UNEP, headed by Ms. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, is pursuing implementation of the environmental dimension of Agenda 21, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in June 1992.
At its seventeenth session, in May 1994, the Governing Council of UNEP recognized the need for a fundamental change in the Programme's focus and priorities, and its relationship with other collaborators, in order to address the changed international environmental agenda emerging from the Conference.
In addition to implementing a work programme for 1994-1995 based on a Corporate Programme Framework, UNEP held, between October 1994 and February 1995, extensive consultations with Governments and high-level advisors to develop a refocused programme, based on an integrated approach, for its biennium 1996-1997.
The new integrated programme for 1996-1997 as approved by the eighteenth session of the Governing Council of UNEP addresses four principal environmental challenges: (a) sustainable management and use of natural resources; (b) sustainable production and consumption; (c) a better environment for environmental health and well-being; and (d) globalization trends and the environment.
UNEP collaboration with UNDP has been advanced with the signing of two agreements, one on international information exchange and another on a new partnership for combating desertification. In March, UNEP and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources signed a partnership agreement to strengthen their long-standing world-wide cooperation in resource conservation and sustainable development. The agreement will facilitate collaboration at the regional level, thereby increasing the capability of UNEP and the International Union to respond to geographically diverse environmental concerns.
A major recent development during the period under review has been the operationalization of the restructured Global Environment Facility, which is implemented jointly by UNDP, UNEP and the World Bank. Within the Global Environment Facility, UNEP will catalyse the development of scientific and technical analysis, and promote and implement environmental management.
The Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel was constituted by the Executive Director in April. UNEP has also worked in conjunction with other major groups in the areas of chemicals, refugees, agricultural development and environmental technology.
UNEP, together with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), WHO, UNIDO and OECD, established the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals to increase coordination and information exchange on chemicals and chemical wastes. Additionally, UNEP, with the active collaboration of the private chemical industry sector, has issued the Code of Ethics in the International Trade in Chemicals. UNEP was asked to increase its role in managing toxic chemicals and to further the development of international environmental law. Moreover, the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme authorized the Executive Director to begin negotiations, in cooperation with FAO, on the development of a prior informed consent convention relating to the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals. UNEP also participated in a regional seminar at San Salvador in May on the implementation in Central America and the Caribbean of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, which generated valuable discussion on how to incorporate cleaner production activities in the proposed subregional centres for training and technology transfer under the Basel Convention.
In collaboration with the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), UNEP assisted Rwanda to address the issue of environmental damage caused by civil war and the massive movement of refugees.
UNEP has joined the World Bank, FAO and UNDP in supporting the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research in its efforts to confront the new challenges of sustainable agricultural development. UNEP is taking part in the development of a multilateral system on plant genetic resources. As a co-sponsor of the Consultative Group, UNEP has been requested to provide information on the negotiating process leading to the second conference of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The UNEP Environment Technology Centre became operational in September 1994. Located in Osaka and Shiga prefectures in Japan, the Centre is engaged in assisting developing countries in the transfer of technology to solve urban environmental problems and issues relating to management of freshwater lakes and reservoir basins. After the earthquake in Kobe, the Centre responded by providing staff to assist emergency medical teams.
The first UNEP International Seminar on Gender and Environment, held in April 1995, called for shared responsibility between women and men in achieving sustainable development and provided material for the development of a policy statement to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.
UNEP offered to provide the secretariat for the proposed global programme of action to protect the marine environment from land-based activities. The programme was reviewed by a meeting of government experts held in March. The meeting recognized the need to reduce and eliminate pollution by persistent organic pollutants. The final document of the draft global programme is to be presented for adoption at an intergovernmental meeting in October and November.
The work of UNEP with the commercial and investment banking sector since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 has resulted in a new alliance with major insurance companies. In March 1995, UNEP announced the forging of a new partnership at its Advisory Group Meeting on Commercial Banks and the Environment, with a view to continuing to foster responsible sustainable development policies and practices in the banking sector. UNEP signed an agreement with the International Olympic Committee to promote environmental protection in international sports competitions. Together with the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development, UNEP convened a first meeting on liability and compensation in London, gathering experts from the United Nations, Governments and the academic community.
UNEP provides scientific and administrative support to the secretariats of environmental conventions. The Lusaka Agreement on Cooperative Enforcement Operations Directed at Illegal Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora, which aims to reduce and ultimately eliminate illegal international trafficking in African wildlife, was concluded in September 1994 by six eastern and southern African countries. The United Nations International Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, provides for a substantive role for UNEP in awareness-raising and the formulation and implementation of programmes to combat desertification. The first meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, held in November and December 1994, chose UNEP to host the permanent secretariat of the Convention. UNEP has initiated a programme to promote the safe use of biotechnology throughout the world as one of its responses to Agenda 21. Under the auspices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, a Timber Working Group was established in March to study how the Convention should be involved in the protection of timber species.
