UNEP

PresentedBy:
Anstin Thomas
Bhavesh Hume
Deepak Joshi
Mohammad Saddam
Pranav Ghangare
Prasad Deshmane

UNEP is the voice for the environment
within the United Nations system
UNEP’s mission is 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.

What is UNEP ?
The United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) is an agency of
the United Nation that coordinates its
environmental activities, assisting
developing countries in implementing
environmentally sound policies and
practices.

United Nations Environment
Programme
Abbreviation : UNEP
Formation : 1972 June 5
Type :Programme
Legal status :Active
Headquarters : Nairobi, Kenya
Head :Achim Steiner
Parent organization: United Nations
Website : www.UNEP.org

Executive Director
# Picture Name
(Birth–
Death)
Nationalit
y
Took
office
Left office
1 Maurice
Strong
(born 1929)
Canada 1972
1975
2 Mostafa
Kamal
Tolba
(born 1922)
Egypt 1975 1992
3 Elizabeth
Dowdeswell
(born 1944)
Canada 1992 1998
4 Klaus
Töpfer
(born 1938)
Germany 1998 2006
5 Achim
Steiner
(born 1961)
Germany 2006 PRESENT

History Of UNEP
It was founded by Maurice Strong, its first
director, 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.
UNEP has aided in the formulation of guidelines
and treaties on issues such as the international
trade in potentially harmful chemicals,
transboundary air pollution, and contamination
of international waterways.

What UNEP does
 Assessing global, regional and national environmental
conditions and trends.
 Developing international agreements and national
environmental instruments.
 Strengthening institutions for the wise management of
the environment.
 Integrating economic development and environmental
protection
 Facilitating the transfer of knowledge and technology for
sustainable development.
 Encouraging new partnerships and mind-sets within civil
society and the private sector.

UNEP around the world
UNEP’s global headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya. Being
based in Africa gives UNEP a first-hand understanding of
the environmental issues facing developing countries.
UNEP is represented across the globe by six regional
offices:
 Africa: Nairobi, Kenya
 Asia and the Pacific: Bangkok, Thailand
 Europe: Geneva, Switzerland
 Latin America and the Caribbean: Mexico City, Mexico
 North America: Washington DC, USA
 West Asia: Manama, Bahrain

UNEP's main activities are :
Climate change;
Including the Territorial Approach to
Climate Change (TACC);
Disasters and conflicts;
Ecosystem management;
Environmental governance;
Environment under review;
Harmful substances;
Resource efficiency.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UNEP
Executive Director Achim Steiner agree:
 Climate change is “the defining challenge of our
generation”.
 It is no longer relevant to discuss whether or not
our climate is changing, but rather, how fast changes will
occur.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner states:
 We are all part of the solution;
 Many solutions already exist;
 Many solutions provide answers to other challenges.
 Costs to limit emissions will be significant,
but lower compared to the costs of no action.
 TIME IS RUNNING OUT!

• UNEP’s strategy and climate change
programme in no way prejudges the current
climate negotiations.
• UNEP will adapt its programme 2010–11
to reflect any future climate agreement.

UNEP’s long-term commitment to climate change.
● UNEP:
 Has more than 20 years of experience working on
climate change;
 Established the International Panel on Climate
Change with the World Meteorological Organization
in the1980s;
 Concentrates efforts of reducing emissions in
various ways;
 Works across numerous areas to combat climate
change;
 Supports governments ,the private sector ,and civil
society.

Partnership
 UNEP complements its climate change activities by
cooperating and expanding existing agreements with other UN
agencies addressing climate change internationally, or seeking to do
so.
• Examples of such cooperation include:
 UNFCCC Secretariat
 UNDP
 UNICEF
 FAO-UNDP-UNEP
 IPCC Secretariat
 GEF

UNEP climate change strategy
Theme 1:
 Adapting by building resilience to a changing climate;
Theme 2:
 Facilitating a transition towards low carbon societies;
Theme 3:
 Improving understanding of climate change science;
Theme 4:
 Communicating and raising awareness.

Adapting by building resilience to a
changing climate EA (a) Adaptation
•UNEP’s work focuses on:
 Assessing vulnerabilities and adaptation services of
ecosystems and helping to integrate findings into national decision-
making;
 Promoting ecosystem based-adaptation;
 Helping to strengthen national institutional capacity;
 Helping to strengthen national capacity for undertaking
integrated vulnerability and adaptation assessments;
 Supporting countries to integrate adaptation into their national
and regional development planning processes;
 Providing technical, analytical and policy support to major
climate change financing mechanisms.

