United Nations Environment

Program
In the subject of

Environmental Law

Submitted to: Dr. Jatinder Maan Submitted by: Ritesh Tewari

Asst. Professor 381/19

UILS Section E

Panjab University B.COM.LLB.

Chandigarh Semester 8
UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT
PROGRAM (UNEP)
 Environmental issues weren't a top priority when the UN was established in 1945, and the
word "environment" isn't even mentioned in the UN Charter. As a result, no UN body or
programme focused on the environment was created in the 20 years that followed.

 The international leadership began to consider putting laws and regulations in place for
environmental issues during the 1960s and 1970s as a result of rising pollution levels,
much like the International Labor Organization (ILO), the World Health Organization
(WHO), etc.

 But the necessity for global environmental governance was not widely acknowledged in
the 1970s, especially by developing countries. Some claimed that countries in poverty did
not need to prioritise environmental issues. Several of the governments of developing
nations were persuaded by Canadian diplomat Maurice Strong that this issue required
priority.

 The UN had taken up the environment as an issue in 1968 with a report by the UN
secretary-general U Thant, which warned: “If current trends continue, life on Earth could
be endangered.” It called for the UN to hold a Conference on the Human Environment,
which took place in Stockholm in June 1972.

 The Stockholm Conference, a United Nations conference on the environment, was held in
1972. The conference included a wide range of subjects, including pollution, the
protection of resources, environmental change, and natural and biological disasters.

 This meeting led to the creation of the Stockholm Declaration on the Human
Environment and the United Nations Environment Program, an organisation for
environmental management (UNEP).

 Resolution 2997 of the General Assembly created the UNEP.

 In December 1972, the UN General Assembly unanimously elected Maurice Strong to be
the first head of UN Environment.

 With 300 employees, including 100 professionals in various sectors, and a five-year fund
of more than US$100 million, UNEP's headquarters were built in Nairobi, Kenya.
 At the time, the United States donated $40 million, while the remaining $50 million came
from 50 other countries.

Role of UNEP

o The UNEP is a preeminent worldwide environmental authority that aids in establishing

environmental objectives and sustainable development.

o The goal of UNEP is to inspire, enlighten, and enable nations and peoples to improve
their quality of life without compromising that of future generations in order to give
leadership and promote collaboration in environmental protection.

o Their mission statement reads,

“To provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by
inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life
without compromising that of future generations”

o They have seven “Main Priorities”:

1) Climate Change

Through demonstrating leadership in adaptation, mitigation, technology, and

finance, UNEP improves the capacity of nations to integrate their responses to
climate change.

The UNEP is concentrating on easing the transition to low-carbon society,

enhancing knowledge of climate science, promoting the growth of renewable
energy sources, and increasing public awareness.
2) Post-Conflicts & Disaster Management

In nations experiencing crises, UNEP carries out environmental assessments and

offers recommendations for putting institutional and legal frameworks for better
environmental management into place. Post-conflict environmental assessments
are among the tasks carried out by UNEP's Post-Conflict & Disaster Management
Branch (PCDMB) in Afghanistan, Côte d'Ivoire, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Sudan.

3) Ecosystem Management

UNEP encourages the use of ecosystem services and facilitates the management
and restoration of ecosystems in a way that is consistent with sustainable
development. The Global Plan of Action (GPA) for the Preservation of the
Maritime Environment from Land-Based Activities is one example.

4) Environmental Governance
In order to achieve sustainable development at the national, international, and
regional levels, as well as to mainstream environmental considerations in
development planning, UNEP assists governments in establishing, putting into
place, and strengthening the necessary procedures, institutions, laws, policies, and
programmes.

5) Chemical & Waste

The UNEP works to reduce the negative effects that toxic substances and
hazardous waste have on the environment and people. In order to lower hazards to
human health and the environment, UNEP has started discussions for a global
mercury accord and is putting projects on mercury and the Strategic Approach to
International Chemicals Management (SAICM) into action.

6) Resource Efficiency /Sustainable Consumption & Production

In order to ensure that natural resources are generated, handled, and utilised in a
more environmentally sustainable manner, UNEP focuses on regional and
international operations. The Marrakech Process, for instance, is an international
initiative to promote the development of a 10-Year Framework of Programs on
sustainable consumption and production.

