United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
It is an international institution that coordinates
United Nationsenvironmental activities, assisting developing countries in
implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a
result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972
and has its headquarters in the Gigiri neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya. UNEP
also has six regional offices and various country offices.
It has played a
significant role in developing international environmental conventions,
promoting environmental science and information and illustrating the way those
can be implemented in conjunction with policy, working on the development and implementation
of policy with national governments, regional institutions in conjunction with
environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). UNEP has also been active
in funding and implementing environment related development projects. The World
Meteorological Organization and UNEP established the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. UNEP is also one of several Implementing
Agencies for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Multilateral Fund
for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol, and it is also a member of the
United Nations Development Group. The International Cyanide Management Code, a
program of best practice for the chemical’s use at gold mining operations, was
developed under UNEP’s aegis.International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN)
It is an international organization dedicated to
finding "pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and
development challenges".The organization publishes the IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species, which assesses the conservation status of species.
Founded in October 1948 at Fontainebleau ,France .
Headquartered at Rue Mauverney 28, 1196 Gland,
Switzerland.
IUCN supports scientific research, manages field
projects globally and brings governments, non-government organizations, United
Nations agencies, companies and local communities together to develop and
implement policy. IUCN is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental
network—a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO
member organizations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160
countries. IUCN’s work is supported by more than 1,000 professional staff in 60
offices and hundreds of partners in public, NGO and private sectors around the
world.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO)
FAO is a
specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to
defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a
neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and
debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information, and helps
developing countries and countries in transition modernize and improve
agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices, ensuring good nutritionand food
security for all.
Established- 16 October 1945, in Quebec City, Canada
Headquarter- Rome, Italy
FAO's Regular Programme budget is funded by its
members, through contributions set at the FAO Conference. This budget covers
core technical work, cooperation and partnerships including the Technical
Cooperation Programme, knowledge exchange, policy and advocacy, direction and
administration, governance and security. The FAO regular budget for 2012 - 2013
biennium is US$1,005.6 million.
Its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates into English
as "let there be bread". As of 8 August 2008, FAO has 191 member
states along with the European Union,Faroe Islands and Tokelau which are
associate members. It is also a member of theUnited Nations Development Group
Global Environment Facility (GEF)
GEF is the union of 182 countries in partnership with
international institutions, civil society organizations (CSOs), and the private
sector to address global environmental issues while supporting national
sustainable development initiatives.
Today the GEF
is the largest public funder of projects to improve the global environment. An
independently operating financial organization, the GEF provides grants for
projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land
degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants. Since 1991,
the GEF has achieved a strong track record with developing countries and
countries with economies in transition, providing $11.5 billion in grants and
leveraging $57 billion in co-financing for over 3,215 projects in over 165
countries.
The GEF also serves as financial mechanism for the
following conventions:
• Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD)
• United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• UN
Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
• Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
Founded in October 1991.
Headquarter
at Washington, District of
Columbia, United States of America
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
It is an intergovernmental organization with a
membership of 191 Member States and Territories. It originated from the
International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873.
Established in 1950, WMO became the specialized agency of the United Nations
for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related
geophysical sciences.
It has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and is
a member of the United Nations Development Group. The current Secretary-General
is Michel Jarraud. The current president is David Grimes.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a
specialized agency of the United Nations. It is the UN system's authoritative
voice on the state and behavior of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with
the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water
resources. WMO has a membership of 191 member states and territories (as of 1
January 2013).
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC)
UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty
negotiated at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held inRio de Janeiro from 3 to
14 June 1992.
The objective of the treaty is to "stabilize
greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent
dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system".
The UNFCCC was opened for signature on 9 May 1992,
after an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee produced the text of the
Framework Convention as a report following its meeting in New York from 30
April to 9 May 1992. It entered into force on 21 March 1994. As of May 2011,
UNFCCC has 195 parties. The treaty itself set no binding limits on greenhouse
gas emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms.
In that sense, the treaty is considered legally non-binding. Instead, the
treaty provides a framework for negotiating specific international treaties
(called "protocols") that may set binding limits on greenhouse gases.
Since may 1992 total 50 states ratified the treaty and
it is signed by total 165 nations.
On the basis of there industrial status and
commitments towards environment, all the member states (parties) are divided
into following categories.
