Launched in 2003, the "French Initiative" gave new impetus into the debate about upgrading UNEP to a full-fledged UN Agency. In this project, Ecologic analyses the specific challenges for developing countries in implementing international environmental policies. Based on the findings Ecologic designs options for a future United Nations Environmentmal Organisation (UNEO). The project's policy paper is available for download.

While it is widely accepted that remarkable achievements in the area of international environmental policy have been made, there also appears to be wide concurrence that the current system in place has not adequately addressed developing countries' concerns.

Developing countries face a variety of challenges in their efforts to implement environmental policies, most notably a lack of sufficient resources to build and maintain strong environmental institutions. However, also the great number of multilateral environmental agreements and the number of institutions involved in international governance place particular burden on developing countries.

It is argued that upgrading UNEP to a UN-Agency would contribute to strengthening international environmental governance. However, it is crucial to differentiate between different design options for a future UNEO to avoid existing misunderstandings and to drive forward the current discussion.

The project's policy paper is available for download. [pdf, 124 KB, English]