8 Sep 2010

UNEP / STEINER BIODIVERCITIES ADVANCER

A UNEP report being released on Thursday highlights cities dependence on nature and illustrates how ecosystem services can provide cost effective solutions to municipal services. UNEP/UNTV/ WORLD BANK/ MEA/ UNICEF/ WHO

Posted at: September 8, 2010 4:03 pm

Duration: 01:58

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: UNEP / STEINER BIODIVERCITIES ADVANCER
SOURCE: UNEP/ UNTV/ WORLD BANK/ MEA/ UNICEF/ WHO
TRT: 1.58
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

DATELINE: 8 SEPTEMBER 2010, NAIROBI, KENYA/ FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – WORLD BANK - AUGUST 2009, LAGOS, NIGERIA

1.	Wide shot, city scene
2.	Wide shot, crowd standing in line for the bus

FILE – JUNE 2009, ECARU WASTE TREATMENT FACILITY, SOUTH OF CAIRO

3.	Various shots, truck dumping garbage

8 SEPTEMBER 2010, NAIROBI, KENYA

4.	SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP):
"What is the scope and the potential for a city to reduce its footprint? Upstream in terms of consumption, downstream in terms of pollution. And therefore the approach to assess these is the first step toward developing a policy and management response. And people will often be surprised that, in fact, dealing with some of these environmental problems are also opportunities, because efficiency is often a factor that produces both environmental benefits and economic benefits."

FILE - MEA - DATE AND LOCATION UNKNOWN

5.	Various shots, pollution

FILE - UNICEF - FEBRUARY 2008, CHELYABINSK, RUSSIA

6.	Wide shot, factory smokestacks 
7.	Wide shot, train in front of industrial landscape

8 SEPTEMBER 2010, NAIROBI, KENYA

8.	SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP):
"In many ways municipalities and local authorities have the most direct control over certain policies and measures that can affect the future of biodiversity and ecosystems. They are key partners and key mobilizers of the public, and indeed, today, of half the world's population."

FILE - WHO - SEPTEMBER 2004, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

9.	Aerial shot, city view
10.	Pan right, shantytown

8 SEPTEMBER 2010, NAIROBI, KENYA

11.	SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP):
"Understanding the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity as a means of translating that relationship between people in the urban areas, industry, business, international trade and the maintenance of that natural capital is a central thrust of our work. Economics is not about reducing the question of humanity, nature and development to just monetary values. But it is a way of enabling us to capture – in a society that is very economically driven and defined in terms of decisions it takes – an appreciation to invest in nature as a fundamental building block of development."

FFILE - UNTV - 2009, YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA

12.	Wide shot, traffic in Yogyakarta

13.	FILE - UNTV - 30 APRIL, 17 MAY 2010, JAKARTA

14.	Wide shot, Central Jakarta traffic roundabout

STORYLINE:

Factoring the planet's multi-trillion dollar ecosystem services into policy-making can help save cities and regional authorities money while boosting the local economy, enhancing quality of life, securing livelihoods and generating employment.

This is the finding from a major international study, being released in India, Brazil, Belgium, Japan and South Africa on Thursday.

The new report, entitled TEEB for Local and Regional Policy Makers, prepared by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) initiative hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme, calls on local policy makers to understand the value of their natural capital and the services it provides and apply a focus on nature's benefits in local policy areas such as urban management, spatial planning and protected areas management.

SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP):
"What is the scope and the potential for a city to reduce its footprint? Upstream in terms of consumption, downstream in terms of pollution. And therefore the approach to assess these is the first step toward developing a policy and management response. And people will often be surprised that, in fact, dealing with some of these environmental problems are also opportunities, because efficiency is often a factor that produces both environmental benefits and economic benefits."

The report aims to provide an inspiring starting point for thinking local policy in a new way. Highlighting practicality, the report calls for local authorities to take a stepwise approach to assessing options that factor nature's benefits into local policy action. This approach includes: assessing ecosystem services and expected changes in their availability and distribution; identifying which ecosystem services are most relevant to particular policy issues; assessing impacts of policy options on different groups in the community.

SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP):
"In many ways municipalities and local authorities have the most direct control over certain policies and measures that can affect the future of biodiversity and ecosystems. They are key partners and key mobilizers of the public, and indeed, today, of half the world's population."

The report highlights cities dependence on nature and illustrates how ecosystem services can provide cost effective solutions to municipal services. It shows how, in rural development and natural resource management, ecosystems services with high market value are often promoted to the detriment of the regulating services that are equally important but less obvious. It investigates planning frameworks and environmental impact assessments that can proactively include a strong focus on ecosystem services and identify the economic potential of this shift in approach.

SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP):
"Understanding the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity as a means of translating that relationship between people in the urban areas, industry, business, international trade and the maintenance of that natural capital is a central thrust of our work. Economics is not about reducing the question of humanity, nature and development to just monetary values. But it is a way of enabling us to capture – in a society that is very economically driven and defined in terms of decisions it takes – an appreciation to invest in nature as a fundamental building block of development."

The report also offers guidance on incentives that reward good stewardship of local natural capital such as locally adapted payment schemes for ecosystem services, certification and labelling schemes.