Evidence-based National Policy and Planning

The development of coherent policies and programmes is crucial to bring about real and sustainable responses to environmental change around the world.

UNESCO supports realization of environmentally smart, ethically grounded and evidence-based national policies and programmes in the Member States.

Narrow interpretations of environmental agenda in terms of not factoring in all social aspects of the change result in policy responses that potentially underpin existing vulnerabilities and inequalities or create new ones. One of the main concerns of UNESCO is therefore enhancing analysis and planning for social dimensions of environmental change, including social drivers, threats and risk reduction responses advancing the interests of those who are most vulnerable to the effects of the change.

Moreover, appropriate policy responses to environmental change require employment of an inter-disciplinary approach, as well as existence and usage of all relevant data.  Drawing on its work to strengthen social science knowledge base on environmental change, UNESCO is supporting the Member States in advancing environment data literacy and data usage for both in-government and outsourced policy and programme analysis.

Based on the needs, the support UNESCO provides can relate to national institutional capacity building in policy formulation, sector analysis, policy simulation and dialogue, vulnerability mapping and usage of projections in policy analysis, and programme monitoring and evaluation.

See also

Back to top