United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

The United Nations (UN) Environment Programme (UNEP) was created by UN General Assembly resolution 2997 (XXVII) on December 15, 1972, to act as the global and regional voice [Page 2908]for environmental policy within the UN system. This action followed the recommendation of the June 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm, Sweden. The UNEP Secretariat was established in Nairobi, Kenya, and is headed by an executive director, who also serves as UN Under-Secretary-General. The executive directors included Maurice Strong (1973–1975), Mostafa Tolba (1975–1992), Elizabeth Dowdeswell (1993–1998), Klaus Toepfer (1998–2006), and, most recently, Achim Steiner (2006-present). The UNEP is funded by trust funds and funds allocated by the UN regular budget, by special earmarks, and by a voluntary Environment Fund. The largest contributors to the Environment Fund are the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and the Netherlands. There is a professional staff of around 500 working at the UNEP and a total of almost 1,000 employees. Several of the professional staff members are nationals from the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Canada, and Japan, as well as Kenya. In addition to its Nairobi headquarters, the UNEP has regional offices in Washington, D.C., New York, Mexico City, Brasilia, Geneva, Brussels, Vienna, Moscow, Bangkok, Beijing, Cairo, Addis Ababa, and Manama (Bahrain). There are several additional liaison offices, division offices, and outposted offices around the world.

The UNEP's mandate is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging environmental issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action. Its mission and objectives have been strengthened by several actions taken since the early 1990s. These include Agenda 21, adopted by the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development; the 1997 Nairobi Declaration on the Role and Mandate of the UNEP; the 2000 Malmo Ministerial Declaration and the UN Millennium Declaration; and the recommendations related to international environmental governance approved by the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and the 2005 World Summit of the UN. The UNEP has five priority work areas: (1) environmental assessment and early warning, (2) development and implementation of policy instruments, (3) enhanced coordination with environmental conventions (treaties), (4) technology and knowledge transfer, and (5) special support for Africa.

The UNEP is also one of three implementing agencies of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), along with the UN Development Programme and the World Bank. The GEF was set up to assist developing countries and those with economies in transition to pay for the incremental costs of measures and technologies designed to achieve global environmental benefits in six areas: (1) climate change, (2) ozone layer protection, (3) biological diversity, (4) international waters, (5) land degradation, and (6) persistent organic pollutants. This program, based in Washington, D.C., has provided more than $7.5 billion in grants from donor countries for more than 2,000 projects in more than 165 countries since 1991 and has leveraged more than $30 billion in cofinancing. It is also the financing mechanism for a few of the environmental conventions that are listed below.

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