EXAMPLE
As a UNEP-UNDP Initiative, the CC-DARE Programme supports
Sub-Saharan African countries in integrating climate change
adaptation into development frameworks.
CC-DARE is:
 supporting the Ministry of Finance in Senegal to
integrate climate change into consideration in the Public
Budgeting System;
 working with a Ugandan NGO to develop
Education and Awareness materials for public broadcasting;

Reducing emissions
from deforestation
and degradation:
 A collaborative
programme with UNDP and
FAO, implemented in
coordination with the
UNFCCC Secretariat and the
World Bank Forest Carbon
Partnership Facility.
 Nine pilot governments are
implementing national REDD
strategies and mechanisms:
Bolivia, Democratic Republic
of Congo, Indonesia, Panama,
Papua New Guinea, Paraguay,
Tanzania, Vietnam, and
Zambia.

Facilitating a transition towards low carbon societies
EA (b) Mitigation technology
● UNEP’s work focuses on:
 Supporting countries to undertake technical and economic
renewable energy assessments to support their decisions;
 Supporting the development of national climate technology
plans to promote markets for cleaner energy technologies;
 Establishing and supporting knowledge networks to inform
and support keys take holders;
 Undertaking and promoting the use of macro-economic and
sectoral analysis of the costs and benefits of different policy options;
Promoting public/private partnerships.

EXAMPLE
Green Buildings Initiative:
- In partnership with the private
sector UNEP promotes the
worldwide adoption of sustainable
building and construction practices.
- The current main focus of
SBCI is to enable the building
sector to respond to the climate
change challenge. The building
sector has the largest contribution to
GHG emissions through energy use
during construction and in particular
during the use of buildings.

Indian Solar Loan
Programme:
-UNEP partnered with
two of India’s largest
banks to finance more
than 20,000 solar
lighting systems.
-The activity prompted
20 other Indian banks to
develop similar credit
programmes.

Improving understanding of climate
change science EA (e) Science
•UNEP’s work focuses on:
 Undertaking science- based assessment to increase awareness
of climate change and its impacts, and promoting integration of
climate change in to policy making;
 Implementing capacity building programmes to help countries
customize climate change data and scenarios to their needs in order
to strengthen climate change policy planning;
 Providing technical support and training for climate change
negotiators and stakeholders;
 Providing advisory and support services to major groups to
demonstrate how climate change can be integrated into their
activities.

EXAMPLE
Global Glacier Changes -
Facts and Figures:
- The publication is a report
presenting the latest data on
fluctuations of glaciers and
ice caps –it is available for
download online.
- UNEP, with the World
Glacier Monitoring Service,
released the report at the 20th
anniversary of the IPCC in
2008.

Communicating and raising
awareness EA (e) Information
UNEP’s work focuses on:
 Developing strategic communications with the UNFCCC to
convey a sense of urgency in dealing with climate change;
 Using media and out reach activities to help deliver key messages
on climate change to the media and other target groups;
 Helping communicate successful climate change programmes to
key stakeholders to promote replication of best practices;
 Conducting awareness raising ,outreach ,education and training
forMajor Stakeholders;
 Hosting events, awards ceremonies and recognition programmes
to encourage innovation and participation.

EXAMPLES
Targeted campaigns and events:
Seal the Deal!, Billion Tree Campaign,
Climate Neutral Network, World Environment Day,
Paint for the Planet.

Disasters and conflicts
 This sub-programme works to understand
and reduce the impacts of environmental
degradation from disasters and conflicts on
human health, livelihoods and security. It
also emphasizes the role of healthy
ecosystems and sustainably managed
resources in reducing the risk of disasters
and conflicts.

Introduction
Since the start of the new millennium, over 35 major
conflicts and some 2,500 disasters have affected billions of people
around the world. These crises destroy infrastructure, displace
entire populations and threaten ecosystems and the people who rely
on them to survive. Reducing the risk of disasters and conflicts,
mitigating their impacts when they occur, and building resilient
societies and economies is therefore at the top of the international
agenda
From Kosovo to Afghanistan, and from Sudan to Haiti,
UNEP has responded to crisis situations in over 40 countries since
1999, delivering high-quality environmental expertise to national
governments and partners in the UN family.

