Advocacy > Issues > Organization Briefs > About UNEP
UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME - UNEP
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UNEP is a UN programme devoted to the protection of the environment.
Mission
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To provide leadership and encourage partnerships in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and people to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations."
Membership
UN membership i.e. states in the UN system.
Background
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was established as the environmental conscience of the United Nations system as a result of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.
Recognizing that environment and development must be mutually supportive, UNEP advocated a concept of “Sustainable Development” embodied as an action programme called Agenda 21, which was adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).
UNEP provides an integrative and interactive mechanism through which a large number of separate efforts by intergovernmental, non-governmental, national and regional bodies in the service of the environment are reinforced and interrelated.
Funding
- UNEP’s programmes are financed by the UN Environmental Fund made up of voluntary contributions and the UN by the Regular Budget of the UN.
Structure
- UNEP is headed by an Executive Director, presently Mr. Klaus Töpfer.
- Its Governing Council, the members of which are elected by the UN General Assembly for a four years term, assesses the state of the world environment, establishes UNEP’s programme priorities, and approves the budget. The Governing Council is composed of 58 members selected on the following basis: 16 seats for Africa; 13 seats for Asia; 6 seats for Eastern Europe; 13 seats for Western Europe and other States; and 10 seats for Latin America.
Headquarters
Nairobi , with an office in Paris (UNEP-DTIE).
UNEP-TIE - Division of Technology, Industry & Economics,
Staff
around 20 people
Fields of activity
The most important activities are:
- Promotion of environmental science and information
- Sustainable management and use of natural resources
- Protection of the Marine Environment from Human Activities
- Global Biodiversity Assessment in 1995
- Sustainable production and consumption
- Cleaner Production Programme
- Transfer of Green Technologies
- Ecotourism
- Globalisation of the economy and the environment
- Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
- Environmental and Natural Resource Accounting
- Capacity-building in the Developing World
- Environment Information and Assessment Programmes
- Indicators for sustainable development
Relationship with IH&RA
Fruitful co-operation has existed over the years, (as of 2000)
leading to the joint publication of a number of documents:
- Joint activities with UNEP-TIE:
- IH&RA Annual Environmental Award (since 1990) (with IHEI/IBLF)
- Environmental Action Pack for Hotels (1995 & 1998) (with IHEI)
- 2 nd Edition of Environmental Good Practice in HotelsSowing the Seeds of Change: An Environmental Teaching Resource Pack (2000)
- IH&RA contribution to UNEP-TIE publications:
- Tourism Report for WSSD (2001)
- Switched On: Renewable Energy Opportunities in the Tourism Industry (2003)
- A Manual for Water & Waste Management: What the Tourism Industry Can Do to Improve Its Performance (2003)
- A Practical Guide to Good Practice: Managing Environmental & Social Issues in the Accommodations Sector (2004)
The Director of UNEP-TIE has expressed interest in continuing close cooperation.
Key contacts
Head Office : UNEP
Mr. Klaus Töpfer,
Executive Director
Address
PO Box 30552
Nairobi , Kenya
Tel : +254 2 62 1234/3292
Fax : +254 2 62 3927/3692
Web site: www.unep.org
Paris office: UNEP-TIE
Ms. Monique Barbut
Director UNEP- TIE
Address
Tour Mirabeau - 39, quai André Citröen,
F-75015 Paris, France
Tel: +33 1 44 37 14 50
Fax: + 33 1 44 37 14 74
e-mail:
Website: www.uneptie.org
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