The Governing Council,
Recalling its decision 26/1 of 24 February 2011 on international environmental governance,
Taking note of the implementation by the Executive Director of the incremental reforms that
were identified in the set of options presented to the Governing Council at its eleventh special session,
in February 2010, by the Consultative Group of Ministers or High-level Representatives on
International Environmental Governance established under Governing Council decision 25/4 of
20 February 2009,6
Taking note also of the continuing consultations, in the context of the United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development, on the institutional framework for sustainable development,
and considering that international environmental governance is one particularly important component
of those consultations,
Recalling the commitment set out in the 2010 Nusa Dua Declaration7 to strengthening the role
of the United Nations Environment Programme as the leading global environmental authority that sets
the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental
dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative
advocate for the global environment, as set out in the 1997 Nairobi Declaration on the Role and
Mandate of the United Nations Environment Programme,8
1. Recognizes the importance of enhancing synergies, including at the national and
regional levels, among the biodiversity-related conventions, without prejudice to their specific
objectives and recognizing their respective mandates, and encourages the conferences of the parties to
those conventions to strengthen efforts further in that regard, taking into account relevant experiences;
2. Invites the Executive Director to undertake, as appropriate, further activities to improve
the effectiveness of and cooperation among multilateral environmental agreements, taking into
account the autonomous decision-making authority of the conferences of the parties, and to enhance
cooperation with the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction;
3. Requests the Executive Director to explore the opportunities for further synergies in the
administrative functions of the multilateral environmental agreement secretariats administered by the
United Nations Environment Programme and to provide advice on such opportunities to the governing
bodies of those multilateral environmental agreements;
4. Also requests the Executive Director to explore the possibility of signing or updating
memorandums of understanding with other United Nations bodies, in particular with the specialized
agencies and regional commissions, in order to coordinate endeavours by United Nations secretariats,
avoid overlapping, enhance cooperation and build on synergies in the implementation of the
programmes and policies of those bodies in support of sustainable development;
5. Recalls the invitation by the General Assembly to the relevant United Nations funds,
and programmes and the specialized agencies and multilateral environmental agreements to consider
mainstreaming the Bali Strategic Plan for Technology Support and Capacity-building into their overall
activities, and calls upon Governments and other stakeholders in a position to do so to provide the
funding and technical assistance and capacity-building necessary to advance further and implement
fully the Bali Strategic Plan, and invites the General Assembly to examine the possibility of
developing a system-wide capacity-building framework for its implementation;
6. Invites the General Assembly to examine the possibility of developing a system-wide
strategy for the environment;
7. Requests the Executive Director to instruct and give guidance to the regional offices of
the United Nations Environment Programme to strengthen the cooperation between the Programme
and other United Nations bodies, including regional commissions and other regional bodies, and to
promote collaboration between the Programme and the secretariats of regional integration
organizations in an effort to promote actions pertinent to the environmental dimension of sustainable
development;
8. Encourages member States to provide, on a voluntary basis, extrabudgetary funding to
strengthen the regional offices of the United Nations Environment Programme.