Goals of Disasters and conflicts
Programme
The Disasters and Conflicts sub-programme
focuses on helping States minimize the threats to human well-being from
environmental causes and consequences of disasters and conflicts. It has
four key goals:
Disaster risk reduction:
Assessment
 Recovery:
Cooperation for peacebuilding:

Disaster risk reduction
Healthy ecosystems are the front line
of defense against a changing climate. the
services they provide not only protect lives
and livelihoods from natural hazards, they
also support livelihoods and other crucial
aspects of human wellbeing. Guided by the
Hyogo Framework for Action, UNEP
provides decision-makers with sound
information about disaster risk and works to
catalyse a broad range of environmental
actors to further reduce risks. UNEP’s risk
reduction work also extends to Climate
Change and Environmentally Induced
Migration. UNEP works closely with the
humanitarian community, focusing on
regions vulnerable to disasters, outmigration
and social instability.

Post-crisis environmental
assessments
In the aftermath of a crisis, critical natural resources entire
communities depend on are often degraded, damaged or destroyed.
Assessments to gauge the risks posed by these environmental impacts are
the foundation of UNEP’s conflict and disaster response.
• Field-based assessments :Using sound science and state-
of-the-art technology, UNEP teams conduct in-depth field work to
identify environmental risks to human health, livelihoods and
security. Each assessment is undertaken on an equally neutral basis,
and adopts a tailor-made approach to the situation’s particular
geographical, political and security conditions.
• Recovery planning :The findings and recommendations of
each assessment feed into planning a recovery process that reduces
underlying risk factors and builds the long-term health and stability
of both ecosystems and vulnerable populations.

In 2006, UNEP mobilized within days of the end of the conflict between
Lebanon and Israel to undertake a field-based scientific assessment of
the conflict’s environmental impacts, entailing the collection of some 200
samples from over 100 sites. The post-conflict environmental assessment
report was completed within four months of the ceasefire.

Environmental recovery
UNEP is available to help national governments address identified
environmental needs and priorities. Post-crisis environmental
recovery programmes, which can last for several years, aim
to strengthen the capacity of national and local environmental
authorities, rehabilitate ecosystems, mitigate risks and ensure that
resources are used sustainably within recovery and development
processes. Where it is necessary and requested, UNEP can establish
project offices in country to ensure a continuous presence on the
ground, as is currently the case in Afghanistan and Sudan. UNEP is
also implementing environmental recovery programmes in China,
Myanmar, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and
Côte d’Ivoire.

Initiated at the request of the Government of Afghanistan following a post-conflict
environmental assessment conducted in 2002, UNEP’s Programme in Afghanistan
has created a lasting foundation for environmental management and sustainable
development in Afghanistan, centered on supporting the establishment of a self-
sufficient National Environmental Protection Authority. The programme is
implemented from UNEP’s project office in Kabul.

Environmental cooperation for
peace building
Capitalizing on the shared need to manage natural resources for
livelihoods, UNEP aims to use environmental cooperation to
transform the risks of conflict over resources into opportunities for
peace in war-torn societies, and to integrate environment and natural
resources issues within the peacebuilding policies and strategies of
the UN.
To help address the environmental
dimensions of conflict and peacebuilding effectively, UNEP has
developed a unique relationship with the UN Peacebuilding
Commission, and broadened its expertise and capacity by establishing
an Expert Advisory Group composed of senior experts from academic
institutions, nongovernmental organizations and think tanks with
demonstrated leadership in environment and conflict issues.

The Environment and Security (ENVSEC) Initiative aims to strengthen
regional collaboration through the identification of priorities and
opportunities for cooperation to address environmental problems
threatening human security. In this context, UNEP is currently working
with national experts towards the establishment of three protected
mountain areas across the borders of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Montenegro and Serbia.

Ecosystem Management
 UNEP’s subprogramme on Ecosystem Management
responds to the emphasis on ecosystem degradation in
the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA). It aims to
translate the MA’s findings into a workable programme
for application at national and regional levels, and to
assist countries to use an ecosystem approach to
enhance human wellbeing.

