1. Establishing an International Specialized Institution for Environment
Presentation will go through
legal status of the two options
Institutional structure of the options
Relationship to other parts of the system, stakeholders, financing
Comparison of the two options

2. Basis for Presentation
Current institutional structures do not address Africa’s needs in matters of the environment and sustainable development.
Malabo Decision - Heads of State and Government decided to “take into consideration the need to strengthen, consolidate and transform UNEP into an international specialized institution for the environment based in Nairobi, Kenya.”
Outcome of 4th SS of AMCEN - African Environment Ministers “affirm[ed] that any such specialized institution, whatever its form, should comply with the [9] characteristics specified in the outcome document.”
Assumption that the 9 characteristics will have been listed by Chair before introducing UNEP

3. Basis for Presentation - cont’d
Request to UNEP and UNECA seen in the context of the Malabo and Bamako decisions and outcomes technically translates into elaboration of two options:
Strengthened, consolidated and transformed UNEP
UN specialised Agency
Subsidiary organ of the General Assembly
The other options in the Nairobi-Helsinki Outcome (listed below) pertain to IFSD as a whole and go beyond UNEP.
The mandate to look at IFSD as a whole has been given to UN-DESA, who have contracted a consultant to prepare a study on the legal, financial and structural implications of all the Nairobi-Helisinki Outcome
With regards to the option of “Enhancing institutional reforms and streamlining existing structures”, for UNEP, this is addressed by the six system-wide responses described in the Nairobi-Helsinki Outcome.
Options in Nairobi-Helsinki Outcome related to IFSD:
Establishing a new umbrella organization for sustainable development
Reforming the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)
Enhancing institutional reforms and streamlining existing structures

4. Routes to a “strengthened, consolidated and transformed UNEP”
Requires
Majority Vote of All Members of UN
Subsidiary Organ
Established by GA Resolution
Additional Step
Relationship Agreement linking specialized institution to UN
Requires
Some States (Not All) Agree
Specialized Institution
Established by treaty
It is important to note that, based on Articles 57 and 63 of the UN Charter, specialized agencies cannot be established without (1) negotiation of a treaty, and (2) relationship agreement linking it to the UN.
The treaty (intergovernmental agreement) aims to regulate the mandate, functions, membership and structure of the specialized institution.
This relationship agreement defines the relationship between a specialized agency and the United Nations, and is subject to approval by the GA.
a specialized institution for environment would agree, for example, to:
submit all recommendations addressed to it by the GA and Security Council to its decision-making organ;
the coordination of its activities to prevent duplication of administrative and technical services;
prompt exchange of information and documents; to consult with the UN on the preparation of its budgets; and,
to conform, as far as practicable, to standard practices recommended by the UN.

5. Status of specialised institution vs. subsidiary organ
Specialised agency
Subsidiary organ
Article 57 of UN Charter
Range from autonomous – semi-autonomous
Independent membership, governance, financial regulations
Own directors, management and budget
Mandate/powers derived from ‘constitution’
Makes reports to ECOSOC
Article 22 of UN Charter
General Assembly has supervisory rights
Membership of GA ≡ membership of subsidiary organ
Funding from regular UN budget approved by all UN member-states
Mandate/powers derived from GA
Reports to GA
Article 22: The General Assembly may establish such subsidiary organs as it deems necessary for the performance of its functions.
Article 57: (1). The various specialized agencies, established by intergovernmental agreement and having wide international responsibilities, as defined in their basic instruments, in economic, social, cultural, educational, health, and related fields, shall be brought into relationship with the UN in accordance with the provisions of Art. 63.
(2). Such agencies thus brought into relationship with the United Nations are hereinafter referred to as specialized agencies.

6. Powers that UNEP as a “specialized institution” could have that it does not currently possess:
Adopt decisions within the scope of mandate, which would not be subject to review
Appoint its own head
Locus standi - to request advisory opinions from the ICJ
Enter into agreements with govts and IGOs;
Create subsidiary bodies and committees
Adopt and administrate treaties.

