UNEP: A Global Environment Authority?

Abstract

This chapter focuses on United Nation environment programme (UNEP)'s birth, mandate, contribution in the development of international environmental law, its post-Rio political neglect, intergovernmental efforts at 'revitalization' as well as its future direction in the context of the current debate on 'international environmental governance' (IEG), among others, within the UN system, governments and civil society. International institutions, especially in the environmental field, have come to play the role of a catalyst in the law-making process. In fact, UNEP has been regarded, in the words of the UN Secretary-General, as the 'environmental conscience of the UNs'. The gradual inroads made by other agencies of the UN system in environmental matters, as a peripheral concern within their own functional jurisdiction, also contributed to the dilution of UNEP's authority. Following the establishment of Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GMEF), with universal participation, the Governing Council (GC) of UNEP has attained a unique status.Keywords: global environmental authority; Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GMEF); international environmental governance (IEG); United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP); United Nations (UN)'s environmental conscience