UNEP has proposed a four-step process to progressively
incorporate the concept of ecosystem services for human
well-being into development planning and processes:
• Making the case for ecosystem management through
awareness raising, capacity building, advocacy and policy support;
• .Generating knowledge on ecosystem management
approaches by documenting best practices, and developing tools to
enable countries to apply ecosystem management;
• Turning knowledge into action at the country, regional and
global levels
• Monitoring evaluation and feedback of the status of ecosystem
services by offering technical support for the development and review
of indicators of ecosystem service delivery and facilitating
review of the delivery of ecosystem services against established
baselines

The UNEP Ecosystem Management Programme will
work to change the piecemeal (i.e., sector by sector)
approach to environmental management and move to
an approach that integrates forests, land, freshwater,
and coastal systems where they impact upon the overall
deliver of ecosystem services.

UNEP will work towards
assisting countries and regions to:
integrate an ecosystem approach into
development and planning processes;
acquire and improve the capacity to use
ecosystem management tools; and
realign their environmental programmes
and financing to tackle the degradation of
priority ecosystem services.

SOURCE OF LIFE
Human well-being ultimately depends on the
health of the ecosystems which envelope and
sustain us. We exploit ecosystems for the
food, water, and timber we need for everyday
living. We depend on ecosystem processes to
regulate natural cycles and keep diseases at
bay. We rely on them for recreation,
instruction and mental and spiritual
enrichment.
We know that without healthy
ecosystems we could not survive, and yet we
are transforming and degrading them at an
ever-increasing rate.
An ecosystem is a dynamic complex
of plant, animal, and microorganism
communities and their nonliving environment
interacting as a functional unit. Humans are
an integral part of ecosystems. Ecosystems
vary enormously in size; a temporary pond in
a tree hollow and an ocean basin can both
be ecosystems.

Ecosystem services at risk:
Ecosystem services are the benefits that people
obtain from ecosystems. The Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment analysed 24 ecosystem services, and found that
15 were being degraded or used unsustainably. The decline
in services affects the world’s disadvantaged people most
strongly, impedes sustainable development globally and, in
developing countries, represents a considerable barrier to
achieving the UN’s Millennium Development Goals of
reducing poverty and hunger.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment grouped
ecosystem services into four categories:
provisioning services such as the supply of food
and water;
regulating services, which help to stabilize
ecosystem processes such as climate and water storage
and purification;
supporting services, including soil formation and
nutrient cycling; and
cultural services, such as recreational,
spiritual,religious and other non material benefits.

Over one billion people have to live on an income of less than $1 per day. Most of
them are crucially dependent on ecosystem services, supporting themselves mainly
through agriculture, grazing, hunting and fishing. So it is not surprising that the
regions facing the greatest developmental challenges tend to be those having the most
trouble maintaining their ecosystems and the services they provide.

The
ecosystem
approach
The ecosystem approach is a strategy for the integrated management of land,
water and living resources that provides sustainable delivery of ecosystem
services in an equitable way.

SERVICES UNDER
ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT
PROGRAMME :
Regulating services.
Provisioning services
Supporting services
Cultural services

Regulating services:
 Regulating services are defined as the benefits obtained
from the regulation of ecosystem processes. They include
the following:
 Climate regulation.
 Natural hazard regulation.
 Water regulation.
 Water purification and waste treatment.
 Disease regulation.

Climate regulation
Ecosystems influence climate both
locally and globally. At the local
scale, changes in land
cover can affect both temperature
and precipitation. At
the global scale, ecosystems play an
important role in
climate either by sequestering
carbon (e.g., in forests,
grasslands and marine ecosystems)
or by emitting
greenhouse gases (e.g., forests
destruction by fire and
melting permafrost). Forests, and
the services they
provide, are particularly vulnerable
to overexploitation
and habitat degradation.

Natural hazard regulation:
Healthy ecosystems provide protection from extreme
events such as hurricanes, tsunamis, high tides, floods, droughts, etc.
For example, mangroves and coral reefs help protect
coastal areas from storm surges; vegetation cover on a hillside can
help prevent erosion and mudslides. Natural disaster and post-
conflict response is another key area for results in the UNEP
medium-term strategy, and has strong linkages to ecosystem
management.
Water regulation:
Water scarcity is increasingly affecting human well-
being and making us aware of the importance of healthy terrestrial
ecosystems as the major source of accessible, renewable freshwater
(in itself a top priority service). Ecosystems supply, store and retain
water in watersheds and natural reservoirs; they regulate the flow of
water required for irrigation andindustry, and provide protection
against storms, erosion and floods.