The first Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was held in March and April. UNEP believes that a strong climate research base is needed to ensure the Convention's success and to this end has been playing a central role with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in collaboration with FAO, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Council of Scientific Unions. Over 300 experts from countries that have ratified the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer made significant progress in proposing possible amendments and adjustments to the international treaty during a one-week session at Nairobi from 8 to 12 May. It was the second time since its inception in 1987 that the Montreal Protocol had been reviewed, demonstrating the determination of the world community to find solutions to many ozone-related issues that should be resolved by the December 1995 meeting at Vienna of the parties to the Protocol. Final recommendations will be made at a meeting at Geneva from 28 August to 1 September 1995, at which proposed amendments and adjustments to the Protocol will be considered, including advanced phase-out of methyl bromide and a revised phase-out schedule for chlorofluorocarbons and halons by the developing countries. Meanwhile, the multilateral fund for the implementation of the Montreal Protocol has disbursed $303 million to finance about 830 projects in 81 developing countries.
An intergovernmental agreement aimed at conserving the migratory waterbirds of Africa and Eurasia was adopted in June at The Hague at a meeting held under the auspices of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. This new agreement covers more than 150 species of birds that are ecologically dependent on wetlands for at least part of their annual cycle. The coastal States of the Mediterranean Action Plan -- the oldest and strongest of the UNEP regional seas programmes -- adopted a cross-sectoral approach to environmental protection and development of the Mediterranean basin at the Ninth Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention, held from 9 to 10 June at Barcelona. The scope and geographical coverage of the revised Convention and Action Plan were also expanded to ensure the integration between the marine environment, the coastal areas and the associated coastal watersheds, including water resources, and soil, forest and plant coverage.
The Executive Director of UNEP is chairing the Working Group on Sustainable Freshwater Resources for Africa within the Secretary-General's Special Initiative on Africa. A draft report was submitted to the meeting of the Group held in July at Geneva for the purpose of promoting dialogue and collaborative management of water resources among riparian States sharing international water resources. To that end UNEP has been implementing a series of new projects in integrated management of water resources. In June a meeting of experts was held on a diagnostic study for the Nile basin as the first phase in the development of a comprehensive management plan for the basin.
At the first meeting of the Environmental Emergencies Advisory Group, held in January, experts from 24 countries commended the work of the Joint UNEP/Department of Humanitarian Affairs Environment Unit, which was established in 1994 and has since carried out a number of emergency assessments of the oil spills in Arctic Russia.
UNEP efforts to link environmental and economic concerns are gaining momentum. At a workshop convened by UNEP and the World Bank in March, international experts urged the leading financial institutions to incorporate social and environmental objectives in their structural adjustment programmes. Another workshop was held in March to review the environmental impact of trade policies. UNEP has agreed to take a leading role in the development of methodologies for sustainability indicators. In a workshop hosted by the Philippines in May and June, government representatives from 33 countries, agencies, development banks and industries developed a framework for the sustainable management of reefs as outlined in the International Coral Reef Initiative: the UNEP regional seas programme was recognized as an appropriate vehicle for that effort. The implementation of Agenda 21 was reviewed in Paris in June by UNEP and 50 major international and national industry associations. This annual consultative meeting of UNEP facilitated information exchange among industries on the activities they have undertaken to promote sustainable production and consumption patterns worldwide.
From May to June in Mexico City, 50 experts in urban and environmental management from Latin America analysed major problems hindering the efforts of the region's mega-cities towards sustainability. The result was a document prepared in collaboration with UNEP that will be presented at the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) to be held at Istanbul in June 1996.
The Governing Council of UNEP held its eighteenth session at Nairobi, from 15 to 26 May, adopting a record number of 64 decisions, all by consensus. A programme activity budget of $90-105 million was approved for the next biennium. UNEP celebrated World Environment Day on 5 June with the theme, "We the Peoples, United for the Global Environment", in South Africa, with the participation and support of the President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr. Nelson Mandela.
The demands placed on UNEP after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 have not been met with any significant increase in financial resources to the Programme. The further expected reduction of the voluntary contributions to the Environment Fund of UNEP and the unpredictability of payments constitute principal constraints for the future of the Programme and its capability to provide an effective service to the international community.
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