Focal Point: Sharon-Rose Broome
Email: [email protected]
FIELD OFFICES
About 400 sites across all regions, more information can be found on:
Mission
The Department of Operational Support (DOS) provides support to all UN Secretariat entities globally but focuses on areas where (environmental) risk management is most critical, such as peace operations. Peace operations include Peacekeeping Missions, the United Nations Support Office in Somalia, Special Political Missions that manage their own facilities, the Regional Service Centre Entebbe, and the Global Service Centre.
From 2017-2023, DOS implemented the ‘Environment Strategy for Peace Operations’, providing missions with a framework for accountability in the areas of energy, water and wastewater, solid waste, environmental management systems, and wider impact. In line with requests from the General Assembly (A/77/19) to continue efforts in this area and following an extensive consultation with the full UN Membership, ‘The Way Forward: Environment Strategy for Peace Operations 2030’ was shared in February 2024, placing an enhanced focus on the themes of responsibility, ambition, and legacy.
ALIGNMENT WITH THE STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT IN THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM, 2020–2030
Across the UN’s peace operations, an environmental performance and risk management framework is in place, including the use of ‘scorecards’ to track performance, risk management, actions, and improvements.
Emission Reduction
Peacekeeping and Field-Based Special Political Missions have seen reductions of GHG emissions on an absolute and per capita basis since the start of the Environment Strategy for Peace Operations (2017).
This has been achieved primarily thanks to an overall reduction in demand for energy through increased efficiencies (e.g., of generators, air conditioning units etc.), lower electricity consumption, and an increased share of electricity produced by renewable energy sources.
EMS and Reduction Efforts
DOS (OICT) has developed a bespoke environmental Action Planning and Performance software (eAPP) for use by Peace Operations in the context of the Environment Strategy (note: eAPP served as the basis for the new Greening the Blue data collection tool), in order to:
- Enable performance and risk data collection by missions and data verification by senior leadership and DOS;
- Integrate results into formal reporting and accountability mechanisms for senior management;
- Enable mission environmental actions to be fed into the planning and budgeting processes to ensure senior management oversight, inform the prioritisation of resources, and support effective mainstreaming of environmental responsibilities throughout operations, including in support of the new performance target setting framework.
Other elements of EMS include:
- The translation of DOS’ ‘The Way Forward; Environment Strategy for Peace Operations 2030’ into a series of actions for civilian and uniformed personnel to contribute to the reduction of each mission’s environmental footprint.
- Competency development and technical training for field staff across the Secretariat.
- Establishment of centralized resources in the Global Support Centre and in the REACT facility to provide and deploy specialized environmental technical support to missions.
- Co-ordination and best practice sharing across the field entities through technical working groups.
In the Greening the Blue Report on Environmental Governance, field missions’ progress on the EMS is rated as: Meets.
Water and Wastewater Management
The overall approach to water and wastewater within field operations is grounded in risk management, enabled by appropriate technology, policy, guidelines, capacity building, monitoring and compliance, and resource optimization.
The below actions are underway to improve water and wastewater management across field operations:
- Promulgation of guidance materials to support missions in planning and operations.
- Availability of a new global system contracts and updated procurement packages for water analytical equipment and wastewater treatment systems.
- Demand management to reduce consumption and wastewater generation, with water metering targeting sustainable abstraction.
- Installation of water meters.
- Increased use of alternative water sources.
- Development and implementation of risk mitigation plans.
- Building of in-place wastewater treatment plants when possible (instead of more technology-intensive modular treatment plants).
Refrigerants
- Substitute old air conditioning units with new energy efficient units using low GWP refrigerant gases.
Fuel
- Since 2017/2018, diesel fuel use in electricity generators per person has dropped by 10%. After mission closure is factored in, this equates to about 15 million less litres of fuel per year.
Biodiversity
- Peacekeeping operations are predominantly based on brown field (e.g., already disturbed land) sites provided by the host nation. Environmental impact assessments are conducted when new sites are planned to be established or when major projects are planned. EIAs allow to design camps and projects in a way that minimizes impacts on biodiversity.
- Many missions perform tree planting activities as part of community engagement, but these are rarely systematic, with the exception of UNSOS' seedball programme.
Environmental Training for Personnel
Environmental training is delivered in-person, on-site within missions. In 2023, 95% of military personnel and 100% of civilians received an environmental briefing during deployment/upon arrival.
An environmental awareness generation package for T/PCCs has been developed in collaboration with the Triangular Partnership Program and was translated in 12 national languages used by the T/PCC, to maximize information dissemination about good environmental stewardship at the individual level.
The development of a pre-deployment capacity building program for T/PCC Environmental Focal Points is underway.
For the 2023 reporting year, field missions’ status on providing training on environmental sustainability is Yes, and it is mandatory for all personnel.
Energy
Energy Infrastructure Management Plans have been developed in key missions. Common approaches across missions include:
- Implementation of renewable energy projects, with potential secondary benefits for host communities.
- Centralization of power generation and distribution systems.
- Connection to local utility grids with a share of renewable energy.
- Deployment of energy efficient equipment and sensors through new global system contracts.
DOS supports this process by developing centralized and local contracts, providing technical environmental support, facilitating partnerships to attract third-party investments in host country's renewable energy infrastructure.
Positive legacy
In support of recent mandates concerning “positive infrastructure legacy”, the Secretariat is developing operational guidance and training content aimed at strengthening the capacity of missions to integrate positive legacy considerations in planning and decision-making processes.
WASTE MANAGEMENT
Within missions, waste management plans inform actions towards improving performance, reducing risk, and supporting investment decisions.
The below actions are underway to improve waste management across field operations:
- Development of system contracts for equipment based on the centralized, sub-sector and remote waste management yards concept, including long- term servicing and training.
- Improved end-to-end supply chain management, take-back schemes, e-waste management solutions (incl. global systems contract for e-waste), awareness campaigns, and capacity building.
- Operation of centralized waste management yards where no external waste management facilities are available.
- Increased efforts to reduce material consumption through behavioural and systemic improvements, e.g., ban or reduction of single-use plastic water and beverage containers.
Going forward, an enhanced focus is placed on technical support for missions during site closure and liquidation.
The Way Forward: Environment Strategy for Peace Operations 2030: link
Review of the Environment Strategy 2017-2023: Link
Good practice publication 2023: link
List of missions covered by the Environment Strategy
Peacekeeping missions:
- MINUJUSTH (closed)
- MINURSO
- MINUSCA
- MINUSMA (closed)
- MONUSCO
- UNAMID (closed)
- UNDOF
- UNFICYP
- UNIFIL
- UNISFA
- UNMIK
- UNMIL (closed)
- UNMISS
- UNMOGIP
- UNSOS
- UNTSO
Special political missions
- UNAMA
- UNAMI
- UNIOGBIS (closed)
- UNSCO
- UNSMIL
- UNSOM
- UNVMC
Service Centres
- United Nations Global Service Centre
- United Nations Regional Service Centre Entebbe