1. Overview and Context
Following the adoption at the fourth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-4) of resolution UNEP/EA.4/RES.23, entitled “Keeping the World Environment under Review: Enhancing the United Nations Environment Programme science-policy interface and endorsement of the Global Environment Outlook," the Secretariat developed an online portal for Member State nominations of experts to the Steering Committee, which will oversee and manage the development of an options paper and initiate consultations on the future of the Global Environment Outlook process.
As per the process outlined in the resolution, the Committee of Permanent Representatives approved the membership of the Steering Committee at its 146th meeting and strongly recommended that the Steering Committee consider late nominations to achieve better geographic and gender balance. To support this recommendation, the Secretariat organized the first call of the Steering Committee, where it was requested that the Committee consider a list of additional nominees that would allow for a better geographic and gender balance.
2. Nomination process
By the date of the Steering Committee meeting on 24 July 2019, the Secretariat received a total of 24 additional late nominations. Three of these nominations were obtained from the Latin America Group, four from the Eastern European Group, eight from the Africa Group, seven from the Asia-Pacific Group and 2 from the Western European and Other Groups. The gender of nominees received was 10 females and 14 males.
The Secretariat evaluated the CVs received for all nominees based on the criteria listed in resolution UNEP/EA.4/RES.23 to identify the most qualified additional nominees as members of the Steering Committee. The Secretariat also sought to achieve geographic and gender balance across the Steering Committee.
In cases where Member States and specialized agencies nominated more than one candidate, only one of the candidates was considered, again taking into account the geographic and gender balance of the Steering Committee.
3. Decision of the Steering Committee
The Steering Committee accepted the additional ten nominees suggested by the Secretariat and requested that 2 additional African Group nominees be added. The final leadership of the Steering committee was as follows:
Co-chairs: Ivar Andreas Baste (Norway) and Yi Huang (China)
Vice-chairs: Jerome Sebadduka Lugumira (Uganda) and Toral Patel-Weynand (USA)
Rapporteur: Rafael Monge Vargas (Costa Rica)
