The past, present, and possible future of the agency designed to act as "the world's environmental conscience."

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) was founded in 1972 as a nimble, fast, and flexible entity at the core of the UN system--a subsidiary body rather than a specialized agency. It was intended to be the world's environmental conscience, an anchor institution that established norms and researched policy, leaving it to other organizations to carry out its recommendations. In this book, Maria Ivanova offers a detailed account of UNEP's origin and history. Ivanova counters the common criticism that UNEP was deficient by design, arguing that UNEP has in fact delivered on much (though not all) of its mandate. "Maria Ivanova has produced a fascinating history based on a dozen years of intensive research, nearly 200 interviews, including with all of UNEP’s seven executive directors, attendance at all manner of international meetings, and bouncing her ideas with the vibrant environmental governance community of scholars, who form a particularly special breed. By any standards this is grounded research of the highest quality."
—Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development