Beijing, 1 February 2018
Dr. Linxiu Zhang, Director of UNEP-IEMP, and Mr. Min Du, CEO of Qingdao Suncare Group, signed a strategic partnership agreement in Beijing on 1 February 2018. Via this strategic partnership, both parties hope to make contributions to environmental protection and support achievement of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals using each party’s resource advantages.
Suncare is a corporate group based in Qingdao that have been engaged in environmental protection and ecological civilization as its corporate social responsibilities. In the partnership, UNEP-IEMP and Suncare agreed to establish a UNEP-IEMP training base, which is to be located in the West Coast New Area of Qingdao. Suncare will be responsible for setting up the training base, and UNEP-IEMP will support the building of the training base as UNEP-IEMP’s think tank and one of the international training centers of the Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN). In this training base, it is expected that the relevant knowledge, technology, and experiences of ecosystem management can be shared and disseminated via knowledge exchange, technological training, and policy dialogue in the framework of South-South Cooperation.
In addition, both parties will push for UNEP’s proposed Beijing Science Centre, with the goal of setting up a marine sub-center in Qingdao. Both parties will contribute to the establishment and operation of the marine sub-center and support Qingdao municipal government to implement its marine strategy. This initiative would make use of domestic and overseas technologies and resources to promote local development.
“We are very glad to initiate our partnership with the private sector,” said Dr. Zhang. “We recognize the important role that the private sector plays in ecosystem management and, more broadly, in achieving sustainable development goals. UNEP-IEMP can provide a platform and a bridge for the private sector to communicate with stakeholders and cooperate with partners, such as international organizations and research institutions. As a coastal city, marine ecology protection and technology are very important for Qingdao. By collaborating with Suncare, we look forward to generating concrete outcomes in this area.”
“Implementation of marine strategy has been identified as a priority by Qingdao municipal government, and local authorities of the West Coast New Area attach great importance to technological development and innovation in this area,” said Mr. Du of Suncare. “In partnership with UNEP-IEMP, we expect our cooperation may be carried out in a sustainable manner.”
