ABSTRACT
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), or “UN Environment” as it has also been referred to in recent years, is the most visible and lasting institutional achievement of the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. Yet, the notion of “environment” arrived late on the United Nations’ policy agenda; it occupies limited institutional space within the convoluted United Nations system; and, in spite of growing recognition for a global ecological crisis in the Anthropocene, it largely remains an issue of low politics in intergovernmental relations. Consequently, considerable gaps prevail between the expectations that UNEP finds itself confronted with and its limited capability to help solve the world’s manifold ecological crises. Moreover, the proliferation of multilateral environmental agreements has intensified the pace, density, and complexity of UNEP’s portfolio while at the same time spreading thin its modest resources.
