ABSTRACT
Almost all international environmental treaties foresee a secretariat to fulfill fundamental administrative and some executive functions in implementing the agreement (see Compliance and implementation). They organize meetings and conferences, prepare documentation and monitoring, and implement practical projects and campaigns. In the field of global environmental governance, secretariats play a particularly prevalent role given the absence of a strong World Environment Organization. However, there is variation with regard to the scope of their actual activities and related influence in international environmental governance. While some have only a few staff members, others employ hundreds of international civil servants, such as the secretariat of the climate change regime.
