Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit

The Advisory Group on Environmental Emergencies (AGEE)

UNEP Activities in the Management of Environmental Emergencies

EU/AG/26
8 November 2000
English only

Advisory Group on Environmental Emergencies
Fourth Meeting
Brussels, 20-21 November 2000

The world is currently facing an increasing number of environmental emergencies and other complex emergencies. Technological accidents such as chemical releases and oil spills have not been checked despite the efforts made. Natural and human induced disasters, including floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, forest fires, are happening all over the world with increasing frequency and severity. Conflicts in many parts of the world are have triggered environmental emergencies and environmental degradation. Together, these various elements have collectively impacted those affected in terms of health, safety, and economical losses as well as negative environmental impacts, especially in the developing world.

Environmental emergencies will continue to occur into the foreseeable future. With degradation of ecosystems, rapid industrial growth and increasing use of chemicals, there is ever-growing attention to and an expectation of timely and effective emergency response. Further, the number and complexity of emergencies involving a combination of natural and technological elements are also growing.

The world is paying increasing attention to environmental emergencies. This reflects a complex interplay of economic, social, political and environmental conditions. High rates of population growth and urbanization place growing numbers of individuals at risk during disasters. Inadequate capacity to cope with emergencies – whether through weak governance mechanisms or imbalances in the concentration and use of economic resources – can be both a cause and a consequence of vulnerability. The increasing frequency and severity of man-made and natural disasters and technological accidents may well be changing the global environment in ways that will further encumber the international economy.

All of these threats to the environment have been apparent in recent natural disasters and environmental emergencies. The most pressing disasters of the past two years have strained the regional environments, national governments and global resources. Many natural disasters have occurred in tandem with national or cross-border conflicts, placing the environmental agenda among competing global concerns for peace-making and peace-building, relief and recovery, poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

The 5^th Special Session of the Governing Council of UNEP held in May 1998 in its decision GC-SS.V/2 identified "environmental information, assessment and research, including environmental emergency response capacity and strengthening of the early warning and assessment functions" as an area of concentration of the activities of UNEP. This, in fact, was not new. A programme on natural disasters has existed for years.

Pursuant to this, at its meeting of 5 February 1999 (GC 20/8), the Governing Council requested the Executive Director to undertake two related efforts: (1) to focus and strengthen UNEP’s contribution to the coordination of United Nations system-wide responses to "natural disasters caused by natural phenomena or natural phenomena coupled with effects of human actions" and (2) to ensure that UNEP’s work in this arena is tied closely to its overall work on environmental assessment and early warning. The overall thrust of these endeavors requires a strategy for dealing with emergency prevention, preparedness, assessment, mitigation and response. Implementation of the decision and strategy will be presented to the next Session of the Governing Council in February 2001.

Actions in environmental emergencies have been undertaken pursuant to the decisions or requests of governments in connection with the environmental aspects of emergencies and in close cooperation and coordination with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN Center for Human Settlements (Habitat), other UN agencies and international organizations, governments and NGOs.

In the recent past, focus on emergency prevention, preparedness, mitigation, and response at UNEP has been visibly addressed. UNEP's capacity in environmental emergencies has been reinforced with additional professional staff, their involvement and financial resources to partly respond to increased disasters in the recent years. Actions in prevention, preparedness, assessment and early warning and response have been taken. Internal consultations has been similarly focussed.

1. In prevention and preparedness.

Awareness and Preparedness for Emergencies at Local Level (APELL), under the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE), is a successful programme of UNEP which has contributed to the awareness raising of the public in emergency preparedness and to the prevention and reduction of environmental emergencies and their damages. In the past two years, seminars on APELL have been held in Tunis, South Africa, United Kingdom, India, Jordan and Qatar; Workshops for prevention of and preparedness for industrial accidents have been held in Paris and Brussels and following up on the Baia Mare cyanide spill in Romania. A number of reports and other materials and tools generated by APELL are widely used to improve emergency prepredness and response, such as TransAPELL Guidance for Dangerous Goods Transport Emergency Planning in a Local Community, Technical Report: APELL for the Mining Industry and Technical Report: APELL Preparedness and Mitigation in Natural Disasters; Expert know-how and detailed technical information have been provided on the Internet, in relation to industrial accidents such as the cyanide spill in Baia Mare, Romania in January 2000.

