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Module 2 Unep Assessment Mandate
1 UNEP derives its mandate from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 2997 of

1972, which led to the establishment of the organization. The resolution states in part that UNEP should
keep the global environment under review. The UN Conference on the Human Environment whose
9-12 December, 2013 reporting (see box below).
recommendations led to Resolution 2997 highlighted the importance of environmental assessment and

Decision on environmental assessment at the UN Conference on
BOX 1
Human Environment, Stockholm, 1972

One of the early decisions of the international community on environmental assessment
and reporting highlighted the following:

? To facilitate the development of social and cultural indicators for the environment, in
order to establish a common methodology for assessing environmental developments
and preparing reports on the subjects.

? To prepare, on the basis of (the) national reports on the state of, and outlook for,
the environment, periodic reports on regional or sub-regional situations and on the
international situation in this matter.
Source: UNEP 1981

UNEP’s Division of Early Warning and Assessment
The Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA) is one of eight UNEP sub programmes
(divisions) responsible for implementing Resolution 2997. The DEWA mission is to: “Provide the world

community with improved access to meaningful environmental data and information, and to help
increase the capacity of governments to use environmental information for decision making and action
planning for sustainable human development.”

GEO Assessment

DEWA, in collaboration with other UNEP programmes, and with other partners around the world,
implements the UNGA resolution by, among other activities, coordinating GEO, the UNEP flagship
assessment reporting process. The first GEO assessment report was initiated in 1995 by UNEP

8 The GEO Approach to Integrated Environmental Assessment