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UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMMES

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was established in 1972. Its mission is "to provide leadership and encourage partnership in order to preserve the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations." The current Executive Director of UNEP is Achim Steiner.

Le PNUE ayant reconnu le rôle important que les Organisations UNEP having recognized the important role that civil society organizations (CSOs) can play alongside it to participate in environmental protection, found in them allies. Thus it has accredited a number of CSOs near its Government Council. Friends of the Earth Togo, who work tirelessly to protect the environment and promote sustainable development, was accredited on July 11, 2005 near the UNEP. This accreditation allows Friends of the Earth Togo to sit as observers in public meetings of the Governing Council and subsidiary bodies of UNEP.

Through accreditation, the role of the society is officially recognized near UNEP. The civil society can participate in UNEP activities, such as scientific assessments, the development and implementation of law and policy, public awareness and working with the private sector.

As Dr. Vandana Shiva write "UNEP's commitment to civil society is necessary for the protection of life on earth. It has the potential to revive the ecological and democratic, restart processes that have been disrupted over the last decade due to the euphoria that wanted all decisions to be market-based determined and the protection of the global environment to be left to the care of a deregulated international trade. "

UNEP's mandate was expanded and reformulated through the Nairobi Declaration adopted in 1997. The Declaration states that "the United Nations Environment Programme must play the role of leader in regard to the environment by adopting measures in favor of the global environment, by promoting coherently the realization of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and being an authoritative advocate for the global environment.

This change was introduced in the context of development at global environmental governance.

In 1992, the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was established to monitor the implementation of Agenda 21. During the 1990s, the international environmental conventions which followed the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), were transformed into instances of autonomous decision-making. In addition, the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the growth of environmentalism in development agencies such as the World Bank (WB) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) highlighted the challenge facing the UNEP: become more involved within the United Nations system and with the civil society.

The UNEP Secretariat, consisted of about 890 people (about 490 engaged with an international contract and 400 locally engaged), is responsible for implementing the decisions of the Member States. The Secretariat manages a budget of approximately U.S. $ 105 million which mainly comes from governments.

The UNEP headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, and has six regional offices around the world, as well as field offices and collaboration centers. Structural changes within UNEP led to the creation of eight (8) divisions which are:

- The Division of Early Warning and Assessment;
- The Division of Policy Development and Environmental Law;
- The Division of Implementation of Environmental Policy ;
- The Division of Convention on the Environmen;
- The Division of Communication and Information;
- The Division of Technology, Industry and Economics ;
- The Coordination Division of the Global Environment Funds and
- The Division of Regional Cooperation.

The Division of Regional Cooperation adapts and coordinates the work program of UNEP to the national and regional levels. It has a coordination office which is located at its headquarters in Nairobi and six regional offices which are:

- The Regional Office for Africa (ROA);
- The Regional Office for Europe (ROE) ;
- The Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (ROLAC) ;
- The Regional Office for North America (RONA) ;
- The Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) and
- The Regional Office for Asia Pacific (ROWA).

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