Energy and Environment

Environmental management has been one of the priorities for the Romanian government in view of EU accession. Several decades of industrial development have left Romania with a legacy of environmental challenges: ensuring a reliable and clean water supply for both domestic and commercial uses throughout the country; controlling air pollution; reducing greenhouse emissions; managing the country’s natural resources and conserving biodiversity; and providing a reliable supply of energy for both domestic and commercial issues, while promoting energy conservation.

UNDP projects in this sector have aimed at enhancing Romania’s capacity to address these challenges and comply with EU environmental standards and international conventions. The expected outputs are two-fold: first, to facilitate coordination for policy development and for the integration of environmental concerns into other sectors; and second, to build capacity and awareness - at local and national levels - on key environmental issues for policies to be better understood and implemented, as well as to foster a sense of ownership for sound environmental decision-making among stakeholders.

To support implementation of government strategies for water, biodiversity protection, waste management and renewable energy sources, UNDP contributed to building capacity for project management, particularly at the local level, through pilot activities. The result has been the improvement of rural livelihoods in environmentally protected areas by applying sustainable forest and land management practices, conservation of biodiversity, energy efficiency solutions, all while undertaking activities that generate income.

Some of the UNDP initiatives include fostering public-private partnership for environmental conservation, energy efficiency, assessment of Romania’s environmental situation in compliance with three UN conventions, and supporting NGO’s and community-based organizations to promote sustainable livelihoods through the Small Grants Programme.

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