United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Empowered liws. Reiilient notions.
Statement by Jacinta Barrins, UN Resident Coordinator/UN DP Resident
Representative in Turkmenistan
on behalf of Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator
at the Secretary-General's Global Sustainable Transport Conference
hosted by the Government of Turkmenistan
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
26 - 27 November 2016
Thematic discussion "Energy and Transport", 27 November 2016, 15:00-16:00
Mr. Chairman, Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,
• It is a great honour for me to participate in this historic event and
speak on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme at the
first Global Sustainable Transport Conference. I am proud that this
conference is held in Turkmenistan, where, this year, I am completing my
four and half years' tenure as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP
Resident Representative. Today, I will be speaking on behalf of the entire
organization that has presences in nearly 170 countries around the world.
1
• Last year was marked by the adoption of several historical universal
policy frameworks that will inform global development for the years to
come - the Sustainable Development Goals, The Paris Climate
Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. This year
will be remembered as the first year of implementation of the new global
development agenda. The member-states and the global development
community have been working to set up implementation frameworks,
roadmaps and sector strategies towards the achievement of the
ambitious targets.
• The transport sector has a key role in securing effective
implementation of all sustainable development goals and climate action
targets. Effective, accessible, environmentally friendly and resilient
transport services are key requirements in ending poverty and protecting
the planet.
• UNDP has been supporting the implementation of the 2030
Sustainable Development Agenda through a common approach adopted
by the UN Development Group known as the MAPS approach - for SDG
Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support. With this approach, and
through our broad development mandate, we have been working with
national governments to support policy development, road maps, and
programming, for sustainable, resilient and low carbon development.
2
• Particularly in Turkmenistan, together with other UN agencies working
in the country, we have been supporting the Government in an SDG
rollout process providing national ownership over the SDG agenda. We
are extremely proud and happy that on the 20th of September the
Government of Turkmenistan has formally adopted a list of 17
Sustainable Development Goals, 148 targets and 198 indicators to be
implemented over the next 15 years. Only a few days ago, the
Government of Turkmenistan formed an institutional structure at
ministerial senior level responsible for monitoring the progress against
these.
• UNDP in Turkmenistan also affiliated with the Government, in
particular with the Ministry of Economy and Development and the
National State Statistics Committee, to reflect the SDGs into the new
Programme of Socio-Economic Development of the President of
Turkmenistan for 2017-2021. This process is underway, and we hope, that
the new Program with SDG's integrated into it, will be soon adopted.
UNDP, along with other UN agencies, has committed to support line
ministries and institutions of central public administration to integrate
SDGs into their respective sector plans. The country is also progressing
well in building an SDG measuring system.
3
• Ladies and gentlemen, over the past 20 years, UNDP has supported
over 120 developing and middle-income countries with comprehensive
sustainable development programs focusing on energy access, renewable
energy, and energy efficiency. UNDP has been advocating for sustainable
energy in the context of broader development and poverty eradication
efforts and has been a partner of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative.
• The agenda for sustainable development and the targets for global
climate action and sustainable energy have been set against a very
difficult economic and investment background in many parts of the world.
Population growth, rapid urbanization, and climate change are creating
unprecedented pressure on our production systems, financial systems,
governance systems. It is important that national commitments to the
SDGs are a driving change in sectoral policies and investment frameworks
and helping engage private sector action. There is no better time than
today, to initiate transformative investments into new green technologies
and sectors, and into the efficiency of traditional sectors.
• Sustainable transport has a critical role in tackling the bottlenecks to
sustainable development such as inequality, poverty, unsustainable
4
consumption and production, inadequate infrastructure, unsustainable
urban development and services, climate change and environmental
degradation. It is the transport sector, that clearly demonstrates that the
sustainable development, climate change, and resilience agendas are
intrinsically interlinked and reinforcing.
• Furthermore, over the past years, the transport sector has been
coming up with the most exciting technological innovations promising big
gains in fuel efficiency and green development.
• However, despite the positive trends, the transport sector remains the
fastest growing consumer of fossil fuels and the fastest growing source of
CO2 emissions. Transportation produces roughly 23 percent of the global
CO2 emissions from fuel combustion. Within the transport sector, road
transport has the largest consumption of energy and the largest
economically viable potential for improvement.
• There is no question that all sources of finance, public and private,
domestic and international, will be required to achieve a true
5
transformation of the transport sector towards the resilient and lowcarbon
path. UNDP's portfolio addressing sustainability in the transport
sector and integrated urban sustainability has been growing over the past
years with funding from the Global Environment Facility.
