Monitoring The UN > The UN and Sustainable Development

Protecting the Global Environment

Environmental degradation knows no national boundaries. Sulphur emissions in one country cause acid rain in another downwind. Depletion of the ozone layer from CFCs used in one nation can lead to skin cancer on the opposite side of the world. In an increasingly interdependent world, the United Nations has a crucial role to play in protecting the global environment and promoting sustainable development. Consider these achievements:

Earth Summit

At the Earth Summit -- the UN Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 -- Government leaders, including 108 heads of State, adopted Agenda 21, a global plan for sustainable development. It has since become the basis for many national plans, and over 1,800 cities and towns worldwide have created their own "local Agenda 21". The UN Commission on Sustainable Development meets annually to review progress and propose policy guidelines.

In June 1997, "Earth Summit+5", a special session of the UN General Assembly to assess follow-up at the five-year mark, found that despite progress in many areas, the global environment continues to deterioriate. Governments agreed to seek further action -- including on fresh water, energy, transport and tourism -- but few concrete commitments were made.

Climate Change

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened for signing at the 1992 Earth Summit, has been ratified by 177 nations, but few industrialized countries will meet the voluntary goal of reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2000.

In December 1997 in Kyoto, Governments negotiated a Protocol to the Convention by which industrialized countries would accept legally binding targets to reduce their collective emissions of six greenhouse gases by at least 5 per cent by 2008-12. The next round of talks, set for October 1999 in Bonn, Germany, will continue to work out details on emissions trading and other mechanisms. The Protocol has been signed by over 80 countries.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), coordinated by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (a UN agency), issued a report in 1995 finding "discernible human influence on the global climate". Based on the work of over 2,000 leading scientists from 130 countries, the IPCC, set up in 1988, reviews scientific and economic research on climate change. Its next major assessment report is due in 2001.

Ozone Depletion

Industrialized countries have banned production of CFCs as of the beginning of 1996 under the amended 1987 Montreal Protocol, administered by UNEP. Developing countries have a 10-year grace period to comply and must freeze their production and use of CFCs as of 1 July 1999. Schedules are in place to phase out other ozone-depleting substances.

Acid Rain

Acid rain in Europe and North America has been significantly reduced under a landmark 1979 Convention administered by the UN Economic Commission for Europe.

Hazardous Wastes and Chemicals To regulate the nearly 4 million tons of toxic waste that crosses national borders each year, in 1989 countries negotiated the Basel Convention on hazardous wastes, administered by UNEP and since ratified by 121 countries. In 1995 the treaty was strengthened to outlaw the export of toxic waste from developed to developing countries, which often do not have the technology for safe disposal. In 1998, over 100 Governments adopted an international treaty, negotiated under FAO and UNEP auspices, on the sharing of information on trade in hazardous chemicals and pesticides.

Biological Diversity

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity, signed at the 1992 Earth Summit and since ratified by 174 nations, obligates countries to protect plant and animal species through habitat preservation and other means. Negotiations are ongoing to finalize a protocol to the Convention to reduce the risks of transboundary movement of living modified organisms and ensure the safe use of modern biotechnologies.

Protection of endangered species is also enforced under CITES -- the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species -- administered by UNEP. Countries meet periodically to update the list of which plant and animal species or products, such as ivory, should be protected by quotas or outright bans.

Fish and Marine Resources

Global monitoring of fish stocks is carried out by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which estimates that 70 per cent of commercial fishing grounds are depleted or recovering from overfishing.

A UN legal agreement to regulate fishing on the high seas, negotiated as an outgrowth of the Earth Summit, was adopted in December 1995. Nearly 60 countries have signed the agreement, which aims to prevent overfishing and ease international tensions over competition for dwindling fish stocks, but it has been ratified by only 21 of the 30 countries needed for it to become legally binding.

Marine Pollution

Oil pollution from ships has been cut by 60 per cent since 1981, after the adoption of a legal Convention negotiated by the International Maritime Organization, a UN agency. The treaty, which now applies to more than 85 per cent of the world's merchant fleet, also sets strict controls for disposal of garbage by ships.

In 1995, Governments adopted an action plan on land-based sources of marine pollution, and talks have begun for a legal agreement to regulate persistent organic pollutants, such as DDT,PCBs and dioxin.

Desertification

The UN Convention to Combat Desertification -- which was called for at the Earth Summit -- became legally binding in December 1996. Desertification, or the degradation of arid and semi-arid lands, affects the livelihood and food supply of over 900 million people worldwide, especially in Africa.

Forests

To combat deforestation globally, FAO monitors forest loss and trade in timber and assists developing countries in managing forests. Some 13 million hectares of forest -- an area the size of Nepal -- are cut or burned each year, mostly in developing countries.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, which met for two years under the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, adopted over one hundred action proposals in March 1997.To monitor implementation and build consensus on further steps -- for example, a possible forest treaty -- Governments set up an Intergovernmental Forum on Forests at the Earth Summit+5 session in June 1997.

Fresh Water

A 1997 UN-organized assessment found that one-third of the world's population lives in countries facing moderate to severe shortages of usable fresh water; by 2025, that figure may reach two-thirds unless action is taken. Governments and experts are working toward a consensus on water policies.

Financing for the Environment

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) -- jointly run by the World Bank, the UN Development Prgramme and UNEP -- has become the main source of multilateral lending to developing countries for environmental projects. In 1998, the GEF was replenished by donor countries with a target of over $2.75 billion.