EU ENVIRONMENTAL MINISTERS SUPPORT CREATION OF

UNCLAS HELSINKI 000700 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV PREL UNEP EUN FI SUBJECT: EU ENVIRONMENTAL MINISTERS SUPPORT CREATION OF UN ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATION (UNEO) REF: STATE 116862 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: During the July EU Informal Ministerial meeting on the Environment, Finnish Minister Enestam and EU Commissioner Dimas called upon EU countries to support a measure creating a United Nations Environmental Organization (UNEO) and a Panel on Natural Resources. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) At the EU Informal Environmental Ministerial hosted in Turku, Finland July 14-16, Finnish Environmental Minister Jan-Erik Enestam and EU Commissioner for the Environment Stavros Dimas called for the establishment of a United Nations Environmental Organization (UNEO) and a Panel on Natural Resources to operate similar to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Enestam alluded to a "One Planet Environmental Policy," saying, "We will also need new strong global players, such as a United Nations Environmental Organization and a Panel on Natural Resources. These international bodies would be instrumental in establishing common rules for all players." ¶3. (U) A Finnish-produced background paper for the Informal Ministerial meeting contained a call for EU countries to lobby for a permanent international environmental organization. EU countries believe UNEO would represent a "significant shift in international environmental policies" by "giving more political weight to international environmental action." Support of UNEO was again reiterated on July 18 in a Finnish EU press release that called for "new forums" to "enable countries to work together to find ways to resolve critical global environmental problems." Creation of UNEO was listed as an important objective in this process. ¶4. (U) While the final "Presidency Conclusions" document fell short of again naming UNEO, it did say, "The EU should actively lobby for the creation of a international environmental organization to strengthen international environmental governance and enhance cooperation between international environmental agreements." ¶5. (SBU) According to sources in the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, support for UNEO has been a GOF position for some time; however, the GOF has recently been more vocal about this stance due to its EU Presidency rotation. From published sources we know that the Finns discussed supporting UNEO as early as June of 2005 when Enestam met in Japan with the Japanese Environment Minister. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶6. (SBU) EU countries see the establishment of a central governing body on the environment as a step toward getting all players to "act by the same rules." The fact that the name "UNEO" is missing from the final Presidency Conclusion may signal that there is not unanimous support within the EU for UNEO; however, the call for UNEO was clearly held by the majority of EU Environmental Ministers. WARE