The Governing Council,
Having considered the proposed programme of work and budget for the biennium
2012–201322 and the related report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary
Questions,23
1. Approves the programme of work for the biennium 2012–2013 taking into account the
relevant decisions of the Governing Council;
2. Also approves appropriations for the Environment Fund in the amount of
190.962 million United States dollars, of which a maximum of 122.310 million United States dollars is
allocated to cover post costs for the purposes indicated in the following table:
3. Welcomes the extensive consultations that have taken place between the Executive
Director and the Committee of Permanent Representatives on the preparation of the draft programme
of work and budget for the biennium 2012–2013;
4. Requests the Executive Director to hold consultations for the preparation of all future
programmes of work and budgets;
5. Acknowledges the progress on the implementation of the medium-term strategy, as
presented in the progress performance report;24
6. Authorizes the Executive Director, with a view to ensuring better conformity with the
practices in other United Nations bodies, to reallocate resources between budget lines up to a
maximum of 10 per cent of the appropriations to which the resources are reallocated;
7. Also authorizes the Executive Director, if necessary, to reallocate funds in excess of
10 per cent and up to 20 per cent of an appropriation in consultation with the Committee of Permanent
Representatives;
8. Further authorizes the Executive Director to adjust, in consultation with the
Committee of Permanent Representatives, the level of Environment Fund allocations to bring it into
line with possible variations in income compared to the approved level of appropriations;
9. Authorizes the Executive Director to enter into forward commitments not exceeding
20 million United States dollars for Environment Fund activities for the biennium 2014–2015;
10. Requests the Executive Director to continue to apply a prudent approach to the
management of the resources of the Environment Fund, including through the careful management of
contractual arrangements;
11. Notes that in recent bienniums an increasing share of the Environment Fund has been
allocated to post costs, resulting in a reduced share of Environment Fund resources being devoted to
non-post costs;
12. Requests the Executive Director to take the steps necessary to increase the
Environment Fund resources that are allocated to non-post costs, and to report half-yearly to
Governments through the Committee of Permanent Representatives on the progress made;
13. Also requests the Executive Director to continue to shift emphasis from the delivery of
outputs to the achievement of results, ensuring that United Nations Environment Programme managers
at all levels take responsibility for the achievement of programme objectives and the efficient and
transparent use of resources to that end, subject to United Nations processes of review, evaluation and
oversight;
14. Further requests the Executive Director to report to Governments, through the
Committee of Permanent Representatives, on a yearly basis, and to the Governing Council at its
regular and special sessions, on the progress made in respect of each of the subprogrammes and their
relevant expected accomplishments and on the execution of the budget of the Environment Fund,
including voluntary contributions, expenditures and reallocations of appropriations or adjustments of
allocations;
15. Authorizes the Executive Director to streamline reporting to Governments through the
Committee of Permanent Representatives by merging progress reporting on administrative and
budgetary matters with programme performance reporting;
16. Requests the Executive Director to provide regular briefings to the Committee of
Permanent Representatives on the programme and budget performance of each subprogramme to
enable the Committee to perform its monitoring task adequately;
17. Also requests the Executive Director to ensure that earmarked contributions to the
United Nations Environment Programme, apart from those for which the United Nations Environment
Programme merely acts as treasurer, are used to fund activities that are in line with the programme of
work;
18. Takes note of the information document on the relationship between the
United Nations Environment Programme and the multilateral environmental agreements that it
administers25 and requests the Executive Director, in consultation with the relevant multilateral
environmental agreement secretariats, the United Nations Board of Auditors, the Office of Legal
Affairs and all relevant bodies, to address in a progress report, which includes input and commentary
from the multilateral environmental agreements, the issues of accountability and the financial and
administrative arrangements, including their legal bases, between the United Nations Environment
Programme and the multilateral environmental agreements that it administers, to be presented to the
Governing Council at its twelfth special session;