IASC Guidance on Environmental Responsibility in Humanitarian Operations

Background

At the United Nations (UN) Executive Committee meeting on 29 May 2020, following a recognition of the need to improve environmental responsibility across humanitarian and emergency response, the UN SecretaryGeneral requested “OCHA, with the participation of UNEP, to organize a working group under the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) to offer guidance and lessons learned for improving environmental responsibility in UN emergency and humanitarian operations.” On 29 October 2020, the Operational Policy and Advocacy Group (OPAG) of the IASC decided for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and in consultation with the OPAG, establish an informal Working Group on this topic. Consequently, an Informal Working Group on Environmental Responsibility in Humanitarian Operations was established, under the chairmanship of the UNEP/OCHA Joint Environment Unit (JEU), with the participation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the World Food Programme (WFP). The Informal Working Group oversaw the development of the guidance.