The Assembly is led by a Bureau. The UN Environment Assembly Bureau assists the President in the general conduct of business of the UN Environment Assembly.
During the second session of the UN Environment Assembly, Rule 18 was amended as follow:
1. (a ) During the final meeting of a regular session, the United Nations Environment Assembly shall elect a president, eight vice-presidents and a rapporteur from among its members. These officers shall constitute the Bureau of the United Nations Environment Assembly. The Bureau shall assist the president in the general conduct of business of the United Nations Environment Assembly. The chairpersons of such sessional committees or working parties as may be established under rule 61 below shall be invited to participate in meetings of the Bureau.
(b) Rule 20 was amended as follows:
The president, the vice-presidents and the rapporteur shall hold office until their successors are elected. They shall commence their terms of office at the closure of the session at which they are elected and remain in office until the closure of the next regular session. Subject to the provisions of Rule 18, they shall be eligible for re-election. None of them may hold office after the expiration of the term of office of the member of which the officer concerned is a representative.
Decides that the above amendments shall take effect at the beginning of its third session of the Assembly. Therefore the Bureau elected for the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly shall remain in office until the closure of its third session.
2. Pursuant of paragraph 1 of the rule of procedure 18, the mandate of the UN Environment Assembly Bureau is to “assist the President in the general conduct of business of the UNEA”. It periodic meetings provide the Secretariat with guidance in the preparations for the next session of the UNEA, especially:
(a) Dates and place of a session (when the governing body did not decide on dates and place);
(b) Roadmap toward the preparation of a session and roles of the Bureaus of the UNEA and the Committee of Permanent Representatives;
(c) Organization of a session, including establishment of Sessional Committees;
(d) Provisional agenda of a session (when the governing body did not decide on it), including the theme(s) of the high-level segment;
(e) Programme of the week, including special and associated events;
(f) A way forward on selected contentious issues;
(g) President’s representational work in various global and regional fora on the environment.
The role and responsibility of the Bureau is further defined in the outcome of the stocktaking meeting for the process for review by the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Assembly and its subsidiary bodies, as agreed at the 8th meeting of the annual subcommittee of the Committee of Permanent Representatives.
The Bureau is elected by the Assembly for a period of two years, starting at the closure of the session at which the Bureau was elected and until the closure of the next regular session.
The Bureau is composed of 10 members, comprising 1 President, 8 Vice-Presidents and 1 Rapporteur at a Ministerial-level, with two members representing each of the five United Nations regions. A pattern for the rotation of the Bureau of the United Nations Environment Assembly is available here.
The UNEA President is the guardian of the rules of procedure, and functions as the moral authority of the assembly. UNEA mandates the President to convene all formal plenary meetings, Committee of the Whole, including working groups on resolutions clusters. The UNEA President is the face of the United Nations Environment Assembly and its main communicator.
For external communication, the President gives speeches, issues statements, makes remarks and stakes-out appearances. UNEA President can also send or publish pre-recorded messages or interviews with the media in formal press conference settings where only accredited media is invited.
For internal communication, the President works on behalf of the Member States and is in constant contact with them throughout the presidency – in either formal or informal settings. The President communicates through letters and note verbales (unsigned letters written in the third person).