UNA-Canada Fact Sheets > The UN and the Environment

Over the past twenty-five years, governments and people the world over have become increasingly aware that the global environment is under attack, and that failure to take corrective measures threatens the future of all people. Since the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment (held in Stockholm), the UN has become a powerful advocate for environmental change and a coordinator of environmental activities by national governments, non-governmental organizations, and the world science and business communities. The 1972 Conference resulted in the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). With its headquarters located in Nairobi, Kenya, it was the first UN agency to be based in a developing country.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

UNEP concentrates on such issues as atmospheric and climatic change, the depletion of the ozone layer, freshwater resources, deforestation and desertification, biological diversity, biotechnology, and chemical safety. It is active in the fields of the working environment, energy, technology, human settlements, and environmental economics. UNEP’s mission is "to provide leadership and encourage partnerships in caring for the environment by enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations."

A UNEP program, Earthwatch, assesses the planet’s environment by collecting and disseminating information in 170 countries. It has three major components.

• The Global Environmental Monitoring Service (GEMS) and the Global Resource Information Database (GRID) have involved more than 30,000 scientists and technicians. Together they consist of twenty-five global monitoring networks and twelve regional GRID centres, or nodes, making data available to natural resource managers and planners around the world.
• Infoterra, UNEP’s worldwide network for environmental data, assists organizations and individuals to obtain environmental information from around the globe. It processes over 38,000 queries a year and serves 170 countries.
• The International Register of Potentially Toxic Chemicals (IRPTC) is UNEP’s chemical information exchange system. With 80,000 chemicals already on the market and nearly 2,000 new ones introduced every year, IRPTC bridges the information gap between producers and users. IRPTC also collaborates on the International Programme on Chemical Safety with the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), issuing guidelines for chemical exposure and safety.

Nearly one fifth of UNEP’s budget is spent on education and training. More than 2,000 scientists have been trained in environmental monitoring, over 1,500 technicians and farmers have been taught about pest control, and an equal number of technicians from developing countries have learned how to conserve national genetic resources. UNEP works cooperatively with the news and entertainment media, producing documentary films and several publications. Together with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, (UNESCO), UNEP administers the International Environmental Education Programme which has reached schoolchildren in over 140 countries.

Through a series of international agreements, UNEP is seeking to protect the world's physical environment. As examples:

• The Vienna Convention (1983), the Montreal Protocol (1987), and the London (1990) and Copenhagen (1992) Amendments to the Montreal Protocol have established national commitments to reducing damage to the ozone layer.
• The 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has achieved a great deal in controlling the trade of wildlife products.
• The 1989 Basel Convention on International Trade in Hazardous Wastes has helped reduce the dangers of pollution by aiming to control the movement and final disposal of toxic wastes shipped abroad.
• Other UNEP-led international environmental initiatives resulted in two conventions signed in 1992 at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED): the conventions on Climate Change and Biological Diversity. The International Convention on Biological Diversity promotes international action to halt the destruction of biological species, habitats, and ecosystems. The Framework Convention on Climate Change aims to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases at levels that will prevent global warming.

UNEP’s efforts to protect the marine environment and promote sound, sustainable use of marine resources are of particular importance to Canada. Since 1973, the regional seas programmes have brought together over 130 governments, sixteen UN bodies, and forty other organizations to protect our water resources. UNEP is working to coordinate cooperation among all regional seas programmes and to improve worldwide monitoring of the oceans.

The Earth Summit

UNEP’s catalytic and coordinating role in the environmental movement was reinforced by the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development. The conference, held in Rio de Janeiro, integrated developmental and enviromental concerns that were set out at the 1972 Conference on the Human Environment, and built on the 1987 work of the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland.

The Rio conference adopted three major programmes:

• Agenda 21—A comprehensive blueprint for global action in all areas of sustainable development, Agenda 21 recommends action on climate change, depletion of the ozone layer, air and water pollution, desertification, deforestation, soil loss, toxic wastes, and depletion of fish stocks. It also addresses patterns of development which cause stress to the environment: poverty and external debt in developing countries, unsustainable patterns of production and consumption in industrialized countries, demographic pressures, and the structure of the international economy;
• the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development—The Declaration contains a series of principles defining the rights and responsibilities of countries; and
• Principles for Sustainable Development of Forests—The principles address the threats facing the world’s forests.

The United Nations General Assembly created the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) to follow up the UNCED. The CSD monitors progress towards the goals of Agenda 21, the Forest Principles, and the conventions on Climate Change and Biological Diversity. The Commission will play an important role preparing for the June 1997 Special Session of the General Assembly which is to review progress from UNCED.

Canada’s Contribution to the Global Environment

Canadians have been instrumental in assisting the UN in raising global awareness of issues related to the environment. Maurice Strong has been very active on the environmental front as Secretary-General of both the 1972 and 1992 UN environmental conferences and as the first Executive Director of UNEP. The current Executive Director, Elisabeth Dowdeswell, is also a Canadian.

Two environmental bodies, affiliated with UNEP, are located in Montreal: the Secretariat for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol. The Convention on Biological Diversity, approved in 1992, is a binding legal agreement meant to protect the biological diversity of species, genetic resources, and the entire ecological system. The Convention’s supporters are committed to preserving biological diversity, promoting the sustainable use of the components of biodiversity, and ensuring fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed in 1987. The agreement set targets for phasing out both the production and consumption of ozone-depleting chemicals, in addition to other measures, to protect the ozone layer. The Multilateral Fund is meant to meet the costs associated with the implementation of control measures, under the Montreal Protocol, in developing countries.

World Environment Day is celebrated annually on June 5th to commemorate the opening day of the 1972 Stockholm Conference, an event which marks the beginning of a concerted international effort to protect our environment.