• We are currently supporting 18 countries with 21 active sustainable
transport projects worth over US$ 90 million in grant financing and
almost US$ 1.4 billion in co-financing. In Egypt, for example, UNDP is
supporting the city of Cairo in the development of new, integrated
transport services. And in India, through a joint programme with the
World Bank, we are helping the Government to reduce the growth
trajectory of GHG emissions from the transport sector through policy
work, capacity building and piloting low-carbon urban transport solutions.
• In the Europe and Central Asia region, we have been implementing
urban transport initiatives in Almaty, Belgrade, Bratislava, Batumi,
Dushanbe, and in Russia's Kazan and Kaliningrad. These projects include a
range of measures from sustainable urban planning, encouraging greater
use of public transport, demonstrating green low carbon vehicles, to
specific measures like car-pooling, cycling strategies and parking
6
solutions. The 'City of Almaty Sustainable Transport' project, for example,
has supported the introduction of a light rail tram line, the development
of rapid transit bus lines and a city master plan. As a result of this project,
air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions in Almaty will be reduced by
32 percent by 2023.
• Here in Turkmenistan, we are working with the Government to design
a new innovative sustainable cities' project that will encompass
sustainable urban transportation as one of its core elements. It is
expected that the project will help the Government and city
administrations in taking a comprehensive approach regarding the
transport sector planning through enhancement of fuel efficiency
standards and targeting the root causes of the lack of exposure of citizens
to sustainability issues and practices. This will be only of our actions in
support of the low emission and climate resilient development that
Turkmenistan has embarked on with our support after signing and
ratifying the Paris Climate Agreement.
• Honourable guests, based on our experience we trust that transport
sector reforms aimed at improved fuel efficiency, increased use of public
7
transport, integrating transport and urban development planning should
be an integral part of national SDG plans and emission reduction
strategies. In addition to the global climate change benefits, effective
road transport and fuel efficiency measures deliver numerous
development benefits such as improved air quality, reduced health risks,
comfortable and resilient urban spaces for the citizen, improved business,
and trade environment.
• In conclusion of my intervention today I would like to refer again to
the global development and environment challenges faced by humanity
today. The governments, the private sector, and society need to work as
one to secure sustainable future for our next generations. The global
policy frameworks need to be transferred into implementation. Transport
sector plays the key role in delivering the required innovation,
investments, and services for resilient and low carbon future.
• Thank you for your attention
8
Statement by Jacinta Barrins, UN Resident Coordinator/UN DP Resident
Representative in Turkmenistan
on behalf of Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator
at the Secretary-General's Global Sustainable Transport Conference
hosted by the Government of Turkmenistan
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
26 - 27 November 2016
Thematic discussion "Energy and Transport", 27 November 2016, 15:00-16:00
Mr. Chairman, Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,
• It is a great honour for me to participate in this historic event and
speak on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme at the
first Global Sustainable Transport Conference. I am proud that this
conference is held in Turkmenistan, where, this year, I am completing my
four and half years' tenure as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP
Resident Representative. Today, I will be speaking on behalf of the entire
organization that has presences in nearly 170 countries around the world.
1
• Last year was marked by the adoption of several historical universal
policy frameworks that will inform global development for the years to
come - the Sustainable Development Goals, The Paris Climate
Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. This year
will be remembered as the first year of implementation of the new global
development agenda. The member-states and the global development
community have been working to set up implementation frameworks,
roadmaps and sector strategies towards the achievement of the
ambitious targets.
• The transport sector has a key role in securing effective
implementation of all sustainable development goals and climate action
targets. Effective, accessible, environmentally friendly and resilient
transport services are key requirements in ending poverty and protecting
the planet.
• UNDP has been supporting the implementation of the 2030
Sustainable Development Agenda through a common approach adopted
by the UN Development Group known as the MAPS approach - for SDG
Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support. With this approach, and
through our broad development mandate, we have been working with
national governments to support policy development, road maps, and
programming, for sustainable, resilient and low carbon development.
2
• Particularly in Turkmenistan, together with other UN agencies working
in the country, we have been supporting the Government in an SDG
rollout process providing national ownership over the SDG agenda. We
are extremely proud and happy that on the 20th of September the
Government of Turkmenistan has formally adopted a list of 17
Sustainable Development Goals, 148 targets and 198 indicators to be
implemented over the next 15 years. Only a few days ago, the
Government of Turkmenistan formed an institutional structure at
ministerial senior level responsible for monitoring the progress against
these.
• UNDP in Turkmenistan also affiliated with the Government, in
particular with the Ministry of Economy and Development and the
National State Statistics Committee, to reflect the SDGs into the new
Programme of Socio-Economic Development of the President of
Turkmenistan for 2017-2021. This process is underway, and we hope, that
the new Program with SDG's integrated into it, will be soon adopted.
