The eighth Special Session of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum took place from 29-31 March 2004, at the International Convention Centre in Jeju, Republic of Korea.

Nearly 775 partici­pants, including delegates from 153 countries, as well as represen­tatives of 13 UN agencies, 15 intergovernmental organizations, 55 non-governmental organizations and 110 international and national media outlets attended the three-day meeting. Fifty-three of the fifty-eight Member States of the Governing Council were represented.
Ministers and delegates convened in a ministerial consultation, a Committee of the Whole (COW), and an open-ended drafting group. At the conclusion of the ministerial consultations, delegates adopted the “Jeju Initiative,” containing the Chair’s summary of the discussions. Negotiations in the COW and the drafting group resulted in four decisions regarding small island developing States (SIDS), waste management, regional annexes, and implementation of decision SS.VII/1 on international environmental governance. The decisions were adopted in the final Plenary on Wednesday, 31 March.
The eighth Special Session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum was the first meeting held in Asia, the first meeting to include the participation 90 ministers from 153 countries (the most ever), and the first special session since the World Summit on Sustainable Development. It was also the first meeting that concentrated on a substantive issue cluster (water, sanitation and human settlements) that is the foremost item on the UN Commission on Sustainable Development’s agenda for its first work cycle in 2004-2005. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin coverage of this meeting can be found at: http://enb.iisd.org/unepgc/gmef5/