Development Aspects Impressum Editors

Keywords:

Industrial water Water efficiency Capacity-building Green industry Zero discharge

1. Introduction

In 2008, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), along with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the In- ternational Labour Organization (ILO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), began the implementation of a Joint Programme for Economic Governance of Water and Sanitation in Honduras to consolidate the pro-

cess of sector modernization in order to support the achievement of the Millenni- um Development Goals (MDGs) and the targets of the Poverty Reduction Strategy.

This Joint Programme is financed by the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDG-f; www.mdgfund.org) set up by the Government of Spain in 2006. The MDG-f currently supports 128 joint programmes, with an aver- age of six United Nations agencies, in 49 countries on eight thematic areas:

1. 
   Environment and climate change
   

2. 
   Gender equality and women’s empowerment
   

3. 
   Youth, employment and migration
   

4. 
   Democratic economic governance
   

5. 
   Children, food security and nutrition
   

6. 
   Conflict prevention and peacebuilding
   

7. 
   Culture and development
   

8. 
   Development and the private sector
   

According to the Human Development Index, Honduras is the sixth poorest/least developed country in Latin America, after Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Guyana and Bolivia. Industrial pollution and poor water management are widespread with- in the country, causing environmental problems and reducing water quality and availability for domestic use, as well as uncompetitive Honduran enterprises.

To address these issues, UNIDO’s intervention within the Joint Programme (JP), which falls within the fourth thematic area of the MDG-f above, consisted of implementing the transfer of environmentally sound technology (TEST) meth- odology for industries on the Rio Blanco, north-west Honduras. High industrial pollution levels on this river have caused environmental problems and losses to local industry.

2.