7) Reviewing the Environment

 UNEP is always monitoring the state of the environment by giving scientists and
policymakers with excellent data, providing an empirical foundation for numerous
scientific and political measures to improve environmental protection.

Impact OF UNEP
The United Nations Environment Programme has made some notable contributions to scientific
research and international policymaking since its founding. It was extremely successful in
developing a system for data collection, information sharing, cross-sector scientific assessment,
and environmental monitoring.

Some of it achievements are as follows:

 MARPOL

The first meeting of its governing council in 1973 led to the adoption of:

 The Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (known as

MARPOL), which placed strict regulations on industry to prevent spill; and

 The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild

Fauna and Flora (CITES), which regulated trade in more than 38,000
animals and plants.

 Montreal Protocol

A prominent early concern addressed by UNEP was the harm caused by

chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in aerosol sprays and refrigeration to the ozone layer,
the thin screen that shields people and the environment from dangerous levels of
ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
Its efforts produced the Montreal Protocol, the only UN convention that has been
ratified by all 198 UN member nations to date, which controls the manufacture and
consumption of ozone-depleting compounds.

As a result, according to UNEP, the ozone layer is expected to regenerate by the middle
of the century, saving the lives of about 2 million people annually from skin cancer.

 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

 In 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by
UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization in order to conduct a thorough review
of the science surrounding climate change and offer recommendations for a potential
future international agreement to address the issue.

According to Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the Bezos Environment Fund, the
IPCC's methodology represented a "completely new way of doing science." With the
ability for politicians to make edit suggestions for the summary report, working groups of
the top scientists in the world use it to produce reports. According on the scientists'
opinions and studies, the report's scientific claims are given a level of credibility.

 Minamata Convention on Mercury

An international agreement known as the Minamata Convention on Mercury was created

to safeguard the environment and human health against anthropogenic releases and
emissions of mercury and its compounds. The convention was the culmination of three
years of meetings and negotiations; on January 19, 2013, in Geneva, delegates from close
to 140 countries accepted its content. Later that year, on October 10, 2013, in Kumamoto,
Japan, at a diplomatic conference, it was adopted and signed.

The convention is called Minamata after a city in Japan. Given the horrific mercury
poisoning catastrophe that the city experienced, this designation is significant
symbolically. This international agreement is anticipated to improve mercury
pollution reduction over the following few decades from the targeted activities
responsible for the significant mercury emission to the immediate environment.

 Plastic Pollution

The UN Environment Assembly, which will replace the UNEP Governing Council in
early 2022, is where states most recently decided to begin negotiations on a global,
legally enforceable accord to eradicate plastic pollution. The most significant
environmental multilateral agreement since the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change,
according to UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen.

 The Global Environmental Outlook (GEO)

The GEO is now "one of the two most prestigious environmental outlook magazines
currently accessible," according to the statement. Among the many nations that have used
GEO methodology to develop and enhance their environmental reporting or used GEO to
inform policy formation are Cuba, Peru, Costa Rica, Barbados, Gabon, Senegal, Congo,
and Cameroon.

SHORTCOMINGS OF UNEP
Commentators' appreciation for UNEP is tempered by admissions that the environment
has continued to deteriorate at an alarming rate despite its accomplishments. However,
many think that this is less a failure of UNEP than it is a failure of governments for
not acting on the organization's scientific conclusions and recommendations.

Some people think UNEP was designed to be weak from the beginning, especially since
Kenya was chosen as the country for its headquarters. As the poor world needed a bigger
role in UN activities, the country of East Africa had fought hard to host the new
organisation.

As the first time a developing nation would host a UN organisation, its victory had been
viewed at the time as a significant coup. Several contend that its early success was
constrained by the lack of infrastructure and communications connectivity,
nevertheless.

According to Ivanova, these restrictions in turn made it challenging to hire and keep
workers. Its legitimacy decreased as a result, she argued, and its visibility fell. Even 50
years after UNEP's founding, she pointed out that the location did not automatically
result in more input from developing nations, with only 36% of them having diplomatic
posts in Nairobi.