Water purification and waste treatment: Water purification
and waste treatment are facilitated by healthy ecosystems, providing
clean drinking water and water suitable for industry, recreation and
wildlife.Natural wetlands can process and filter pollutants such as
metals, viruses, oils, excess nutrients, and sediment. Forests retain
water and slowly filter it through the ground.
Disease regulation: Healthy soils and wetlands can trap and
detoxify pathogens and regulate disease-carrying organisms. By
breaking down 0 human and ecosystem waste, many organisms
reduce the threat of diseases such as cholera. Predatory organisms
keep a population of pathogens and its carriers relatively low.
Therefore, reducing predator populations, as a result of habitat
fragmentation or competition from invasive species, can increase
human and other diseases. Recent research has demonstrated that
the risk of Lyme disease decreases when the diversity of vertebrate
communities
is high.

Provisioning services :
Provisioning services are the products obtained
from ecosystems. These include food,
freshwater, wood, fibre, genetic resources and
medicines. Of particular interest to UNEP are:
Freshwater
Energy
Fisheries

Freshwater
The well-being of both ecosystems
and humans is strongly dependent
on this vital ecosystem service,
which provides people with water
for domestic use, irrigation, power
generation, and transportation.
The natural availability of
freshwater in rivers, lakes and
other aquifers varies considerably,
however, and
demand has exploded over the last
century. This has led to the
construction of dams, irrigation
channels, river embankments and
inter-basin canals, often at the cost
of ecosystem degradation.

Energy
This ecosystem service was
mentioned as ‘biomass energy’ in the
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
The increased production of biofuels
to replace such fossil fuels as wood
and charcoal – ofparticular
importance to poor people – has
provoked
keen debate about the potential
impacts of this production on
ecosystem and human well being.
Hydropower as a low carbon energy
source is dependent on freshwater
related ecosystem services (provided,
for example, by dams) and can also
have major impacts on upstream
and downstream ecosystems.

Fisheries
Marine and freshwater
fisheries are in decline, in
spite of increasing demand.
Fish protein is of particular
importance to poor people.
Overfishing is the main
problem, but keeping
aquatic ecosystems healthy
canhelp sustain populations
in the face of growing
demand.

Supporting services
 Supporting services are necessary for the production of
all other ecosystem services. Not surprisingly, these
relate to fundamental environmental processes and
intangible values. Their impacts are either indirect or
occur over a very long time. Examples of supporting
services include biomass production, production of
atmospheric oxygen, soil formation and retention,
nutrient cycling, water cycling, and provisioning of
habitat.
UNEP will focus on two in particular:
Nutrient cycling
Primary production

Nutrient cycling
Approximately 20 nutrients essential for life,
such as nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium,
are absorbed, retained and recycled by
ecosystems. Phytoplankton – microscopic
plants – in lakes, rivers and the sea absorb
nutrients from runoff and pass them up the
food chain. Soil organisms – from microbes
and fungi to earthworms and insects – are
crucial to the chemical conversion and
physical transfer of essential nutrients to
higher plants. In simplified low-diversity
agriculturallandscapes, this capacity is much
reduced. Many parts of the world suffer from
inadequate nutrients in theirsoils and food,
while others must deal with excessive
nutrients leading to overload and
eutrophication (depletion of oxygen in the
water).

Primary production
The life-sustaining production
of organic compounds, mainly
through photosynthesis by
green plants and algae, is
known as primary production.
All life on Earth relies directly
or indirectly on primary
production, yet we know very
little about its natural limits or
its risk of collapse under
increasing pressure from
climate change and other
environmental factors.

Cultural services
 ‘Cultural services’ is the umbrella term
used for the non-material benefits that
people obtain from ecosystems, such as
spiritual enrichment, intellectual
development, reflection, religious
experience, and recreation. It comprises
knowledge systems, social relations,
aesthetic values and appreciation of
nature. Of these varied services,
ecotourism is of particular interest to
UNEP.

Recreation and ecotourism
Healthy ecosystems which
offer opportunities for
outdoor recreation and
nature-based tourism are
becoming an increasingly
important economic
resource.Far beyond
providing an aesthetic
experience only for the
privileged, ecotourism has
great potential – and proven
success in many parts of the
world –for alleviating
poverty and improving
human well-being.

