The United Nations and Its Agencies
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Syllabus topic 3, "International Concern for Environment Protection"
Pages 169 to 171 of 663
In one line
MU's 2026 paper asks for the role of the United Nations and its agencies in promoting sustainable development and environmental protection, and the answer has four layers: the Charter organs, the programmes, the specialized agencies, and the treaty bodies.
In exam wording: the United Nations promotes sustainable development and environmental protection through the General Assembly acting under Articles 10 to 14 of the Charter, the Economic and Social Council under Articles 61 to 72, subsidiary programmes such as the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Development Programme, the specialized agencies brought into relationship with the Organization under Articles 57 and 63, and the autonomous conferences of the parties established by the environmental treaties themselves.
Layer one: the Charter organs
The General Assembly. Under Article 10 it may discuss any question within the scope of the Charter and make recommendations. Under Article 11 it deals with international peace and security; Article 12 bars it from recommending on a dispute the Security Council is dealing with; under Article 13, paragraph 1(b), it initiates studies and makes recommendations to promote international cooperation in the economic, social, cultural, educational and health fields; under Article 14 it may recommend measures for the peaceful adjustment of any situation.
What the Assembly has actually done in this field: convened Stockholm, Rio, Johannesburg and Rio+20; adopted the World Charter for Nature, the Rio outcomes and the 2030 Agenda; created UNEP; requested the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion on climate change by resolution 77/276; and recognised the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment by resolution 76/300 in 2022.
The Economic and Social Council. Article 62 empowers it to make or initiate studies and reports on economic, social and related matters and to make recommendations. Article 63 authorises it to enter into agreements with the specialized agencies defining the terms of their relationship with the United Nations, and to coordinate their activities through consultation and recommendation. Articles 64 to 66 provide for reports and services; Articles 67 to 72 for voting, commissions, participation and procedure, including under Article 71 consultative arrangements with non-governmental organisations, which is how environmental organisations obtain observer status.
The Commission on Sustainable Development sat under the Council from 1992 to 2013, and the High-level Political Forum reports through it now.
The Security Council has debated climate change as a security question and has taken no binding measure on it. Say that, because a candidate who claims otherwise is wrong.
The International Court of Justice. Article 92 makes it the principal judicial organ, Article 93 makes all Members parties to its Statute, Article 94 obliges each Member to comply with a decision in a case to which it is a party, Article 95 preserves other tribunals, and Article 96 allows the General Assembly and the Security Council to request an advisory opinion on any legal question. Resolution 77/276 was made under Article 96.
The United Nations and Its Agencies
Layer two: the programmes
Subsidiary organs created by the Assembly under Article 22. UNEP, with its own chapter. The United Nations Development Programme, which is an implementing agency of the Global Environment Facility and runs country-level environmental programming. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, on trade and development questions. The Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, which services the Sendai Framework.
None can bind a State. All can assess, convene, service and fund.
Layer three: the specialized agencies
Brought into relationship with the United Nations under Article 57, which provides that the various specialized agencies established by intergovernmental agreement and having wide international responsibilities in economic, social, cultural, educational, health and related fields shall be brought into relationship with the Organization, and under Article 63. Article 58 empowers the Organization to make recommendations coordinating their policies and activities; Article 59 allows it to initiate negotiations for new agencies; Article 60 places responsibility in the General Assembly and, under its authority, the Economic and Social Council.
| Agency | Environmental role |
|---|---|
| International Maritime Organization | MARPOL, the London Convention and Protocol, ballast water, ship recycling |
| Food and Agriculture Organization | Fisheries, forests, pesticides, and jointly with UNEP the Rotterdam Convention |
| World Health Organization | Environmental health, air quality guidelines, chemicals |
| World Meteorological Organization | Climate observation, and with UNEP the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |
| International Labour Organization | Occupational exposure, and the Tripartite Declaration on multinational enterprises |
| UNESCO | The World Heritage Convention 1972 and the Man and the Biosphere programme |
| International Atomic Energy Agency | Nuclear safety, and the 1986 conventions; an autonomous organisation reporting to the Assembly rather than a specialized agency in the strict sense |
Two points of precision that earn marks. The International Atomic Energy Agency is not a specialized agency; it is an autonomous international organisation under its own Statute of 1956, reporting annually to the General Assembly. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is not a United Nations body in its own right; it was established by UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization in 1988 and it assesses science rather than conducting research.
Layer four: the treaty bodies
The conference of the parties to each convention is autonomous. It is not a United Nations organ, it takes its own decisions, it adopts its own budget, and its members are the Parties to that treaty and not the Members of the United Nations. The United Nations supplies the secretariat in most cases, which is the whole of the formal link.
The United Nations and Its Agencies
That distinction is worth making, because MU's question asks about the United Nations and its agencies, and half the environmental machinery in this book is technically outside both.
Worked example
A new global agreement on plastics is proposed. Trace the four layers.
- Layer one. The Environment Assembly adopts a resolution establishing an intergovernmental negotiating committee. The General Assembly endorses.
- Layer two. UNEP services the negotiation and provides the secretariat.
- Layer three. The International Maritime Organization contributes on ship-source waste, the Food and Agriculture Organization on fishing gear, the World Health Organization on health effects.
- Layer four. Once adopted, a conference of the parties runs it, adopts annexes, receives reports and operates the compliance procedure.
Every treaty in this book was made that way.
Quick revision
- Four layers: Charter organs, programmes, specialized agencies, treaty bodies.
- Assembly: Articles 10 to 14 and 22. Council: Articles 61 to 72, especially 62, 63 and 71. Court: Articles 92 to 96.
- Agencies: Articles 57 to 60. The Atomic Energy Agency is autonomous, not a specialized agency.
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established by UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization in 1988 and assesses rather than researches.
- A conference of the parties is autonomous and is not a United Nations organ.
Test yourself
1. Under which article did the General Assembly request the climate advisory opinion, and by which resolution? Article 96 of the Charter, by resolution 77/276 of 29 March 2023.
2. Name three specialized agencies with environmental functions and state one function of each. The International Maritime Organization, which administers MARPOL and the London Convention; the Food and Agriculture Organization, which works on fisheries and co-administers the Rotterdam Convention; UNESCO, which administers the World Heritage Convention.
3. Is a conference of the parties a United Nations body? No. It is autonomous, constituted by the treaty, composed of that treaty's Parties, and it adopts its own decisions and budget. The United Nations usually supplies only the secretariat.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.