Parties to the UNFCCC are classified as:
• Annex I: There are 41 Parties to the UNFCCC listed
in Annex I of the Convention. These Parties are classified as industrialized
(developed) countries and "economies in transition" (EITs). EITs are
the former centrally-planned (Soviet) economies of Russia and Eastern Europe.
The European Union-15 (EU-15) is an Annex I Party.
• Annex II: There are 24 Parties to the UNFCCC listed
in Annex II of the Convention. These Parties are made up of members of the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Annex II Parties
are required to provide financial and technical support to the EITs and
developing countries to assist them in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions
(climate change mitigation) and manage the impacts of climate change (climate
change adaptation).
• Annex B: Parties listed in Annex B of the Kyoto
Protocol are Annex I Parties with first- or second-round Kyoto greenhouse gas
emissions targets (see Kyoto Protocol for details). The first-round targets
apply over the years 2008–2012. As part of the 2012 Doha climate change talks,
an amendment to Annex B was agreed upon containing with a list of Annex I
Parties who have second-round Kyoto targets, which apply from 2013–2020. The
amendments have not entered into force.
• Non-Annex I: Parties to the UNFCCC not listed in
Annex I of the Convention are mostly low-income developing countries.
Developing countries may volunteer to become Annex I countries when they are
sufficiently developed.
• Least-developed countries (LDCs): 49 Parties are
LDCs, and are given special status under the treaty in view of their limited
capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change.
Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
IPCC is a
scientific intergovernmental body, set up at the request of member governments.
It was first established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations, the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), and later endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly through
Resolution 43/53.
Its mission is to provide comprehensive scientific
assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information
worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its
potential environmental and socio-economic consequences, and possible options
for adapting to these consequences or mitigating the effects. It is chaired
byRajendra K. Pachauri.
Thousands of scientists and other experts contribute
(on a voluntary basis, without payment from the IPCC) to writing and reviewing
reports, which are reviewed by representatives from all the governments, with a
Summary for Policymakers being subject to line-by-line approval by all
participating governments. Typically this involves the governments of more than
120 countries.
The aims of the IPCC are to assess scientific
information relevant to:
1. Human-induced
climate change,
2. The
impacts of human-induced climate change,
3. Options
for adaptation and mitigation.
World Nature Organization (WNO)
WNO is the interim body for an intergovernmental
organization which promotes global environmental protection.
The organization is focused on promoting activities,
technologies, economies, and renewable energies which are regarded to be
environment friendly; and rThe foundation of the World Nature Organization is
one of the key outcomes of multilateral environmental protection
negotiations.The role of the Organization is to turn declarations into
implementable actions and to support the protection of the environment and
climate at an international level.educing the impact of climate change.
The WNO will be established as an intergovernmental
organization by the entry into force of the WNO-Treaty. In accordance with
Article XVIII of the WNO-Treaty, the Treaty shall be registered in the United
Nations Treaty Collection (UNTC) in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter
of the United Nations.
North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO)
It is an "international body for co-operation on
conservation, management and study of marine mammals in the North
Atlantic."
The body was founded in 1992 by its current members
Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands. The organisation came about
because the nations were (and continue to be) unhappy with the international
management of cetaceans and other marine mammals by the International Whaling
Commission. NAMMCO believes that whaling should be more extensive than that
currently allowed under the IWC moratorium which prohibits all (large species)
whaling with a few specific exceptions.
NAMMCO was founded in Nuuk, Greenland on 9 April 1992
by the signatories to Agreement on Cooperation in Research, Conservation and
Management of Marine Mammals in the North Atlantic. The Agreement came into
force on 7 July 1992 and was itself the product of a Memorandum of
Understanding signed in Tromso in 1990 between the Norwegian and Icelandic
governments and the Greenland and Faroese home rule governments.
Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)
IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body to
strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services
for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being
and sustainable development. It was established in Panama City, on 21 April
2012 by 94 governments.
All the Member Countries of the United Nations can
join the platform and its Members are committed to building IPBES as the
leading intergovernmental body for assessing the state of the planet’s
biodiversity, its ecosystems and the essential services they provide to
society. IPBES provides a mechanism recognized by both the scientific and
policy communities to synthesize, review, assess and critically evaluate
relevant information and knowledge generated worldwide by governments,
academia, scientific organizations, non-governmental organizations as well as indigenous
peoples and local communities.
Author: SHAILESH KR SHUKLA
Email ID:167shailesh.bot@gmail.com
