The role of UN Environment’s six regional offices was enhanced by a decision of the Governing Council (Governing Council 22/14) that requested the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to establish and strengthen partnerships at the regional and sub-regional levels with other UN bodies, development banks and other institutions, including Major Groups and Stakeholders, with a view to enhance the effectiveness of development and delivery of its programme of work in the regions. The six UNEP regions include: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and West Asia. Given their work at the national and regional levels, Major Groups and Stakeholders are well placed to participate in the implementation of UNEP’s work through co-operation with the regional offices. The Regional Facilitators, previously known as “Regional Representatives”, provide varied views from both the global North and South; these geographically diverse perspectives complement the Major Groups and Stakeholders model, allowing civil society to substantively contribute to UN Environment processes.
The Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum that precedes each UNEA meeting, is built upon Regional Consultative Meetings (RCMs) in all UNEP regions, including North America. Major Group and Stakeholder representatives are invited to a one- to three-day multi-stakeholder consultation meetings in each region prior to United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA). These meetings can also be conducted as virtual meetings.
Each region engages in a substantive dialogue on environmental issues that will be discussed during the next UNEA and produces a regional statement or key messages following the meeting. The RCMs constitute the main platform for the Major Groups to engage with each other as well as with partners and UNEP’s Regional Offices on an annual basis. They may be complemented by additional meetings, workshops, consultations, either self-organized by Major Groups or facilitated by UNEP’s Regional Offices. While allowing Major Groups and Stakeholders to prepare for UNEA, the RCMs also serve as capacity-building and networking exercises for the Major Groups in the regions.
In most regions, the RCMs are initiated by the respective Regional Offices, working closely with Regional Facilitators and accredited organizations from the respective region. They are held, whenever possible, prior to, or in conjunction with relevant major regional meetings/fora or events, including at the ministerial level. They are dedicated to discussing relevant regional emerging priorities as well as programme issues and possible cooperative actions and preparing of the Major Groups’ inputs to the UNEA, including its themes.
The date, the agenda and the selection of organizations to be invited to the Regional Consultative Meetings – in addition to accredited organizations – are agreed upon between Regional Offices and the respective Regional Facilitators who are expected to reach out to their constituents. In this context, UNEP prefers a high degree of self-organization of these meetings by accredited organizations. Regional Offices may choose to request an accredited organization and/or the Regional Facilitators to take responsibility for organizing and conducting the meeting. Invited organizations should include all accredited organizations from the respective region but invitations are not limited and can be send to other organizations who might be interested and also are considered experts on certain themes.
Click here to view the current Regional Facilitators of all the 6 UNEP regions.
