50 Years of UNEP

Subject: Environment

Section: International Organizations and Conventions

Context: UNEP celebrates 50 years of solving world’s environmental challenges.

Concept:

UNEP- Background:

In 1972, the UNGA passed what is formally known as UN-Resolution 2997.It would be the last step in the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – an organisation conceived to spearhead a global effort to minimize humanity’s footprint on the planet.
Headquarters: Nairobi, Kenya.
Governing Body: UNEA(formed in 2012) – meets once in two years.
Major Functions: It hosts various Conventions like Minamata Convention, UNCBD, CITES, Basel Convention, Stockholm Convention, Rotterdam Convention, Montreal Protocol, Vienna Convention, CMS, Carpathian, Bamako, Tehran Convention.
Main activities: are related to Climate Change, Disasters and Conflicts, Ecosystem management, Environmental Governance, Chemicals and waste, Resource Efficiency.
Important Treaties signed under UNEP: IPCC, Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Multilateral Fund for the implementation of Montreal Protocol.
In 2021, member states approved UNEP’s new Medium-Term Strategy (MTS)for 2022- 25that outlines UNEP’s contribution to the ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ and the Programme for Work 2022-23.
Multilateral Organization Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN) was initiated in 2021 by Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland and comprises of 21 countries that assess the performance (2016-20)of the major multilateral organizations they fund.

Important Initiatives undertaken by UNEP so far:

Reports of UNEP: