The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recently took steps to promote its Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE) programme in Yemen. The aim was to offer the chance for the country's science community to gain greater access to leading scientific journals. UNEP coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and encourages sustainable development through sound environmental practices.
UNEP and Yemen's Environmental Protection Authority and Ministry of Water and Environment worked together this month with the WHO to train 30 Yemeni researchers, scientists, planers and lecturers in the use of OARE. The training, which took place in the capital of Sana'a, was one of UNEP's efforts to support the country as it faces increasing environmental challenges as a result of climate change, food crisis and water scarcity.
UNEP initiated efforts to transfer scientific information to the developing world began two years ago, negotiating a deal with various publishers to develop an electronic collection of scientific knowledge in environmental and related areas. It established a partnership with WHO, FAO, Yale and Cornell universities, international publishers and private sector groups like Microsoft. The result was a collection that is available online and contains more than 2,900 scientific and peer-reviewed journals with a value of around $1.5 million a year.
OARE joins other programmes in the fields of health (HINARI) and agriculture (AGORA) to expand the availability of information resources. Yemen and 107 other developing countries and more than 1,600 institutions have free access to the OARE programme.
As climate change and resource degradation continue to hurt the more vulnerable developing countries, UNEP is joining the effort to facilitate science and technology transfer from the developed countries to the developing world. It is expected that access to the OARE and other scientific journals will allow these scientists to help their countries in climate change adaptation and mitigation work as well as address other environmental challenges.
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