Introduction
 Governing our planet’s rich and diverse natural
resources is an increasingly complex challenge. In our
globalised world of interconnected nations, economies
and people, managing environmental threats,
particularly those that cross political borders such as air
pollution and biodiversity loss, will require new global,
regional, national and local responses involving a wide
range of stakeholders.

 Effective environmental governance at all levels is critical for
finding solutions to these challenges.Environmental
Governance comprises the rules, practices, policies and
institutions that shape how humans interact with the
environment.
UNEP’s Environmental Governance sub-programme promotes
informed environmental decision-making to enhance global
and regional environmental cooperation and governance.
Working with States and all major groups and stakeholders,
UNEP helps to bridge the science and policy gaps by keeping
the state of the global environment under review, identifying
threats at an early stage, developing sound environmental
policies, and helping States successfully implement these
policies.

Goals of UNEP :
 The Environmental Governance subprogramme focuses on
strengthening global, regional, national and local environmental
governance to address agreed environmental priorities. The sub-
programme has four key goals:
 Sound science for decision-making
 International cooperation
 National development planning
 International policy setting and technical assistance

• Sound science for decision-making: UNEP aims to
influence the international environmental agenda by
reviewing global environmental trends and emerging issues,
and bringing these scientific findings to policy forums.
• International cooperation: UNEP helps States cooperate
to achieve agreed environmental priorities, and supports
efforts to develop, implement and enforce new international
environmental laws and standards.
• National development planning: UNEP promotes the
integration of environmental sustainability into regional and
national development policies, and helps States understand
the benefits of this approach.
• International policy setting and technical assistance:
UNEP works with States and other stakeholders to
strengthen their laws and institutions, helping them achieve
environmental goals, targets and objectives.

UNEP’s Vision
 UNEP’s Environmental Governance sub-programme is
working to make this vision a reality during the 2010-13
period of UNEP’s Medium-term Strategy. From
providing decisionmakers with access to sound science
to enhancing global and regional cooperation, UNEP
has a rich history of helping States meet the challenges
of environmental governance.
UNEP’s vision is based on delivering:
 International cooperation
 Strengthened national laws and institutions
 Sustainable regional and national development
 Access to sound science

International cooperation:
UNEP has unparalleled convening power on the global
stage. UNEP will continue to use its experience as a neutral
facilitator to enhance cooperation between States and other
actors to support international decision-making, and ensure
environmental threats are effectively addressed. To enhance
the quality and impact of this work, UNEP will also support
political and programmatic cooperation with a broad and
diverse spectrum of major groups and stakeholders.
Strengthened national laws and institutions:
To achieve their environmental commitments and goals,
States need strong legislative, political and judicial systems.
UNEP will use its expertise in environmental policy and
law to help States further develop these institutions,
and enhance their ability to effectively participate in
international negotiations.

Sustainable regional and national development :
UN country teams play a critical role in providing the
supporting services needed to address environmental
issues. UNEP will continue to work with these teams,
as well as national governments, to mainstream
environmental sustainability into development policies.
UNEP will also support regional development, contributing
to the establishment and strengthening of institutional
arrangements to manage transboundary natural resources.
Access to sound science :
As a science-based organization, UNEP provides
environmental data and information that is critical to
crafting effective policy solutions. UNEP will produce and
communicate this information and help connect scientific
networks to national governments to bridge the sciencepolicy
Gap.

HARMFUL SUBSTANCES
AND HAZARDOUS
UNEP’s objective is to minimize the
impact of harmful substances and
hazardous waste on the
environment and people.

 Chemicals are an integral part of
everyday life. There are over 100,000 different
substances in use today. They play a role in every
economic sector and nearly every industry, and
many are critical to human wellbeing and
sustainable development. Yet chemicals can also
endanger human health and the environment if not
managed properly.

Introduction
UNEP achieves this through four
core services:
• UNEP assesses trends in the use, release and
disposal of harmful substances around the world to
inform policymakers and raise awareness on the need
for action.
• UNEP helps governments use data and
information from these global assessments to make
informed decisions.

• UNEP uses scientific assessments
and legal instruments as a basis for technical
assistance and capacity building for States,
helping them design and implement national
programmes supporting sound management of
harmful substances and hazardous waste.
• UNEP helps governments monitor,
evaluate and report on the impacts and progress
of their systems for managing harmful
substances and hazardous waste.

