The UN System. UNDP and the other UN agencies provide coordinated assistance to strengthen and enhance the development agendas of Barbados and the OECS Member States through the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) to respond to the challenges that have been identified by the countries in national consultation processes. Six development outcome areas have been identified in the 2012-2016 UNDAF. These are: • Environment, energy, climate change and disaster risk reduction • Enabling environment of effective economic and social governance and enhanced security • Social protection and poverty reduction with an emphasis on vulnerable groups • Food and nutritional security • Public health within the context of the development agenda using rights-based approach, maintaining focus on HIV/AIDS and non-communicable diseases • Capacity development and institutional strengthening. The Resident Coordinator, in collaboration with UN system agencies and national counterparts, will work to mobilise resources towards achievement of the UNDAF outcomes. Progress towards the UNDAF outcomes will be jointly monitored and evaluated by the UN subregional team and the monitoring and evaluation of UNDP’s subregional programme will feed into and be guided by this process. Key UN partners for the UNDP programme include UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNISDR, UNWOMEN, UNFPA, PAHO/WHO, FAO, UNV, UNODC and UNOCHA. UNDAF Outcome Groups, which have a responsibility for ensuring the achievement of the priorities outlined therein, agree on the UN input into Eastern Caribbean Development Partner Groups, made up of multilateral and bilateral partners. UNDP will actively participate in all Outcome Groups and serve as co-convening agency for three Outcome Areas.
The UN System. IPCC AND IPBES The United Nations was founded in 1945, following the end of World War II, and is today led by the Secretary-General Xxx Xx-xxxx. The organization today consist of 193 members, and has an international charter which allows them to “take action on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st century, such as peace and security, climate change, sustainable development, human rights, disarmament, terrorism, humanitarian and health emergencies, gender equality, governance, food production, and more.” (UN, 2015c) The five principle organs of the UN are: the General Assembly, where all member nations are represented “making it the only UN body with universal representation”; the Security Council facing issues of peace and security and consisting of 5 permanent members (the United States, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and China), and 10 non-permanent places on rotation between the rest of the UN membership; the Economic and Social Council taking on matters of economic, social and environmental character, and is the UN’s “central platform for reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on sustainable development”; the Trusteeship Council meeting on occasion and before 1994 responsible for following up the self-governing transition of 11 territories; the International Court of Justice placed in Haag giving advice and settling legal disputes brought in by member states; and finally the Secretariat carrying out the assignments mandated by the General Assembly and other UN organs (UN, 2015a). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) are the two most important UN institutions for collecting knowledge on climate change and environmental matters. These organizations are central to this study, as their views on aspects of production and products in a sustainable development and Earth System perspective, represent one part of what the paper explores in relation to the discussion of environmental goods and the EGA. A short description of the institutions is therefore necessary. The IPCC was established in 1988 by UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in order to provide “a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts” (IPCC, 2015). The panel gathers existing scientific material related to climate change for review and assessment, and does not conduct any researc...