Another drawback cites UNEP's institutional structure. UNEP was established as a

programme rather than a specialised organisation, in contrast to its peers within the UN
system, such as the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture
Organization. The original plan was to allow UNEP the necessary latitude to negotiate
the intricate web of environmental concerns while also efficiently marshalling and
deploying the specialised knowledge found in many organisations across the
environmental field.

UNEP's formal status places it in a weaker position in the UN's hierarchy from the
start, severely limiting its authority and capabilities in leading coordination activities
 among the MEA cluster, within the UN system, and on the international stage, even
though the decision was not made with the intention of rendering UNEP ineffective at the
time.

The efficiency of UNEP has also been limited by its budget. The UNEP's Environment
Fund, which is a combination of government contributions based on the size of their
economies, and donations for specific projects or "earmarked contributions," accounts for
the majority of the organization's funding.

The percentage coming from the Environment Fund has decreased over time. The fund
was anticipated to start off with US$100 million annually and increase over time. Yet,
according to UNEP, it received $78.5 million in 2021, or 15% of the organization's
overall revenue. More than 90% of this came from 15 nations, with the Netherlands,
France, and Germany being the largest donors to the organisation.

It may be inferred from the response that whether or not governments view UNEP as
helpful in producing outcomes that would meet their priorities, influences funding to
some extent.

In order to cover the leadership void at various levels of governance, new entities have
frequently reduced UNEP's obligations. For instance, UNEP's initiatives are overlapping
with the World Bank's growing environmental activity. The Global Environmental
Facility was founded just before the 1992 Rio Earth Conference, which also lessened the
importance of UNEP.

ROAD AHEAD
 UNEP is now an organization which has completed fifty years but still has a long way to
go. A way that has got some challenges ahead.

 Like the UN Human Rights Council does for human rights, UNEP may play a role in
advocating higher international standards for corporate accountability and behaviour with
regard to the environment.
  UNEP needs to clean up its act when it comes to feasibility of projects. Sometimes the
UNEP undertakes initiatives that are excessively expensive or that just don't seem to
take off. One Yemeni initiative aimed to develop an agro-forestry complex on a 390-
hectra region with poor, arid soils and test various plant-raising methods. The UNEP
struggled to find expertise and experienced numerous construction equipment delays in
addition to having regular mechanical failures. The project was abandoned because it was
found to be excessively expensive and inefficient.

 Since they are facing problems in garnering funds they need to spend the limited
resources they have judiciously.

 The UNEP plays a vital role in providing the international community with information
and training as environmental policies and practices are developed. The UNEP
enjoys a favourable reputation in civil society and has not faced the widespread criticism
that other international agencies have.

 UNEP needs to amend its policy on participation of civil societies in policy making.
They have weaknesses in the creation of policies and lack the practical competence to put
those policies into practice. Their legislature places restrictions on their ability to allow
civil society to act as advocates for persons with an interest in the environment.

 The UNEP's main obstacle is still becoming recognised as an anchor institution. It

has been challenging for one of the more recent UN organisations to establish their
significance among the other organisations, as was previously indicated.

 They must strive to establish their own distinct objectives so that other organisations
can understand what their primary goal is. They must also cease taking on new
obligations and concentrate on fulfilling those that have already been given to them.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 WEBSITE(S)
 https://www.unep.org/about-un-environment/why-does-un-environment-programme-matter/
structure-and-leadership
 https://www.un.org/youthenvoy/2013/08/unep-united-nations-environment-programme/
#:~:text=UNEP's%20mission%20is%20to%20provide,compromising%20that%20of%20future
%20generations.
  https://byjusexamprep.com/upsc-exam/united-nations-environment-programme-unep
 https://chinadialogue.net/en/climate/unep-at-50-what-has-the-worlds-environmental-conscience-
achieved/
 https://earth.org/where-does-the-united-nations-environment-programme-unep-fall-short/
 https://www.passblue.com/2015/02/05/the-un-environment-program-influential-but-lacking-
power/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Environment_Programme#cite_note-21

 RESEARCH PAPER
 An Analysis of the UNEP by Brenna Gate