World Environment Organization

A “world environment organization” does not exist. Yet proposals to create an international agency on environmental protection have been debated for over forty years. These proposals use a variety of names for such a new world environment organization, such as “Global Environment Organization,” “United Nations Environment Organization,” or “United Nations Environmental Protection Organization.” The first proposal for a world environment organization dates back to US foreign policy strategist George F. Kennan, who argued for an International Environmental Agency encompassing “a small group of advanced nations.” Politically, the idea of a world environment organization today finds the support of several governments. Notably, at the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development a specialized agency status for UNEP was supported by the member states of the European Union and of the African Union as well as a number of other developing countries.