mainstreaming; preparedness; resilient recovery; and local/urban risk reduction.
Disasters have killed more than 1.3 million people and cost over US$2 trillion during the last two decades. UNDP’s new programme will help partners address capacity gaps, and is building on a decade of work and nearly US$2 billion of investments in DRR.
Underpinning UNDP’s targeted engagement is a new report, also launched at Sendai, titled ‘Strengthening Disaster Risk Governance: UNDP Support during the HFA Implementation Period 2005 - 2015’. The report is a review of UNDP support in 125 disaster-prone countries since 2005, and draws on detailed findings from a selection of 17 countries. The findings from the report are to be used in the development of the new programme.
Global Money Week (GMW) celebrated this year on the second week of March to teach children and youth about money, saving, creating livelihoods, gaining employment and becoming an entrepreneur through fun and interactive activities.
Every year, entire communities take action to create awareness, challenge out of date financial policies and give young people the tools and inspiration they need to shape their own future.
‘I can manage my Money’ project, which started in 2009 with partnership of Ministry of Development, UNDP, Habitat Development and Governance Association, Visa Europe Turkey and its member banks and works to increase financial awareness, organized different kind of activities in order to celebrate Global Money Week 2015.
Considering theme of ‘Save today- Safe tomorrow’, 9,000 young people were trained on how to manage their money and how to provide welfare for future generations.
‘I can Manage my Money’ project reached out 70,000 young people
With ‘I can manage my Money’ project, public institutions, private sector companies and NGOs came together for the first time in Turkey to raise financial awareness among young people.
The project offers trainings to young people between 15-35 years old to support them on budgeting their personal financial resources and efficient use of financial services.
Budgeting, financial planning, managing and combatting with informal economy, contribution of financial awareness to sustainable development trainings are given with the support of volunteer peer trainers, City Council Youth Assemblies, university clubs and local NGOs.
70,000 young people were reached out with the Project until now and online trainings, which can be found at http://paramiyonetebiliyorum.net, are completed by 26,000 people.
‘Future is in Tourism’ project is implemented in partnership with Anadolu Efes, Ministry of Culture and Tourism and UNDP.
There will be six bloggers writing, under the leadership of Saffet Emre Tonguç who is historian, travel writer and guide, on dunyalarsenin.com started within the scope of Future is in Tourism. These bloggers are Altuğ Galip, manager; Engin Kaban, travel writer; Önder Koca, Specialist on Public Administration and Political Science; Refika Birgül, writer of cookbook and columnist/TV Programmer; Birgül Saatçi, blogger; Burçin Akgün, academician and the editor of Styleboom blog.
There will also be articles written by visitor bloggers on the blog who will post on alternative tourism routes and necessary information for being a ‘Responsible Tourist’ and for being sure that travel locations ‘always remain the same’.
To see all vacancies, click here.
Editor: Faik Uyanık
Assistant: Nazife Ece
Interns: Semra Melike Koç
Contributors to this issue: Arif Mert Öztürk, Berna Bayazıt, Deniz Tapan, Kazım Hasırcı, Necmettin Tokur
© 2014 UNDP Turkey
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