2. In Assessment and Early warning.

The Division of Environmental Information, Assessment and Early Warning (DEIA&EW) through its watch system including GRID and INFORTERA and the Global Outlook (GEO) process is responsible for collecting, assessing and publicizing information about global and regional trends, approaches and conditions which can increase the risk of the occurrence of disasters and their impacts and provide early warning. The GRID programme has been instrumental in generating disaster-related information at short notice, including maps (e.g. forest fires in different countries, environmental consequences of the Kosovo conflict, etc.), identifying environmentally senstitive areas that are of great use during emergency events that also serve as an important tool for early warning. The data is available for use by all: including the Joint Unit.

Post emergency assessment of the environmental impact has developed into an important pillar in UNEP's emergency activities and would continue on a selective basis, depending on funds available and criticality of issue. First was the Joint UNEP/UNCHS (Habitat) Balkans Task Force (BTF), which released a report in October 1999 entitled "The Kosovo Conflict: Consequences for the Environment & Human Settlements". The BTF report not only acts as much-needed and reliable source of information to the peoples affected, but also provides a management tool to the international community for overall emergency humanitarian effort. Second is the establishment of a post-conflict assessment unit in Geneva. UNEP is now conducting post-conflict assessments in Albania and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Lessons learnt will contribute to the mitigation of capacity disasters as well as our deeper understanding of the issues and to the prevention and preparedness of future disasters.

3. In development of in-house roster.

A roster of experts in various fields related to environmental emergencies is to be called upon at short notice as and when needs arise. Then training is envisaged.

4. In Response.

UNEP's activities in emergency response have been mainly carried out in cooperation with OCHA through the Joint Unit. Major joint efforts in recent years include response activities in Indonesia, the Balkans, Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia, Turkey, Taijikistan, Venezuela, etc. On behalf of both UNEP and OCHA, the Joint Unit has mobilized and coordinated assistance to many countries affected by various environmental emergencies.

Mr. Sakharov has amply dealt with this already. On this occasion I wish to express our appreciation to OCHA for its support and cooperation extended to UNEP. I also wish to compliment the excellent work done by my colleagues at the Joint Unit.

UNEP's activities have been carried out in close cooperation with other UN agencies and forums, international organizations, governments and NGO's. Apart from what is mentioned above, UNEP has been cooperating with UNCHS (Habitat), UNHCR, ISDR Secretariat, World Bank, etc.

A brainstorming Meeting on Prevention and Mitigation of Environmenal Impact of Refugee Settlements and Flows in Africa was held in September 2000 in UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi, at which UNEP and UNHCR decided to strengthen their cooperation. Several bilateral donors and NGOs similarly endorsed such cooperation and working together.

UNEP is currently a member of the Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster Reduction (IATF) as well a member of its three working groups and chairs its Working Group on Early Warning.

UNEP has been working together with the World Bank under the framework of its ProVention Consortium. UNEP and the World Bank have been discussing about jointly organizing a Workshop on Disaster Management in Sub-Saharan Africa next year.

To further strengthen UNEP's activities in the field, Environmental Emergency Office in UNEP will be re-organized into three focal areas namely, Disaster Management and Responsibility; Cooperation with OCHA and Post Conflict Assessment and Management.

UNEP has developed a draft strategic framework for emergency prevention, preparedness, assessment, mitigation and response. The document consists of two parts. Part I provides a framework for UNEP’s future work in the field of emergencies by identifying the institutional and global contexts within which its mandate in this arena can be fulfilled, and clarifying UNEP’s role within the UN system with regard to environmental emergencies and the environmental aspects of complex emergencies, as well as the strategy for achieving framework goals. Part II sets out an agenda of actions UNEP will pursue in the future. The document will be reviewed by UNEP GC.21 to be held in February 2001. Once approved and adopted, it will guide UNEP's environmental emergencies. The draft, at hand is shared with you. Its focus can be summed up as follows.

1. Goals

The strategy paper defines the following goals for UNEP:

1. to reinforce the centrality of environmental concerns in emergency prevention, preparedness, assessment, mitigation and response;
2. to integrate environmental concerns into planning for relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and development;
3. to focus the attention of the United Nations and its partners on the transnational and global aspects of emergencies; and
4. to enhance the capacity of United Nations agencies, funds and programmes to undertake short-term emergency response based on a long-term view of environmental sustainability.