7. Powers that UNEP as “subsidiary organ of the GA” could have that it does not currently possess:
Create subsidiary bodies and committees
Enter into agreements with govts and IGOs
Adopt decisions
Make recommendations to the UN system in the areas of its mandate

8. Other key differences between specialized institution vs
Other key differences between specialized institution vs. subsidiary organ
Clarity of relationship to other UN entities:
Specialized Institution: independent from UN, but there is close cooperation.
Subsidiary Organization: relationship would lack the clear division of labour and standing.
relationship with other entities could be clarified by an GA resolution but would not have the formal agreement provided for by Article 57.
Powers to adopt treaties and standards:
Specialized Institution: would have the power to adopt treaties and conventions and implement them.
Future environmental treaties could therefore be closely linked to the agency and its activities and would allow for greater cost effectiveness and efficiently.
Subsidiary Organization: An GA resolution would not afford UNEP with the authority to adopt treaties or set standards.
Article 22 of the UN Charter, which allows the GA to establish subsidiary bodies, is vague in describing the details of the governance and links of all subsidiary organs.

9. Other key differences between specialized institution vs
Other key differences between specialized institution vs. subsidiary organ (cntd)
Budget
Specialized Institution: would not receive funds from the UN regular budget but would rely on contributions from its member states (does not necessarily mean assessed contributions)
Trust funds and voluntary funding are commonly used to supplement core funding
Subsidiary Organization: would continue to apply the VISC system.
However, provisions could be made to increase the regular budget to reflect an enhanced UNEP.
Timing
Specialized Institution: would require negotiation of its constitution by member states.
Subsidiary Organization: A GA resolution enhancing UNEP could be a comparatively rapid process

10. Organs of a Specialized Institution for environment
Subsidiary bodies/functional commissions including an implementation arm
Facilitation of work of ministerial conference (does not adopt decisions) /day-to-day administration
plenary body with universal membership, one-state-one-vote
Ministerial Conference
Executive Body
Committee I
Committee II…n
Secretariat
The organizational reforms delivered through a GA resolution or through an intergovernmental treaty are largely assumed the same.
A ‘Ministerial Conference’—with universal membership—composed of environment ministers would be established to adopt, promote and evaluate the policies and operational programmes for environmental activities.
One-state-on-vote decision making principle,
Overall purpose - to provide environment ministers with a high-level institutional mechanism through which they can set a coherent agenda for global environmental sustainability.
Would also clarify the inter-linkages between existing instruments, such as MEAs and their contributions to the wider sustainable development agenda.
Would meet every two years
Would, inter alia, elect the head and members of the executive organ.
Approve the budget and work programme of the Institution
Other ministries participate in sessions, MEAs participate, along with other stakeholders
A smaller body, the ‘Executive Board’, would consist of government representatives as well as technically, in the field of environment qualified, persons.
purpose - meet inter-sessionally to prepare the budget and work programme for approval by the Ministerial Conference
geographically representative and elected for a specific term on a rotating basis
founding states would have the discretion in deciding the mandate and composition of the Executive Board
the Executive Board would not adopt decisions
Secretariat would act as the focal point for all the agency’s activities and the degree of influence that the Secretariat has over the institution’s activities would be decided by the Ministerial Conference
Purpose - to conduct the day-to-day administration of the Institution and facilitate implementation of the decisions that are taken by the Ministerial Conference
would play a strong role in convening science, policy coordination and implementation committees and ensuring that their work is carried out
To address the issues of insufficient coordination/coherence of policies, deficiencies in the existing international science-policy infrastructure for environment, and insufficient capacity-building and implementation support and monitoring, functional committees could be set up by and under the Ministerial Conference to tackle specific issues on a continuing basis. In all cases, their work would be approved by the Ministerial Conference, overseen by the Executive Board and facilitated by the Secretariat.
Discuss committees on science, policy and implementation

