Back

Jeju: Ministers should establish UN Environment Organisation


(Jeju/Amsterdam/Brussels) On the eve of a meeting of over 90 environment ministers in Jeju, South Korea (1), Friends of the Earth International is calling for the transformation of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) into a UN Environment Organisation. The call is made in light of the rapid deterioration of the world's water resources, urban environments, oceans, forests and other ecosystems and a too weak and ineffective system of international environmental governance.

Ministers are convening in Jeju for the 8th Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council and the Global Ministerial Environment Forum to discuss the issue of the strengthening of international environmental governance, among others. Several governments, such as the French government, have already expressed their support for the reform of the UN Environment Program into a UN Environment Organisation, which would have the same membership and funding basis as other UN specialised agencies.

According to Friends of the Earth, a UN Environment Organisation should however, provide effective financial, technical and political support, for the coherent and coordinated improvement and implementation of existing environmental agreements. Additionally it should ensure compliance of governments, international economic institutions and transnational corporations with the numerous international agreements that have been concluded over the past decades.

"There are hundreds of international environmental treaties, but they are hardly being complied with," says Ricardo Navarro, chairperson of Friends of the Earth International. "Governments, transnational corporations, and international economic institutions, like the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation, are often neglecting the legally binding commitments of treaties, like the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Biodiversity Convention and its Biosafety Protocol."

"Meanwhile, the dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organisation forms a chill factor on the development of environmental regulations to implement these treaties, as countries are afraid these regulations will be deemed incompatible with WTO agreements. The UNEP Governing Council should reaffirm that multilateral environmental agreements, and not the World Trade Organisation, have the primary competence to determine environmental objectives and the necessity of trade measures in environmental agreements" adds Simone Lovera, International Campaign Coordinator of Friends of the Earth International.

Friends of the Earth International also calls for a joint UN review of the impacts of existing trade agreements on sustainable development, and the establishment of a world commission on trade and agriculture, which should review the impacts of existing trade agreements on sustainable agriculture and food security. Moreover Friends of the Earth calls upon Governments to review existing environmental agreements and divest them of counterproductive market based solutions that run against the objectives of promoting equitable and sustainable societies.

Notes:

(1) Ministers will be gathering from 29 to 31 March 2004 on the South Korean island of Jeju for the 8th Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council and the Global Ministerial Environment Forum.


Contact information:
Simone Lovera, International Campaign Coordinator (in South Korea): +31 -6 -10897827
Kim Choony, KFEM/ Friends of the Earth-Korea: +82-(0)16-730-4325
Alexandra Wandel, European Trade Coordinator (in Brussels): + 32 -497 - 90 80 68

 

Friends of the Earth Europe campaigns for sustainable and fair societies and for the protection of the environment,
unites more than 30 national organisations with thousands of local groups
and is part of the world's largest grassroots environmental network, Friends of the Earth International.