About GEOC

Establishment and Mission

It all started with one meeting.

In Agenda 21, which was adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio Summit, 1992), it was declared that a sustainable society shall be developed by partnership approach .

In response , Japan’s Ministry of the Environment (which was still the Environment Agency at the time) and the United Nations University joined hands to establish the Global Environment Information Centre (GEIC) in October 1996.

In 2010, GEIC changed its name to the Global Environmental Outreach Centre (GEOC) to reflect its expanded scope of new opportunities for its outreach activities.

Mission

The world is currently facing many pressing global issues such as pollution, environment, natural resources, energy, loss of biodiversity, climate change, poverty, development and war.

It is now essential for organizations including international agencies, national governments, local governments, companies, nonprofit organizations, and citizens to accept each other’s standpoints and to mutually cooperate in resolving these issues.

GEOC’s mission is to foster partnerships between these organizations to create a sustainable society.

Main Projects and Services

Main Projects

GEOC’s projects consist of the following three pillars.

  1. International Partnership Building
  2. Partnership Building in Japan
  3. Information Sharing and Communication

GEOC’s projects are decided by a joint steering committee held by the Ministry of the Environment and the United Nations University, and run by a contracted nonprofit organization.

Services Provided by GEOC

1. Capacity Development

GEOC will provide the necessary knowledge, training methods, training curriculum, and develop new programmes to individuals and organizations.

2. Forming Multi-Stakeholder Platforms

GEOC will support creating multi-stakeholder platforms for resolving environmental issues.

3. Information Exchange

GEOC will encourage information exchange between individuals and organizations by harnessing websites, publications, internet magazines, seminars, symposiums and workshops.

GEOC Organization

Last Updated 2011-12-1