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TumenNET is an initiative under the Tumen River Area Development Program
(TRADP). Five Northeast Asian countries participate in it at present -
the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Mongolia, the Peoples Republic
of China, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation. The Global
Environment Facility (GEF) and the
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) contribute US$5 million to this 2
year intervention that aims to establish a regional capacity for:
"Preparation of a Strategic Action Program (SAP) and Transboundary
Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) for the Tumen River Area, its Coastal Regions
and Related Northeast Asian Environs".
The United Nations Office for Project
Services (UNOPS) is managing
overall coordination of the Strategic Action Program that is implemented
by the participating countries through a network of regional Lead Agents
and national Partner Institutions. This network gave the project its
nickname: TumenNET.
TumenNET is foremost a regional
partnership program that involves local, provincial and national
Governments, the business sector, grassroots communities, academic and
research institutions and, environmental Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGO). The project comprises 5 major components: EIS
(Environmental Information System); TDA
(Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis); AWARE
(Awareness Raising and Small Grants Program); SAP
(Strategic Action Program); and SURVEY
(Regional Water Monitoring). Each country is responsible for one component
that it manages in cooperation with national Partner Institutions in the
other four countries (project management). A small Project Coordination
Unit (PCU) has been established in Beijing to coordinate, to provide
resources to countries and, to guarantee overall quality
control.
The overall goal is to produce a Strategic Action Program
that will address key threats to biodiversity and international waters
resources in the region, that is consistent with national policy
priorities, and, most importantly, that can be financed and implemented by
countries. The implementation of the Strategic Action Program will be the
ultimate indicator of the success of the TumenNET. It will require diverse
sources of funding, including national budgets, private sector investment,
loans from multilateral development banks, grant aid, combined grant
aid/loan packages that might involve the GEF and, last but not least,
resources transfer from national and international NGOs.
A Schematic project outline is given below:
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