The Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) of UNEP

The Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) is a collective effort of the world community to acquire, through monitoring, the data needed for rational management of the environment, and arose from recommendations of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment which was held in Stockholm in 1972. The GEMS Programme Activity Centre (PAC) at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, coordinates all that it can of the various environmental monitoring activities which are carried on throughout the world—particularly those within the United Nations System.Great care is taken to ensure that data gathered by GEMS are of the highest attainable quality, and that data collected from different parts of a particular monitoring network are both comparable and compatible. The GEMS Programme Activity Centre (PAC), in the manner of UNEP itself, is not operational but works mainly through the intermediary of the Specialized Agencies of the United Nations System—most notably FAO, ILO, UNESCO, WHO, and WMO—together with appropriate intergovernmental organizations such as IUCN.The GEMS monitoring system consists of five closelyinterrelated programmes which have built-in provision for training and for rendering technical assistance to ensure the participation of countries that are inadequately provided with personnel and equipment. The five are:1. Climate-related monitoring;2. Monitoring of long-range transport of pollutants;3. Health-related monitoring (concerned with pollutional effects);4. Ocean monitoring; and5. Terrestrial renewable-resource monitoring.Each of these broad areas contains at least five distinct world-wide monitoring networks. Examples of these latter are the World Glacier Inventory, Background Air Pollution Monitoring Network, Urban Air Pollution Monitoring Network, Global Water Quality Monitoring Network, Tropical Forest Monitoring Network, Species Conservation Monitoring Network, etc.Monitored data are gathered at suitable coordinating centres for each network at which appropriate data-bases have been, or are being, established. Data are analyzed to produce periodic regional and global assessments which are reported at intervals that are appropriate to the variable which is being considered.

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The system of regulation of the world tourism market

Scientific Bulletin ◽

10.54414/auzx2064 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 47-60

Author(s):

Nigar Baghirova ◽

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

Tourism Development ◽

International Tourism ◽

International Union ◽

The World ◽

World Tourism Organization ◽

The United Nations ◽

United Nations System ◽

Tourism Organization ◽

Nations System

This article the general characteristics of the United Nations system activity in the field of international tourism. International tourism is regulated on a multilateral basis and is carried out, first of all, within the United Nations system, which is tasked with adjusting international cooperation in solving the problems of economic, social, and cultural character. The main international law documents on issues of international tourism regulations were elaborated and adopted within the framework of the United Nations system. International Union of Official Travel Organizations was engaged in processing and forming tourism terminology and definitions after World War II. In 1974 International Union of Official Travel Organizations was transformed into the United Nations World Tourism Organization. The main aim of the World Tourism Organization today is promoting tourism development, as well as elaborating general rules and provisions contributing to international tourism development and tourist exchange in the world community.

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Climate Change: U.S. Signs Kyoto Protocol; Argentina Pledges to Adopt Binding Emissions Target

Foreign Policy Bulletin ◽

10.1017/s1052703600002136 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 125-128

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

Well Being ◽

The Other ◽

Great Pleasure ◽

The People ◽

The World ◽

The United Nations ◽

United Nations System ◽

Heads Of State ◽

Nations System

It gives me great pleasure to convey my warmest greetings to all who have gathered from around the world to continue this historic process. I would like first to express my gratitude to President Carlos Menem and the people of Argentina for hosting this Conference, which demonstrates yet again their abiding commitment to the United Nations and to human well-being in general. I would also like to salute all the other Heads of State or Government, distinguished delegates, colleagues from the United Nations system and other participants for coming together, in a spirit of partnership, to continue this vital work, which means so much to the world's people.

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The malnutrition bazaar: the case of RUTF

World Nutrition ◽

10.26596/wn.2021122104-118 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 104-118

Author(s):

Radha Holla

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

World Health ◽

World Food ◽

Standing Committee ◽

World Food Programme ◽

The World ◽

The United Nations ◽

United Nations System ◽

Health Organization ◽

Nations System

Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in children is life-threatening. Its causes range from lack of access to balanced food, to incorrect feeding practices, lack of access to an efficient health system, to clean potable water and sanitation. However, the present approach to managing SAM is fortified packaged food – a paste made with peanuts or other protein rich food such as chickpeas, milk and sugar, to which micronutrients are added. Currently, a version of the paste with less energy levels is also being recommended for treating even moderate forms of malnutrition, as well as for prevention of malnutrition (World Health Organization (WHO), 2012; WHO/UNICEF/WFP, 2014; WFP/UNICEF/USAID, undated). The large number of malnourished children around the globe furnish the food and pharmaceutical industries with an immense potential market for these fortified food packages. That the market for ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs) is rapidly expanding is primarily due to its endorsement by the World Health Organisation (WHO, the World Food Programme, the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition[1] (UNSCN) and UNICEF for treating SAM (World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition and the United Nations Children’s Fund. (2007).). Non state actors like Action Against Hunger (Action Contre La Faim) and Médecins Sans Frontières have also been working to introduce RUTF treatment in countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, Libya, Chad, Central African Republic, Malawi, Yemen, India and Pakistan. In addition, several of the new manufacturers use unethical marketing practices to increase their share of sales. The long-term sustainable solution to reducing undernutrition has to be based on policies that manage conflict, inequity, gender imbalance, food sovereignty and security, infant and young child feeding, basic health services and provision of safe drinking water and sanitation. [1] In 2020, the UN Network for SUN (UNN) merged with the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) to form a new entity, called UN Nutrition. As of 1 January 2021, the UN Nutrition Secretariat, hosted by FAO headquarters, became operational.

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Administrative convergence in the United Nations system? Patterns of administrative reform in four United Nations organizations over time

International Review of Administrative Sciences ◽

10.1177/00208523211018781 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 002085232110187

Author(s):

Stephan Grohs ◽

Daniel Rasch

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

Public Management ◽

New Public Management ◽

Decisive Role ◽

Food And Agriculture ◽

New Public ◽

The United Nations ◽

United Nations System ◽

Nations System ◽

Over Time

This article asks how and why United Nations organizations reform their administrative structure and processes over time. It explores whether we can observe a convergence towards a coherent administrative model in the United Nations system. Like in most nation states, reform discussions according to models like New Public Management or post-New Public Management have permeated international public administrations. Against this background, the question of administrative convergence discussed for national administrative systems also arises for United Nations international public administrations. On the one hand, similar challenges, common reform ‘fashions’ and an increasing exchange within the United Nations system make convergence likely. Yet, on the other hand, distinct tasks, administrative styles and path dependencies might support divergent reform trajectories. This question of convergence is addressed by measuring the frequency, direction and rationales for reforms, using a sample of four international public administrations from the United Nations’ specialized agencies (the Food and Agriculture Organization, International Labour Organization, International Monetary Fund and World Bank). We find that convergence depends on the area of reform (human resources or organizational matters are more harmonized than others) and time (some international public administrations are faster or earlier than others). Points for practitioners This article identifies different drivers of reforms, as well as several supporting conditions, and obstacles to reform in international public administration, which is useful for understanding and planning change management. It highlights the issues policymakers should consider when implementing reform measures, especially institutional context, administrative styles and relevant actor constellations. Among other things, it shows that: the establishment of coordination bodies clearly leads to more homogeneous administrative practices; executive heads have a decisive role in the shaping of administrative reforms and have a specific interest to foster coordination and control in public organizations; and autonomy enables organizations to pursue reform policies apt to their individual challenges.

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