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U.S. Participation in the United Nations
Released by the Bureau of International Organization Affairs,
November 1996
The UN Environment Program (UNEP) is responsible
for catalyzing global action to deal with a range of critical
problems from depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer to protection
of biological diversity to marine pollution.
In 1995 the U.S. contribution to UNEP was reduced
from $21 million in 1994 to $15 million in 1995 in the view that
UNEP could perform its core functions with reduced funding levels
by implementing efficiency gains and eliminating programs best
undertaken by other UN agencies. The 18th Governing Council (May
1995) agreed to reduce UNEP's core budget from $120 million for
the 1994-1995 biennium to $90 million for the 1996-1997 biennium.
(Resolution 18/42.) It endorsed, with U.S. support, a major reorganization
of the UNEP Secretariat designed to eliminate duplication and
improve operating efficiency by reducing the number of program
areas from 12 to 5 (Resolution 18/2) and by giving greater emphasis
to regional programs. (Resolution 18/38 B.) Finally, the Governing
Council reiterated that UNEP should concentrate on its core functions
while shedding those programs that fall outside its core areas.
(Resolution 18/1.)
The Governing Council endorsed the initiation
of multilateral negotiations on a convention on the prior informed
consent for the trade in certain hazardous chemicals to facilitate
adequate risk assessment by importing countries. (Resolution 18/12.)
The Council also agreed on a process for an international assessment
of the hazards posed to human health and the environment from
the use of 12 persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as DDT
and other pesticides. (Resolution 18/32.) Action to address the
use of POPs will benefit U.S. citizens because, while most of
them are banned in the United States, they can be ingested through
fish and other protein sources and through atmospheric migration
to U.S. territory.
From October 30-November 3, the United States
hosted a UNEP-sponsored intergovernmental conference that adopted
the Global Program of Action for the Protection of the Marine
Environment from Land-Based Activities (called for by Resolution
18/31). Proposed actions include: identifying and sharing information
on what works in dealing with land-based impacts; building national
capacity for effective action; mobilizing financial resources
in support of such action; and involving the relevant UN agencies
and other institutions in implementation to facilitate effective
national and regional action in response to threats to coastal
waters and their resources.
The Commission on Sustainable Development,
a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council, was
established in 1993 to review the implementation of outcomes from
the UN Conference on Environment and Development, especially the
comprehensive set of recommendations known as Agenda 21. The Commission
held its third session April 11-28 in New York. In keeping with
its multiyear program of work, the Commission reviewed actions
taken in response to the chapters of Agenda 21 that deal with
land management issues, including deforestation, desertification,
mountain ecosystems, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity and
biotechnology. Chapters on poverty alleviation, demographics,
decision-making and science for sustainable development also received
attention. In addition, annual reviews took place of financing,
technology transfer, production and consumption, and major groups
as related to environmental sustainability.
The most significant result of the Commission's
third session was a decision to set up an Ad Hoc Intergovernmental
Panel on Forests, open to all UN member states, to assess progress
on implementation of the forest principles elucidated by the UN
Conference on Environment and Development as well as the chapter
on forests in Agenda 21. The panel, which began to meet and organize
its work in the fall of 1995, will develop proposals for action
on a range of issues for consideration by the Commission at its
fifth session in 1997, and will consider whether a legally binding
international convention on forests is advisable or necessary.
Other highlights of the meeting involved voluntary presentations
by a number of countries on their experiences in working out and
applying comprehensive national sustainable development strategies
or devising and implementing sustainable agriculture policies
and programs. The United States also obtained the Commission's
endorsement of the U.S.-initiated effort to reduce the use of
lead in gasoline, and secured support for the International Coral
Reef Initiative launched by the United States and seven other
countries.
The first meeting of the conference of the
parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN/FCCC),
which provides a global forum for nations to decide how to respond
to the evolving science of climate change, was held in Berlin
in April 1995. In December 1995 the Inter-Governmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) released its comprehensive "Second
Assessment Report,'' describing the state of understanding on
climate change, including science, impacts, possible response
options and economics.
The FCCC parties, responding to the growing
scientific consensus about the importance of the climate change
problem, agreed that efforts to date were but a first step toward
reaching the convention's ultimate objective: stabilization of
greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that
would prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.
The nearly 130 parties (a number which has since risen to 150)
therefore decided to initiate a process to develop a program of
next steps, even as they worked intensively to meet existing convention
commitments. The United States strongly endorsed the need to move
forward--while working to assure careful constraints on economic
costs to parties and growth in the FCCC's institutional organs.
The parties agreed to strengthen commitments by elaborating policies
and measures and setting quantified emission limitation and reduction
objectives for developed countries, and to continue implementation
of the commitments of all developing country parties. This process
will culminate with an agreement on a protocol or other legal
instrument, which will be considered for adoption at the third
conference of the parties in 1997.
The IPCC's second assessment report reached
several new and important conclusions on climate change, including:
The IPCC will continue to respond to specific
requests for additional detailed assessments, and prepare its
third comprehensive assessment report, due for release in 2000.
The UN Scientific Committee on the Effects
of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) was established by the General Assembly
in 1955 to provide continuous review and evaluation of the effects
of ionizing radiation on humans and their environment. Radiation
in this context covers both natural and man-made (i.e., from atmospheric
and surface nuclear explosions), environmental radiation, and
medical and occupational exposures. The Committee receives, assembles
and compiles reports and information furnished by its member states,
members of the United Nations, specialized agencies, the IAEA
and nongovernmental organizations on observed levels of ionizing
radiation and on scientific observations and experiments relevant
to the effects of ionizing radiation on man and the environment.
The 44th session of UNSCEAR met June 12-16
in Vienna, Austria. On the basis of documents prepared by the
UNSCEAR Secretariat, the Committee organs reviewed and worked
on the following documents: Sources of Radiation Exposure; Combined
Effects of Radiation and Other Agents; Dose Assessment for Radionuclides;
Effects of Radiation on the Environment; DNA Repair and Mutagenesis;
Chernobyl: Local Doses and Effects; Epidemiology; Hereditary Effects;
and Report to the General Assembly. The 45th session will be held
in Vienna June 17-21, 1996.
[end of document]
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