United Nations

United Nations (UN) is the major international organization orchestrating the climate change negotiations, also known as the COP Summits But below the level of meetings in the UN General Assemblies and the Security Council lies the work of various different UN-bodies. Among the most important are:

UNFCC the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, sets the overall framework for intergovernmental action, and coordinates the COP climate change negotiations, and the international meetings in between.

IPCC the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is set up to review and organise the latest scientific research and knowledge regarding climate change. The purpose of the IPCC is to provide scientific technical and socio-economic information in a policy-relevant but policy neutral way to decision makers. The latest major IPCC publication, the Climate Change 2007 Fourth Assessment Report is widely known as one of the major turning points in the climate change debate.

UNEP, the United Nations Environmental Program, is the UN body permanently focused on protecting the environment and improving sustainable development. Based in Africa, UNEP devotes most of its attention to the developing countries of the world.

WMO, the World Meteorological Organization, is the UN system's authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources. WMO plays a leading role in international efforts to monitor and protect the environment through its programmes.

WHO, the World Health Organization is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is the WHO's responsibility to produce guidelines and standards and help countries address health issues. WHO has developed a special programme (Climate Change and Human Health) where it directly links climate change to stratospheric ozone depletion, desertification and land degradation, freshwater decline and loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function which are problems that are apt to have a huge impact on human health.