No. 063/04
Berlin, 15.03.2004

Trittin calls for a UN Environment Organisation

Environment Programme of the UN should be enhanced

Federal Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin has called for a strengthening of environmental protection in the United Nations. "Globalisation must be structured in an environmentally and socially compatible way", said Trittin in Paris, at a meeting on the reform of international environmental policy held at the French Institute for Sustainable Development and international Relations (IDDRI). "To achieve this we need a strong UN Environment Organisation." The Minister called for the current United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, to be enhanced into an independent UN Environment Organisation, stating this was needed in order to ensure that negotiations with international organisations such as the FAO, the ILO and the WTO can take place on an equal footing.

The weaknesses of the current structure can be seen in the fact that the needs of the environment cannot make themselves heard in the difficult relationship with, for example, development policy or trade policy. "It is unacceptable," said Trittin, "that the institution entrusted with questions of survival for this planet continues to be held back by the structures of the United Nations." The minister added that the goal must be to establish a globally recognised voice for environmental protection. "We cannot expect every UNEP Executive Director to have the same capabilities as Klaus Töpfer, whose personal dedication sometimes papers over the cracks in UNEP's weak structure, but cannot eliminate them."

In addition to a change in UNEP's status in the overall structure of the United Nations, Trittin also proposed changes within the structure of the UNEP itself. At present, the actual decisions are taken by the 58 members of the UNEP Governing Council. "I believe that the legitimacy of decision-making processes is a key point and therefore all UN Member States should effectively be given the same rights." Trittin maintained that far more countries would, as a matter of course, actively support UNEP decisions on, for instance, chemicals policy or sustainable consumption and production patterns, if their governments had actually been involved in the decision-making process.