Managment Review of Environmental governance Within the United Nations System

This Report JIU/REP/2008/3 prepared by the UN Joint Inspection Unit finds that:

-The current framework of international environmental governance is weakened by institutional fragmentation.

-United Nations system organizations have not defined clearly their responsibilities under the governance framework, which aims at integrating environmental protection into economic and social development and mainstreaming environmental considerations in sustainable development policies.

-At present, there is no single strategic-planning framework embracing the entire United Nations system: the United Nations’ four-year medium-term plan ceased to be the policy orientation of the United Nations system following a General Assembly decision of 1999; UNEP lost its effective instrument of coordinating planning and programming when its System-Wide Medium-Term Environment Programme (SWMTEP) was discontinued in 1999; and its Medium-Term Strategy for 2010-2013 is not a system-wide instrument.

-Most UNEP/United Nations-administered MEAs have separate secretariats.

-Despite its mandate under the Cartagena Package to review the effectiveness of MEAs, UNEP has not developed concrete modalities or capacity to fulfil its mandate.