Established as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment convened in Stockholm in 1972, UNEP is dedicated to providing leadership and encouraging 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.
UNEP is a unique body within the United Nations. Unlike other specialized agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), UNEP does not bear the prime responsibility within the UN system for executing projects in its area of concern. Nor, like the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), does it exist to fund them. Although UNEP undertakes some projects of its own and occasionally uses special funding to support the environmental activities of others, its primary function is to coordinate environmental policies within the UN system and encourage environmental protection throughout the world.
UNEP works with and through inter-governmental and nongovernmental organizations and with the scientific community, through research centers and institutions in many countries.
UNEP activities cover a wide range of issues including atmosphere and climate change, protection of the ozone layer, conservation of biological diversity, management of freshwater resources, protection of oceans and coastal areas, combating deforestation and desertification, management of biotechnology, hazardous wastes and toxic chemicals and development and the quality of life. The organization is also active in the areas of energy production and use, technology, human settlements, human health and the working environment.
UNEP's headquarters is in Nairobi, Kenya, making it one of only two UN bodies (the other being Habitat ) based in a developing country. Worldwide, UNEP employs about 300 professional staff and nearly 600 support personnel. Regional and liaison offices are located in Bangkok, Cairo, Geneva, Manama (Bahrain), Mexico City, Nairobi and New York. Other outposts include the Industry and Environment Office, Paris and the coordinating units for the Mediterranean Action Plan in Athens and the Caribbean Action Plan in Kingston, Jamaica. In addition, the secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the secretariat of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, the secretariat for the Biodiversity Convention and the International Register of Potentially Toxic Chemicals (IRPTC) are all located in Geneva. In Bonn, UNEP provides the secretariat for the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.
One of UNEP's primary roles is to "sense" the environment. Sensing the environment involves collecting and assessing environmental information and then making it available to those who need it as a management tool, in a form in which it can be used effectively.
The UN's global environmental assessment program is collectively referred to as Earthwatch. The environment assessment program of UNEP, which contributes to the UN's Earthwatch, consists of four main components: the Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS), the Global Resource Information Database (GRID), IRPTC and INFOTERRA, the global environmental information exchange network.
GEMS is a worldwide collective effort to monitor the global environment and assess its health. GEMS furnishes a rigorous scientific basis for environmental management by providing reliable information from its global monitoring networks. Its activities fall into four interrelated categories: atmosphere and climate, environmental pollution, renewable sources and environmental data. Climate data gathered within the framework of GEMS has spurred international action to save the ozone layer and to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Operating through twelve cooperating centers, GRID (Global Resource Information Database) offers a complementary tool to decision-makers. GRID uses computer technology to process and analyze data and produce environmental maps and print-outs which can be used by planners. GRID has helped to set up an environmental database for Uganda, which it has assisted in development planning; to estimate the number of elephants left in Africa; to pinpoint suitable sites for aquaculture in Costa Rica; and to evaluate new methods of using satellite data to map and monitor tropical forests.
Established by UNEP in 1976, IRPTC collects and disseminates information on the environmental and health impacts of potentially toxic chemicals. IRPTC operates through a network of national and international organizations, industries and external contractors. National correspondents in 113 countries feed information into IRPTC and relay it back to interested parties. IRPTC's computerized central data files contain profiles of more than 800 chemicals. There are also special files on waste management and disposal, on chemicals currently being tested for toxic effects and on national regulations covering around 9,000 substances.
INFOTERRA, one of the most comprehensive environmental information networks in the world, operates as a mechanism to facilitate the exchange of international scientific and technical information. Operational since 1977, the INFOTERRA network consists of 170 national focal points (NFPs), a UNEP-based center and 12 regional service centers. The network is linked to approximately 6,800 national and international institutions, NGOs, IGOs, industrial and commercial enterprises, plus academia and experts from various sectors in the UN common system. The primary tools of operation are the INFOTERRA International Database/Directory of Sources and the INFOTERRA Thesaurus of Environmental Terms, available in English, French, Spanish and Russian. INFOTERRA has identified 34 centers of excellence which provide highly specialized scientific responses to users' queries covering a range of environmental priority areas. The use rate of INFOTERRA network has followed an exponential curve since it became operational. The 1993 global statistics of queries processed amounted to 38,500.
