UNEP and International Environmental Governance.

The debate about international environmental governance - or international governance for sustainable development for that matter - has occupied much attention. Several new proposals have been floated, ranging from the creation of a new World Environmental Organization to a radical reform of the WTO. Yet UNEP continues to exist, with a broad mandate to develop international environmental governance. There is widespread agreement that UNEP does not meet the needs of the international society, but there is little agreement on what to do about it. UNEP itseld has recently created the Global Ministerial Environmental Forum and proposed the creation of an Intergovernmental Panel on Global Change. This paer will discuss various proposals to strengthen UNEP within the broader discussion of international environmental governance and discuss which alternatives have the greatest chance of being realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]