UN Women Viet Nam ‘Greening the Blue’
Date:
21 November 2011, Ha Noi – As part of Greening the Blue initiative UN Women staff have developed an office wide pledge as a part of a larger greening effort by the UN in Viet Nam.
Leading the campaign in the office is the ‘Green Champions’ who are active change agents in this campaign. The UN Women office in Viet Nam has had 5 out of 14 staff members sign up as Green Champions, including Country Representative Suzette Mitchell, who has volunteered to be Green Champion for the UN Women South and South East Asia region. This is a step forward in actively engaging all UN agencies, at all levels, in the campaign. The UN in Viet Nam now has over 80 green champions in 12 agencies. These volunteers collectively organize regular events such as bi-weekly green film screenings and a monthly Sustainable Transport Day.
The campaign aims to ensure that all staff are aware of their environmental impact at work and to establish a best practice for other UN offices around the world. In partnership with the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) Green Office programme, the aim of the campaign is to reduce the environmental footprint and enable the UN in Viet Nam to be more responsible in terms of climate change.
UN agencies in Viet Nam will move to the Green One UN House at the end of next year and the campaign acts as a first step towards the adoption of more environmentally friendly practices in the office.
As part of the campaign, the UN Country Team recently approved the Greening the One UN in Viet Nam Action Plan, outlining the commitments, responsibilities and actions that will guide the campaign over the next 12 months.
Essentially, the plan focuses on four areas:
- Saving energy
- Using sustainable transport
- Increasing staff awareness
- Reducing and recycling paper
“Working together, we will all be collectively responsible for achieving these targets said Eamonn Murphy, UN Resident Coordinator A.I. “We can all act right now and live up to the exemplary role the UN should be playing in this important issue.
UN Viet Nam has been actively engaging all key players in the greening process, from the Operations Management and Country Management Team, to colleagues, maintenance staff, family and friends.
The green effort is not a one-off event, but a long term process looking to create long-term behavioral change. UN Viet Nam is just starting the long journey towards a climate neutral organization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For further information, please click the links provided below.
- Iinformation on the Greening the One UN in Viet Nam Action Plan September 2011-August 2012
- Information on the UN wide ‘Greening the Blue’ campaign
- Information on Viet Nam’s activities