October 2013: Hosted by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the nineteenth senior officials meeting (SOM19) of the Environment Management Group (EMG) convened on 19 September in New York, the US. The senior officials agreed to actions on the framework for environmental and social responsibility, biodiversity, land, the green economy and chemicals.

On consultations on advancing the framework for environmental and social sustainability in the UN system, the EMG agreed to continue the process for an additional year to allow the finalization of the Interim Guide and Options Paper.

On the Issue Management Group (IMG) for biodiversity, the senior officials agreed to continue the group for an additional year in order to: present the online biodiversity mapping tool to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Seventeenth Meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 17), and transfer it to the CBD for future maintenance; contribute to the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans Forum; contribute to the mid-term review process of the Aichi Targets; and prepare a progress report by the EMG on the contribution of the UN system to the Strategic Framework for Biodiversity, for consideration at the twelfth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 12) to the CBD.

On the IMG for land, senior officials agreed to conclude the work of the IMG, submitting the UN Action Plan on drylands to COP 11 of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCDD).

The senior managers also agreed to extend the IMG for the green economy to inter alia: prepare a paper on institutional options for enhanced UN system wide support for inclusive green economy work; and facilitate information sharing on existing and emerging policy options, methodologies and technical advice on inclusive green economy to enhance a coherent approach among UN entities.

The senior officials also agreed on the importance of raising the profile of sound chemicals management within all relevant organizations of the UN System, and invited the meeting of the Inter-organization on the Management of Chemicals (IOMC) to examine the draft issues paper and elaborate the rationale and the draft terms of reference for a potential IMG on chemicals. [UNEMG Website] [19SOM Meeting Website]