United Nations Environment Programme

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has its origin in the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, Sweden, June 1972. The conference was convened to bring to the attention of governments and the people of the world evidence that man’s activities are damaging the natural environment and are giving rise to risks for his own survival and well-being. The prime task of UNEP is to act as an international coordinator for the environment, especially within the UN system. Since all the renewable natural resources are interacting, solutions to environmental problems connected with these resources require an integrated approach. The United States, through the federal government and numerous powerful nongovernmental conservation organizations, has played a particularly significant role in this process. The situation just described has global implications, but it is particularly true for the tropics and subtropics.