11. Specialized Institution operational links & funding
Relationship to MEAs
Relationship to International Institutions
Engagement with Civil Society & NGOs
MEAs
Independent, can take whatever decisions they like
However, doesn’t continue to make sense for them to work in isolation – must function in greater context of environmental sustainability and SD to achieve collective UN goals.
envisioned Specialized Institution—which would ostensibly have universal membership and, therefore, more closely reflect the membership of MEAs—would be the principle international body for the environment and would set the environmental agenda system-wide.
Would also provide advice on the priorities, activities and actions required to have holistic approaches to environmental protection and sustainability
Would make recommendations in this domain to the entire UN system, to MEAs and to all countries in general
Opportunity for substantive gains in effectiveness and efficiency by fostering synergies, through: coordinating secretariat functions of MEAs; supporting policy planning and implementation at the national level; and providing overarching policy guidance on the inter-linkages of the MEAs through the Ministerial Conference.
Given that a specialized agency has the power to establish its own treaties and conventions, future MEAs could be negotiated under the agency which would be a comparative advantage to the current system and reduce the treaty fragmentation that has developed the last few decades
Autonomy of COPs is maintained but guidance and recommendations from the Ministerial Conference
IGOs
UN recognises the autonomy of specialized agencies through their individual basic instruments but also requires that specialized agencies be brought into a relationship with the General Assembly through agreements made between the agency and ECOSOC
Environmental issues are cross-cutting, thus a Specialized Institution for the environment would be required to work closely with the UN system in order to promote cooperation and work through other UN bodies and agencies to achieve environmental goals.
For the Specialized Institution to work closely with the rest of the UN system and with other UN bodies, these functions would be reflected in its founding document
For example, Article 2 of the WHO Constitution requests that the WHO promote cooperation in the field of health with other specialized agencies. Similarly, Article 2 of the UNIDO Constitution calls on UNIDO, in accordance with the UN Charter, to coordinate all activities in the UN system in the field of industrial development. Article IV B.3 of the Constitution of UNESCO provides that “the General Conference shall advise the United Nations Organization on the educational, scientific and cultural”
Other institutions whose activities have implications for environmental sustainability should be given observer status in the Ministerial Conference and the Specialized Institution should seek reciprocal status
Additionally, memoranda of understandings and other agreements could be entered into to clarify priorities, areas of activity
Engagement with CSOs and NGOs
enhanced role for civil society and non-governmental organizations is envisioned
delineation of Major Groups and Stakeholders within UNEP would be replaced with accreditation of Local Governmental Organisations (LGOs), Civil Society Organisations and Business
They would participate Ministerial Conference meetings/ possibly be granted the right to make interventions and participate in the decision-making process.
They could also participate in review and monitoring of the MEA implementation process and would be integral to facilitating national level capacity-building and implementation of MEAs.
Participation of a wide range of observers would allow for input across the UN system, underlining the role of the Ministerial Conference as the central environmental policy forum within the UN.
Funding (3 aspects: contributions & linking environmental policy making with environmental funding, financing MEAs)
Contributions - Specialized Institution’s budget is subject to negotiations, and international law does not mandate assessed contributions, nor does it restrict countries from tailoring the budget to their own needs.
Voluntary Indicative Scale of Contributions (VISC) system that UNEP now uses could become the core method for funding and could be scaled up so that funding needs of the new specialised agency could be met.
There could be a combination of assessed contributions and voluntary contributions whereby only a percentage of the overall budget would be assessed
could also be a combination of funds set up for technical assistance, capacity building and implementation of MEAs that was combined with other funding modalities
A strong specialized institution for environment would enable member states to set environmental priorities jointly and to define a budget based on these priorities & be better able to attract funding
Linking policy and financing
could arguably help rationalise the financing of international environmental policies through strategic guidelines, as well as encourage pooling of cross-sectoral funding.
Enhanced coordination potential of a Specialized is one of the key benefits in responding to the deficit in funding for environmental activities.
no legal requirements to alter the status of the GEF when upgrading UNEP, however, the Specialized Institution could be brought into closer relationship with the GEF
For better policy guidance, could begin by linking the GEF Assembly debates with the Ministerial Conference debates.
Financing MEAs
each MEA has its own secretariat and conference of parties, which create their own working groups with the result that delegates spend considerable financial resources and time on attending various meetings; preparing separate reports for each MEA; and sacrifice resources on administrative issues, which would better be used for implementing the MEA
Ministerial Conference, convening with Universal Membership and in agreement with the COPs of the relevant MEAs, could amend current arrangements to establish joint secretariat functions, such as legal, conference and finance services—with a view to freeing up resources for implementation
Funding

12. Important note: Strengthening IEG alone does not fully address sustainable development. The social, economic and environment pillars must be balanced to achieve the goals of sustainable development.

13. Thank You Questions?
Please See FAQs as well