The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), an agency of the United Nations, coordinates the organization's environmental activities and assists developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded by Maurice Strong, its first director, as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has overall responsibility for environmental problems among United Nations agencies; however, international talks on specialized issues, such as addressing climate change or combating desertification, are overseen by other UN organizations, like the Bonn-based Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. UNEP's activities cover a wide range of issues regarding the atmosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, environmental governance and green economy. It has played a significant role in developing international environmental conventions, promoting environmental science and information and illustrating the way those can be implemented in conjunction with policy, working on the development and implementation of policy with national governments, regional institutions in conjunction with environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs). UNEP has also been active in funding and implementing environment related development projects.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to promote economic cooperation and integrations among its Member States.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), or the ONG Earth Summit 2002, took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002. It was convened to discuss sustainable development by the United Nations. WSSD gathered a number of leaders from business and non-governmental organizations, 10 years after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the United Nations' global development network.
Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22. Worldwide, various events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day now includes events in more than 193 countries, which are now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network.
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, the Rio Summit, the Rio Conference, and the Earth Summit, was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992.
The Environment and Conservation Organisations of Aotearoa New Zealand (ECO) was formed in 1971 under the name of CoEnCo and changed its name to ECO in 1976.
Cape Barren Island, part of the Furneaux Group, is a 478-square-kilometre (185 sq mi) island in the Bass Strait, off the north east coast of Tasmania, Australia. The largest island of the Furneaux Group, Flinders Island, lies to the north, with the smaller Clarke Island to the south. The highest point on the island is Mount Munro at 715 metres (2,346 ft). Mount Munro is probably named after James Munro, a former convict and then sealer, who lived from the 1820s for more than 20 years with several women on nearby Preservation Island.
Jim Merkel is an American author and engineer, who moved from involvement in the military industry to advocating simple living. Since 1989, Merkel has dedicated himself to trying to reduce his personal impact on the environment and to encourage others to do the same.
Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the impact of changes to the environment on humans, animals, plants and non-living matter. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecology combines the ideology of social ecology and environmentalism. Ecology is more commonly used in continental European languages while ‘environmentalism’ is more commonly used in English but the words have slightly different connotations.
GRID-Arendal is a centre collaborating with the United Nations Environment Programme, located in Arendal, Norway. The centre was established in 1989 by the Norwegian Government as a non-profit foundation to support the United Nations in the field of environmental information management and assessment, capacity-building and communications and outreach. It is part of the GRID network of environmental data and information centers, under the UN Environment Division of early warning and assessment. The GRID program itself was established in 1985 as a part of Earthwatch with the goal of providing useful environmental data to researchers and policy makers. GRID centers also support developing countries through training programs and transfer of technology pertinent to geographic information systems and remote sensing.
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 5–16 in 1972.
Robert A. Citron, often called Bob Citron was an American entrepreneur and aerospace engineer who was born in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at the University of the Philippines and aeronautical engineering from Northrop University (1953–1959). Citron helped establish and manage the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Moonwatch and Precision Optical Satellite Tracking Programs (STP) after the launch of Sputnik I in 1957. He founded or co-founded five companies dealing with documentary film production, publishing, space research and space logistics support, reusable satellite launch systems, and Lunar transportation and logistics. Citron also started three nonprofit foundations dealing with scientific field research. He died on January 31, 2012, at his home in Bellevue, Washington, at the age of 79, due to complications from prostate cancer.
The 11th Hour is a 2007 documentary film, created, produced, co-written and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, on the state of the natural environment. It was directed by Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners and financed by Adam Lewis and Pierre André Senizergues, and distributed by Warner Independent Pictures.
The Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, or Stockholm Declaration, was adopted June 16, 1972 by the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment at the 21st plenary meeting as the first document in international environmental law to recognize the right to a healthy environment. In the declaration, the nations agreed to accept responsibility for any environmental effects caused by their actions.
An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements
that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces.