The thrust of these goals is to ensure that the environmental component is treated as a central element in emergency prevention, preparedness, assessment, mitigation and response and that UNEP contributes to the UN system-wide efforts in achieving sustainable development through integrating short-term response with long-term prevention.

2. Role of UNEP

Building on its current resources and strengths, UNEP’s primary role in emergency arenas is to marshal intellectual resources to assure that the environmental aspects of emergencies are clearly understood, and that the imperatives for prevention and preparedness – including prediction and early warning – are fully recognized as critical to human and environmental security. To develop and maintain an environment agenda for emergency prevention and preparedness, UNEP must translate its sectoral responsibilities into a broader capacity to act as a think tank for the United Nations on environmental matters. In particular, this means focussing the attention of the United Nations on innovations in policy, analysis and technology.

This effort requires four concurrent investments by UNEP:

1. developing methodologies for early warning;
2. undertaking system-wide environmental assessments of past and current emergency responses particularly where it has been involved?
3. building and maintaining analytical capacity across the United Nations and among its partners, through collaboration and training; and
4. initiating and reinforcing institutional structures for global environmental governance that can help to prevent emergencies and alleviate their effects.

The above role has been set based on the mandate given to UNEP. The Nairobi Declaration adopted at the 19^th Session of the Governing Council of UNEP in February 1997 reaffirmed that the role of UNEP is to be the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, that promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and that serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. The major role of UNEP in environmental emergencies is to develop and maintain an environment agenda for emergency prevention and preparedness, make prevention as its work of concentration and contribute its environmental expertise to the UN system wide response to environmental emergencies.

3. Strategy

UNEP can best serve the international community by capitalizing on its technical strengths, and working with its partners to join traditional emergency response to innovative policies and practices directed toward prevention and preparedness. To do so will require two mutually reinforcing efforts:

1. refocusing and reorganizing internal resources to develop an integrated emergency prevention program; and
2. developing a strategy for collaboration within the United Nations and among its closest partners.

The major steps set in the Strategic Framework for both agendas are as follows:

1. Integrating prevention, preparedness, assessment, mitigation and response
2. Integrating short-term, medium-term and long-term activities

a. Contributing to United Nations response capacity
b. Building capacity within the United Nations
c. Creating and maintaining knowledge

UNEP will ensure that all emergency-oriented activities will be integrally related, and the organization of resources and personnel will reflect the close ties between prevention and preparedness, on the one hand, and on the other, assessment, mitigation and response.

Among the most important elements of its emergency activities are its vulnerability assessments and evolving predictive methodologies. UNEP is particularly well-placed to examine the broad implications of emergencies on the environment, of environmental change on emergency prevention and mitigation, and crucially, the environmental aspects of complex emergencies.

UNEP’s contribution will be based primarily on its technical expertise as stated above, and secondarily on its capacity to mobilize external technical, fiscal and human resources on behalf of the environment agenda. UNEP will act as a conduit between the affected countries and relevant UN agencies, international organizations, financial institutions, bilateral donors and private sectors and catalyze assistance for these countries.

UNEP will continue to cooperate with OCHA, UNHCR, UNDP, UNCHS and other agencies, programmes, forums and funds in its emergency- related activities including training and timely assessment of emergency interventions, which can reinforce the knowledge and experience that UNEP requires to maintain an active role in emergency prevention and preparedness.

Environmental information, technology and methodology are essential for emergency prevention and preparedness. It is therefore imperative that UNEP’s analytical work be accessible for the broadest possible audience. To create a public information dossier will require close collaboration with many other parts of the United Nations system, and depend on the adept use of new information technologies. This is a contribution to capacity building within UNEP, within the United Nations as a whole, and for the broader community of environmental concern.

Prevention is the focus of UNEP strategy on environmental emergencies. Assessment and early warning are undertaken for the purpose of prevention and preparedness should therefore be strengthened. UNEP will pursue its prevention strategy by reinforcing its APELL programme, cleaner production and environmental law which UNEP has relative strength. Efforts in emergency prevention and reduction must be linked with the Agenda 21 implementation process and be integrated into the efforts for sustainable development.