Information Services on MEAs

The Information Unit for Conventions (IUC) of UNEP undertakes activities to promote public and stakeholder support for Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). The unit seeks to make these MEAs and the scientific, technical, and legal issues underlying them more easily understood by non-specialists, particularly policymakers and the media. With a better understanding of environmental problems and their possible solutions, people can choose to join global efforts to protect and sustainably use biological diversity, minimize and adapt to climate change and reduce the risks of hazardous chemicals and wastes.

The IUC carries out its activities in cooperation with MEA secretariats, acting as a service, or support unit. It supports the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the Rotterdam Convention on Hazardous Chemicals Trade, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

List of activities

IUC provides the following menu of services:

• Formulating media strategies, issuing press releases and managing press relations at conferences;
• Producing public information materials, such as information sheets, booklets, and newsletters;
• Disseminating information via mailings, conferences and other organizations;
• Organizing campaigns, seminars, and workshops;
• Promoting the development of information programmes at the national level.

IUC’s materials are available in many languages and are posted here.