Inger Andersen takes over as head of UNEP

Inger Andersen of Denmark takes charge as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

United Nations Environment Programme

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is an initiative of the United Nations. UNEP is a leading environmental authority in setting the global environmental agenda, promoting the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system. UNEP serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.

UNEP is headquartered at Nairobi, Kenya. In the 1972 U.N. Conference on Human Environment also known as the Stockholm Conference various topics including marine life, protection of resources, environment change, disasters related to nature, and biological change were discussed. The Stockholm Conference resulted in the Stockholm Declaration (Declaration on the Human Environment) and the establishment of an environmental management body under the UN. UNEP was established through the resolution of the UNGA.

UNEP also hosts the secretariats of many critical multilateral environmental agreements and research bodies, bringing together nations and the environmental community to tackle the greatest challenges of our time. These include the following:

• The Convention on Biological Diversity
• The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
• The Minamata Convention on Mercury
• The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions
• The Vienna Convention for the Protection of Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol
• The Convention on Migratory Species
• The Carpathian Convention
• The Bamako Convention
• The Tehran Convention

UNEP also plays an instrumental role in publishing many reports, atlases and newsletters.