The sub-programme is built on more than 30 years
of work in the field and is a driving force behind
the sound management of chemicals and hazardous
waste.

MANAGEMENT OF
CHEMICALS
 Chemicals play an essential role in our
daily lives. They are used in every economic sector and in
many of the common products we buy. Many chemicals
are critical to human well-being and sustainable
development; yet they can also endanger health and the
environment if not manufactured, used and managed
properly. There are over 100,000 different chemical
substances in use today.

 Reducing risks from mercury.
 Taking the lead on lead.
 Chemicals at sea.

Reducing risks from mercury
An important step forward towards eliminating the
use of one of the world’s most toxic heavy metals,
mercury, was taken in June 2010. UNEP, serving as
the Secretariat, convened the first session of the
Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to prepare
a global legally binding instrument on Mercury
(INC1). UNEP recognizes that it will be some time
before a legally-binding instrument comes into force.

In the interim, the Global
Mercury Partnership has
been formed to take
immediate action wherever
possible on mercury use
and release. Since 2009,
membership has trebled to
almost 70; including 14
governments, four
intergovernmental
organizations, 31 non-
governmental
organizations and 19 other
groups, organizations or
individuals.

Taking the lead on lead
 During 2010, the number of countries still
using leaded vehicle fuels was reduced and today
only six countries use small amounts of leaded
gasoline.
 The UNEP-led Partnership for Clean Fuels
and Vehicles is working with all of these to help
develop plans to phase out those fuels and ‘beat the
lead habit’.

Barrel containing harmful substances
washed up on a beach
 Breathing in the
exhaust fumes from vehicles
using leaded fuels is not the
only way in which children
and adults become poisoned
by lead.
 Paint and the dust
created during building
work is also an important
exposure route.

Chemicals at sea
 Harmful substances and waste generated
on land find their way into waterways and are
transferred to marine and coastal environments. The
Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the
Marine Environment from Land-based Activities
(GPA-Marine) is the only global intergovernmental
initiative directly addressing the link between
watersheds, coastal waters and the open ocean.

Water pollution
 The Regional Seas
Programme, launched in
1974, is one of UNEP’s most
significant achievements
over the past 35 years. The
Regional Seas conventions
and action plans contribute
to the sustainable
management and protection
of the coastal and marine
environment by preventing
further degradation of the
marine environment from
pollution derived from land
based activities.

Resource efficiency
 UNEP defines resource efficiency
from a life cycle and value chain perspective. This
means reducing the total environmental impact of
the production and consumption of goods and
services, from raw material extraction to final use
and disposal.

Introduction
Resource efficiency represents a critical opportunity to address this
unsustainable path, building green economies in which economic
growth is decoupled from environmental harm. By enabling the
design and production of low-impact products and services, resource
efficiency can help us meet human needs while respecting the
ecological carrying
capacity of the earth.
UNEP’s Resource Efficiency sub-programme
works to ensure natural resources are produced, processed and
consumed in a more environmentally sustainable way, paving the
way towards the Green Economy. This is an economy which uses
opportunities for cleaner investments and green jobs to address
poverty and enhance human well-being.

 Economic growth and social
development cannot be sustained with our current
consumption and production patterns. Globally, we
are extracting more resources to produce goods
and services than our planet can replenish, while a
large share of an increasingly urban world
population is still struggling to meet basic needs.

Resource efficiency underpins
Green Economy

They are unseparatable: GE calls for growt opportunity and
redirection of investment that Come from and based on resource
efficiency
 RE not only at the upfront-resource extraction and the end--
waste disposal and recycle, but also throughout GE transformation.
Transition to GE depends on and supported by decoupling
escalating increase
in resource use from environment degradation.
 RE covers both production and consumption.

Notable world projects
 UNEP has sponsored the development of solar loan
programs, with attractive return rates, to buffer the initial deployment
costs and entice consumers to consider and purchase solar PV systems.
The most famous example is the solar loan program sponsored by UNEP
helping 100,000 people finance solar power systems in India. Success in
India's solar program has led to similar projects in other parts of the
developing world like Tunisia, Morocco, Indonesia and Mexico.

Today's wastage is
tomorrow's shortage.

REFERENCES
 WIKIPEDIA
 Unep.org
 Un.org

UNEP

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