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United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
UNEP is the United Nations system’s designated entity for addressing environmental issues at the global and regional level. Its mandate is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action. The mandate and objectives of UNEP emanate from:
The major results of UNEP activities
- International arrangements to enhance environmental protection
- Periodic assessments and scientifically sound forecasts to support decision making and international consensus on the main environmental threats and responses to them
- Support for more effective national and international responses to environmental threats, including policy advice to governments, multilateral organizations and others to strengthen environmental protection and incorporate environmental considerations into the sustainable development process
- More effective coordination of environmental matters within the UN system
- Greater awareness and capacity for environmental management among governments, the private sector and civil society
- Better understanding of the nexus between environment and human security, poverty eradication, and preventing and mitigating natural disasters
UNEP has five priority areas
- Environmental assessment and early warning
- Development of policy instruments
- Enhanced coordination with environmental conventions
- Technology transfer
- Support to Africa
UNEP cooperates closely with an increasing number of global and regional multilateral environmental agreements. The UNEP-administered environmental conventions include:
- the Secretariat of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (Ozone Secretariat), in Nairobi, Kenya
- the Multilateral Fund of the Montreal Protocol, in Montreal, Canada
- the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), in Geneva, Switzerland
- the Convention on Biological Diversity, in Montreal, Canada
- the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, in Bonn, Germany, which includes the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, the Agreement on the Conservation of Populations of European Bats, and the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas
- the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous and Other Wastes, in Geneva, Switzerland
- the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), in Geneva, Switzerland
- the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent, in Geneva, Switzerland
- six Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans
More information available at: www.unep.org