Status: 06/02/2022 04:21 a.m
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has existed for 50 years. Even then there were warnings of a global environmental crisis and plans to combat it. For the anniversary, the goals are clearer than ever.
There is hammering on the United Nations compound in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. It is to be renovated. However, not the building of the UN Environment Program, UNEP for short, because that is the most modern here: A long building with lots of glass and solar cells on the roof. A long garden runs through the interior. Even birds nest here in small trees.
When UNEP was located in East Africa 50 years ago, there were many critics of this location. Too far away from the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, it was said – especially in times when not even the telephone lines worked. But in the meantime the UN seat has established itself, says Udo Fenchel. He is a member of a delegation that is supposed to decide on the necessary UN investments in Kenya and says: “I think it’s very important that this is here. It’s practically the only UN headquarters in the so-called Global South. ” Fenchel believes that the UNEP headquarters should therefore definitely remain in place.
UNEP is now celebrating its anniversary in Stockholm because the first environmental conference was held here in 1972. The Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, gave a startling speech at the time: The environmental crisis facing the world will change the future of the planet. No one is spared, she warned.
“None of us, whatever our status, strength or circumstances, can escape it”: Indira Gandhi’s words at the 1972 Stockholm Environmental Conference.
Image: picture alliance / Everett Colle
“Can’t wield a wand”
Five decades later, the Executive Director of the Environment Program, Inger Andersen, sees that prediction as fulfilled. The biggest problems: climate change, pollution and species extinction. The member states should act together against this – even if it is a challenge to get everyone on board. “193 different opinions, 193 member states. No one said it would be easy,” she says. “I can’t wave a wand and then everything works. No, we have to listen to every voice at the table.”
Twice in the history of the environmental program, Germans have been at its helm. The first was CDU politician Klaus Töpfer. From 1998 he headed UNEP for eight years. After him came Achim Steiner. Both struggled to use the funds for UNEP as well as possible, remembers Töpfer: “We were always under pressure: how do we finance it? It was a permanent job. And you always have competition between the individual organizations.”
The environmental program now has half a billion dollars at its disposal every year. It is primarily dependent on voluntary contributions from the member states. Only five percent of the budget comes from the UN budget.
Who slows down the UNEP
When the program was founded 50 years ago, environmental protection was already an issue. But it has not yet been considered as important as it is today. That is why UNEP is not at the top levels of the United Nations hierarchy.
Attempts to upgrade the program have repeatedly failed, says Marianne Beisheim from the Science and Politics Foundation in Berlin. The member countries did not want to give their consent: “On the one hand, there are the developing and emerging countries, who are concerned that this will hinder their development interests. But there are also emerging and industrialized countries, who are not involved in their sovereign decisions with regard to their economic development On the other hand, there are also the main donors in the UN system who were not willing to provide corresponding upgrades with a financial backing. And then it just doesn’t work.”
Inger Andersen gives a speech on the occasion of UNEP’s 50th anniversary.
Image: AFP
According to the expert, it would be promising for the future if the United Nations programs worked together more closely.
It may be helpful that the former head of UNEP, Achim Steiner, is now in charge of the UN development program. He still has a direct line to Nairobi – and could help ensure that the wishes of the current incumbent Inger Andersen are fulfilled for the next 50 years.
“By then, countries will step on the gas. I want to celebrate that energy is being produced in a climate-friendly manner. And that at the same time we are adapting to climate change to protect those who are most affected,” she says. “We should then live in a world without pollution. We know how to do that.”