Role environmental organizations in 

environmental protection

Intergovernmental organizations

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a scientific intergovernmental body tasked with reviewing and assessing the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change. The panel was first established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The IPCC does not carry out its own original research, nor does it do the work of monitoring climate or related phenomena itself. A main activity of the IPCC is publishing special reports on topics relevant to the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty that acknowledges the possibility of harmful climate change. Implementation of the UNFCCC led eventually to the Kyoto Protocol.

2.   United Nations Environment Programme

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. UNEP also has six regional offices and various country offices. It coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.

Its activities cover a wide range of issues regarding the atmosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystems. It has played a significant role in developing international environmental conventions, promoting environmental science and information and illustrating the way those can work in conjunction with policy, working on the development and implementation of policy with national governments and regional institution and working in conjunction with environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). UNEP has also been active in funding and implementing environment related development projects.

UNEP has aided in the development of guidelines and treaties on issues such as the international trade in potentially harmful chemicals, trans boundary air pollution, and contamination of international waterways.

The year 2007 was declared (International) Year of the Dolphin by the United Nations and UNEP.

UNEP publishes many reports, atlases and newsletters. For instance, the fourth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-4) assessment is a comprehensive report on environment, development and human well-being, providing analysis and information for policy makers and the concerned public. One of many points in the GEO-4 warns that we are living far beyond our means. It notes that the human population is now so large that the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available. Humanity’s environmental demand, or ecological footprint, is 21.9 hectares per person while the Earth’s biological capacity is, on average, only 15.7 ha/person.

UNEP has sponsored the development of solar loan programs, with attractive return rates, to buffer the initial deployment costs and entice consumers to consider and purchase solar PV systems. The most famous example is the solar loan program sponsored by UNEP helping 100,000 people finance solar power systems in India. Success in India's solar program has led to similar projects in other parts of developing world like Tunisia, Morocco, Indonesia and Mexico.

UNEP sponsors the Marshlands project in Middle East that helps to protect the largest marshland in Middle East. In 2001, UNEP alerted the international community to the destruction of the Marshlands when it released satellite images showing that 90 percent of the Marshlands had already been lost. The UNEP "support for Environmental Management of the Iraqi Marshland" commenced in August 2004, in order to manage the Marshland area in an environmentally sound manner.

          Glaciers are shrinking at record rates and many could disappear within decades. On average, the glaciers shrank by 4.9 feet in 2006, the most recent year for which data are available. The most severe loss was recorded at Norway's Breidalblikkbrea glacier, which shrank 10.2 feet in 2006. Glaciers lost an average of about a foot of ice a year between 1980 and 1999. But since the turn of the millennium the average loss has increased to about 20 inches.

At the fifth Magdeburg Environmental Forum held from 3–4 July 2008, in Magdeburg, Germany, UNEP and car manufacturer Daimler called for the establishment of infrastructure for electric vehicles. At this international conference, 250 high-ranking representatives from industry, science, politics and non-government organizations discussed solutions for future road transportation under the motto of "Sustainable Mobility–the Post-2012 CO2 Agenda".

The Earth System Governance Project was established in October 2008 by the International Human Dimensions program on Global Environmental Change. The Earth System Governance Project is a long-term, interdisciplinary social science project. Earth System Governance is a subject of research in the social sciences that brings together a variety of disciplines including political science, sociology, economics, ecology, policy studies, geography, sustainability, law. It spans the entire globe

3. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

IUCN is an international organization dedicated to finding "pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges". The Union’s headquarters are located in Gland, near Geneva, Switzerland. The organization publishes the IUCN Red List, compiling information from a network of conservation organizations to rate which species are most endangered.

The IUCN supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world and brings governments, non-government organizations, United Nations agencies, companies and local communities together to develop and implement policy, laws and best practice. IUCN is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental network—a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO member organizations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries. IUCN’s work is supported by more than 1,000 professional staff in 60 offices and hundreds of partners in public, NGO and private sectors around the world.

IUCN's stated vision is "a just world that values and conserves nature". Its mission is to "influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and biodiversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable

Regional

Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia

A partnership in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) is a regional partnership programme implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and executed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). The project, started in 1994, was originally known as Prevention and Management of Marine Pollution in the East Asian Seas.

In December 1993, several Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) pilot sites were established, including Xiamen (PR China) and Batangas Bay (Philippines), which helped start efforts in addressing marine pollution problems in the Straits of Malacca and Straits of Singapore. A second phase of the Project, scheduled for 1999 to 2007, was supported by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), focused on building partnerships between stakeholders. The project was renamed to PEMSEA to reflect the new thrust of the programme.

PEMSEA is currently being hosted by the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources and holds its office in the DENR compound in Quezon City, Philippines

    The programme was instrumental to the adoption of several national and regional agreements, including:

• Putrajaya Declaration: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, PR China, DPR Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, RO Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam adopted the Putrajaya Declaration of Regional Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Seas of East Asia on 12 December 2003. The declaration formally adopted the SDS-SEA as a regional strategy for the sustainable development of the seas of the region.

• Haikou Partnership Agreement: Signed by the original signatories of the Putrajaya Declaration (with the exception of Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia) and Japan, the agreement established the coordinating and operating mechanisms of the implementation of the SDS-SEA.

• Manila Bay Declaration: Signed in 2001, the declaration is a commitment between the national government and concerned local government units in the Philippines for the implementation of the Manila Bay Coastal Strategy, providing an environmental management framework for Manila Bay and its watersheds.

• Bohai Sea Declaration: Governors of Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong and Tianjin, together with the Administrator of China's State Oceanic Administration signed the Bohai Declaration on Environmental Protection, formally adopting principles, objectives, policy measures and actions to reduce waste and marine pollution across the administrative boundaries of the adjacent coastal municipalities and provinces.

• Executive Order 533 (Philippines): EO533 declared Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) as the national strategy for sustainable development of the country's marine and coastal resources

Government organizations

Ministry of Environment and Forests (India)

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is an Indian government ministry. The Minister of Environment and Forests holds cabinet rank as a member of the Council of Ministers. The ministry portfolio is currently held by Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of Environment and Forests, who is assisted by two Ministers of State.

The ministry is responsible for planning, promoting, coordinating, and overseeing the implementation of environmental and forestry programmes in the country. The main activities undertaken by the ministry include conservation and survey of the flora of India and fauna of India, forests and other wilderness areas; prevention and control of pollution; afforestation, and land degradation mitigation. It is responsible for the administration of the national parks of India.

Organization

• Subordinate offices
• Botanical Survey of India (BSI), Kolkata
• Directorate of Forest Education (DFE), Dehradun
• Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun
• Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Dehradun
• National Institute of Animal Welfare
• National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), New Delhi
• National Zoological Park (NZP), New Delhi
• Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kolkata
• Autonomous institutions
• Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi
• Central Zoo Authority (CZA), New Delhi
• G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Almora
• Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun
• Arid Forestry Research Institute (AFRI), Jodhpur
• Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun
• Centre for Forestry Research and Human Resource Development (CFRHRD), Chhindwara
• Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB), Coimbatore
• Institute (TFRI), Jabalpur
• Centre for Social Forestry and Eco-habilitation (CSFE), Allahabad
• Wildlife Institute of India WII