ENB INFORMAL BRIEFING NOTE

29 November 1998, New York

Written by Laura Ivers laurai@iisd.org , ENB Staff

On 23-25 November 1998, the United Nations General Assembly addressed United

Nations reform: measures and proposals (Agenda Item 30). Under this agenda

item, delegates discussed the Report of the Secretary-General on environment

and human settlements (A/53/463). The report summarizes the main findings

and 24 recommendations of the Task Force on Environment and Human Settlement

on: inter-agency linkages; linkages among and support to environmental and

environment-related conventions; UNEP, Habitat and the United Nations Office

at Nairobi (UNON); information, monitoring, assessment and early warning;

intergovernmental forums; involvement of major groups; and future

initiatives.

SOUTH AFRICA, on behalf or the G-77/China, said the report should be

addressed in a manner that would allow for full participation of all member

states and adequate time for consideration of the recommendations, and

requested that the Assembly establish an intergovernmental process for

further discussion. NEW ZEALAND noted disjunction between policy agreed at

the highest international level and the subsequent implementation of these

policies as a major problem within international environment and sustainable

development agencies. AUSTRIA, on behalf of the EU, emphasized the

importance of a stronger and better coordinated approach to environment and

human settlements, and called for the structural integration of the

environmental dimension into all UN policies and activities.

The US supported efforts for greater coordination among UNEP, Habitat and

UNON. RUSSIA supported the integration of their administrative services.

AUSTRALIA supported the designation of Dr. Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director

of UNEP, as the Director-General of UNON. NORWAY, noting that Habitat has a

set of separate objectives, emphasized that it must remain a distinct

entity. KENYA recalled that the Secretary-General upgraded UNON to the

status of UN headquarters in Vienna and Geneva, and noted that achieving

this new status will require adequate financial and human resources.

Many delegations, including CANADA, RUSSIA, AUSTRALIA, the US, KENYA, the EU

and the REPUBLIC OF KOREA, supported the recommendation for establishing an

Environment Management Group (EMG) to be chaired by the Executive Director

of UNEP. AUSTRALIA requested further information on how the EMG would

improve upon the work of the existing Inter-agency Environment Coordination

Group. The US, REPUBLIC OF KOREA and NORWAY, among others, supported the

recommendation for an annual ministerial-level global environmental forum.

AUSTRALIA suggested that such meetings be held on a biennial basis. Several

delegations underscored that such a forum should avoid interference with or

duplication of the Commission on Sustainable Development. CANADA supported

the recommendation that membership of the UNEP Governing Council be made

universal, while other states, including AUSTRALIA and the EU, noted that

the Governing Council already allows for broad representation and that

universal membership could prove costly, unwieldy and less efficient.

AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, CROATIA and others supported increased NGO

involvement in UNEP and Habitat.

AUSTRALIA supported efforts to improve coordination and discussion of

cross-cutting issues between conventions. RUSSIA said proposals on

relocation of conventions and the development of umbrella conventions are

premature. The US noted financial and management efficiencies to be gained

from co-locating conventions, and recommended that this begin with new

conventions. THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA welcomed coordinating and clustering of

conventions, but felt that an umbrella convention could only be considered

as a long-term objective. Several delegations, including the US, AUSTRALIA,

the EU and NEW ZEALAND, underscored the importance of strengthening UNEP's

monitoring, assessment and early warning capacity. RUSSIA, along with the

EU, supported strengthening UNEP's role as an implementing agency of the

Global Environmental Facility (GEF).

(Further information on decisions to be taken by the UN General Assembly

will be reported to this list.)

Editor's note: We are pleased to announce that the Executive Director of

UNEP, Mr. Klaus Töpfer, has invited the Earth Negotiations Bulletin to

attend and report from the UNEP Governing Council in February 1999.

This informal issue of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (c) (enb@iisd.org) is

written and edited by Laura Ivers (laurai@iisd.org). The Editor is Pamela

Chasek, Ph.D. (pam@iisd.org) and the Managing Editor is Langston James

"Kimo" Goree VI (kimo@iisd.org). The Sustaining Donors of the Bulletin are

the Netherlands Ministry for Development Cooperation, the Government of

Canada (through CIDA) and the United States (through USAID). General Support

for the Bulletin during 1998 is provided by the United Kingdom Department

for International Development (DFID), the German Federal Ministry of

Environment (BMU) and German Development Cooperation (BMZ), the Danish

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swiss Office for Environment, Forests and

Landscape, the European Community (DG-XI), the Ministries of Environment and

Foreign Affairs of Austria, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and

Environment of Finland, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Environment of

Norway, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Global

Environment Facility (GEF) and the Ministry for the Environment in Iceland.

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