ENVSEC Donors

Many donors who fund ENVSEC, a consortium of UNEP, UNDP, UNECE, OSCE, REC and NATO see environment as a platform for the preservation of peace and strengthening of international security in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter. The promotion of international cooperation and the consolidation of democracy, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms are other dimensions to which ENVSEC contributes.

ENVSEC systematically includes environment and security considerations into the formulation, design implementation and evaluations of the programmes and projects funded by its donors. In this way it seeks to strengthen the focus of the Initiative, increases the impact and sustainability of the interventions, and ensures that donors’ resources are used effectively, efficiently and transparently.

In its work ENVSEC prioritizes four areas. These are:

• Natural Resources and security management


• Hazardous substances and environment and security risk reduction


• Population pressure on environmental security and climate change adaptation


• Information on environment and security and participation in risk management

Graphic 2: Snapshot for 2003-2012
Source: ENVSEC Secretariat, Geneva,
UNEP Regional Office[1]

Over the period of 2003-2011, ENVSEC major donors have been: Finland, Canada, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, and Norway.  ENVSEC partners’ agencies have also contributed resource to ENVSEC although recording has been a challenge.  As of 2011, ENVSEC’s financial envelope consists of Finnish (Wider Europe Initiative Phase I and II, Transboundary cooperation and sustainable management in the Dniester River basin Phase III, and “Transforming risks into cooperation in South-Eastern Europe”), Austrian (“Transforming risks into cooperation in South-Eastern Europe”), Swedish (“Supporting international cooperation in shared water basins of Belarus and Ukraine”) and "Strategy for cooperatin with Belarus", and Canadian funds (“Transforming risks into cooperation in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and South-Eastern Europe”). ENVSEC’s annual delivery from core resources has increased from USD 2.4 mln in 2009 to USD 4.1 mln in 2010.

The ENVSEC’s Resource Mobilization Strategy (RMS) is based on the analysis of past and present trends in donor funding and priorities, the current funding situation, and targets for the short- and longer-term future. The objective of the ENVSEC’s Resource Mobilisation Strategy for 2012-2015 is to provide guidance and recommendations on how to enhance the resource base for the Initiative. The target for external resources mobilization has preliminary been set at USD 3.5 millions yearly (USD 1.8 million for 2011-2013). [2] The strategy targets existing ENVSEC donors, but also aims at creating closer partnership with the EU, GEF, and bilateral donors such as Turkey, Japan, and USA.

The strategy foresees five main actions for its implementation. These are:

1. Regularly collect information, identify key donors, analyse donor’s trends and entry points, and reach out to development partners 
2. Capitalize on ENVSEC experience on the ground to promote ENVSEC with donors programmes and partners  in the filed of environment and security
3. Maintain, strengthen and enlarge the donor’s base, and broaden cooperation with recipient governments and international organisations
4. Ensure a continuous monitoring and evaluation of strategy implementation
5. Support the development of staff capacity at ENVSEC Partner Organisations to mobilise resources for environment and security .

Graphic 3: Contributions received in 2011 (percentage) [3]

The main lessons of experience that the RSM builds upon are the following: (1) early participation of key donors, partners and other stakeholders in the formulation process is crucial to ensure the sustainability of resource mobilization; (2) resource mobilisation efforts are most effective when working-level contacts with potential donors are established, and projects are developed based on priorities shared both by the donors and the ENVSEC partners; (3) pipeline management is a key part of resource mobilisation (being ready with project ideas when opportunities arise creates a definite advantage).

In order to mobilise resources for ENVSEC in the present moment of funding uncertainty and unpredictability[4] , the RMS is to focus, diversify and systematize the efforts of the Initiative by: (1) capitalizing on ENVSEC’s achievements to-date and sending clear messaging about the vision of the Initiative; (2) prioritizing and consolidating its donor base, (3) reaching out to and mobilising funding sources not yet tapped, (4) developing and using a results oriented action plan to guide ENVSEC’s efforts in the right direction.[5]

To mobilise resources, ENVSEC will capitalize on its complementary mandates, organization, and transferable knowledge and convening skills. Transferable skills, knowledge and experience [6] where ENVSEC excels include: assessments and remediation solutions for mining; recommendations for environmental management of protected areas; auditing and diagnostics to combat illegal logging in South-Eastern Europe. In Central Asia, these are: dam safety regulations; studies of the implications of glacial melting on the environment and local communities; regional coordination mechanisms for uranium waste management, and rehabilitation and local economic development, community-based cooperation over shared small rivers and watersheds[7] . In Eastern Europe and South Caucasus, these include: flood management and monitoring to prevent natural and industrial disasters; the disposal and clean-up of hazardous waste (e.g. rocket fuel and pesticides) and the prevention of their illegal transport across borders; transboundary water agreements and cooperation (Danube, Pripiyat, Dniester, Kura Aras), monitoring and analysis of the consequences of industrial and nuclear accidents, including in the Exclusion zone of Chernobyl.

Across the four regions, ENVSEC will continue to use its successful brand of regional and thematic assessments to map hot spots and support the Aarhus Centres[8] and mass media to ensure public participation in decisions affecting environmental and security matters. ENVSEC will also capitalize on its ability to link climate change with environment security to model basin wide changes to water flow and volume across a range of scenarios, from the impacts of climate change to the construction of safe dams, food security, glacial melting and floods.

ENVSEC Major Donors since 2003