The ministers of the environment and heads of delegation attending the first session of the Global Ministerial Environment Forum in Malmö in 2000 noted an “alarming discrepancy between commitments and action” and “the tremendous risk of climate change” and called for a strengthened UNEP with a broader and more predictable financial base. The need for a strengthened UNEP was repeated in the “Cartagena Package” decision of 2002, 11 by which the UNEP Governing Council called for, among other things, a strengthening of the role, authority and financial situation of UNEP; strengthening of the science base of UNEP; improved coordination and effectiveness.
