3 April 2009: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) presented the results of the ART Initiative, which was designed by a group of UN Agencies under UNDP’s leadership (namely the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the UN Development Fund for Women, the World Health Organization and UNOPS) to promote the strategic and operational articulation among the development cooperation institutions and programmes in support of national policies and local dynamics of governance and local development.

Christophe Nutall, Director of UNDP’s Hub for Innovative Partnerships, emphasized that ART offers a new paradigm in international cooperation that involves a multilateral, territorial approach to development and climate change. He stressed that, for example, with the ART mechanism in place, there is potential for Africa to tap the funds made available for the UN-run carbon trading mechanism aimed at cutting pollution and rewarding clean technologies. So far, the continent has only received 2% of the UNFCCC’s Clean Development Mechanism’s funds. [UNDP press release]