UNDP, along with other UN agencies, has committed to support line
ministries and institutions of central public administration to integrate
SDGs into their respective sector plans. The country is also progressing
well in building an SDG measuring system.
3
• Ladies and gentlemen, over the past 20 years, UNDP has supported
over 120 developing and middle-income countries with comprehensive
sustainable development programs focusing on energy access, renewable
energy, and energy efficiency. UNDP has been advocating for sustainable
energy in the context of broader development and poverty eradication
efforts and has been a partner of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative.
• The agenda for sustainable development and the targets for global
climate action and sustainable energy have been set against a very
difficult economic and investment background in many parts of the world.
Population growth, rapid urbanization, and climate change are creating
unprecedented pressure on our production systems, financial systems,
governance systems. It is important that national commitments to the
SDGs are a driving change in sectoral policies and investment frameworks
and helping engage private sector action. There is no better time than
today, to initiate transformative investments into new green technologies
and sectors, and into the efficiency of traditional sectors.
• Sustainable transport has a critical role in tackling the bottlenecks to
sustainable development such as inequality, poverty, unsustainable
4
consumption and production, inadequate infrastructure, unsustainable
urban development and services, climate change and environmental
degradation. It is the transport sector, that clearly demonstrates that the
sustainable development, climate change, and resilience agendas are
intrinsically interlinked and reinforcing.
• Furthermore, over the past years, the transport sector has been
coming up with the most exciting technological innovations promising big
gains in fuel efficiency and green development.
• However, despite the positive trends, the transport sector remains the
fastest growing consumer of fossil fuels and the fastest growing source of
CO2 emissions. Transportation produces roughly 23 percent of the global
CO2 emissions from fuel combustion. Within the transport sector, road
transport has the largest consumption of energy and the largest
economically viable potential for improvement.
• There is no question that all sources of finance, public and private,
domestic and international, will be required to achieve a true
5
transformation of the transport sector towards the resilient and lowcarbon
path. UNDP's portfolio addressing sustainability in the transport
sector and integrated urban sustainability has been growing over the past
years with funding from the Global Environment Facility.
• We are currently supporting 18 countries with 21 active sustainable
transport projects worth over US$ 90 million in grant financing and
almost US$ 1.4 billion in co-financing. In Egypt, for example, UNDP is
supporting the city of Cairo in the development of new, integrated
transport services. And in India, through a joint programme with the
World Bank, we are helping the Government to reduce the growth
trajectory of GHG emissions from the transport sector through policy
work, capacity building and piloting low-carbon urban transport solutions.
• In the Europe and Central Asia region, we have been implementing
urban transport initiatives in Almaty, Belgrade, Bratislava, Batumi,
Dushanbe, and in Russia's Kazan and Kaliningrad. These projects include a
range of measures from sustainable urban planning, encouraging greater
use of public transport, demonstrating green low carbon vehicles, to
specific measures like car-pooling, cycling strategies and parking
6
solutions. The 'City of Almaty Sustainable Transport' project, for example,
has supported the introduction of a light rail tram line, the development
of rapid transit bus lines and a city master plan. As a result of this project,
air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions in Almaty will be reduced by
32 percent by 2023.
• Here in Turkmenistan, we are working with the Government to design
a new innovative sustainable cities' project that will encompass
sustainable urban transportation as one of its core elements. It is
expected that the project will help the Government and city
administrations in taking a comprehensive approach regarding the
transport sector planning through enhancement of fuel efficiency
standards and targeting the root causes of the lack of exposure of citizens
to sustainability issues and practices. This will be only of our actions in
support of the low emission and climate resilient development that
Turkmenistan has embarked on with our support after signing and
ratifying the Paris Climate Agreement.
• Honourable guests, based on our experience we trust that transport
sector reforms aimed at improved fuel efficiency, increased use of public
7
transport, integrating transport and urban development planning should
be an integral part of national SDG plans and emission reduction
strategies. In addition to the global climate change benefits, effective
road transport and fuel efficiency measures deliver numerous
development benefits such as improved air quality, reduced health risks,
comfortable and resilient urban spaces for the citizen, improved business,
and trade environment.
• In conclusion of my intervention today I would like to refer again to
the global development and environment challenges faced by humanity
today. The governments, the private sector, and society need to work as
one to secure sustainable future for our next generations. The global
policy frameworks need to be transferred into implementation. Transport
sector plays the key role in delivering the required innovation,
investments, and services for resilient and low carbon future.
• Thank you for your attention
8