Salt lake in The Andes, Argentina.

The Environmental Governance Programme, EGP

Last reviewed: ‎15‎ ‎October‎ ‎2024

The Environmental Governance Programme (EGP) focuses on responsible mining for a green and just transition. The objective is to minimize negative environmental and social impacts from mining, including extraction of critical raw materials.

EGP organizes its activities in thematic areas that cut across the mining cycle:

  • Environmental and social impacts assessments
  • Deforestation, biodiversity and ecosystem services
  • Gender and mining
  • Participatory Environmental Monitoring (PEM) 
  • Mine closure, waste management and re-mining

Direct support to five countries in Africa and South America

EGP was launched in 2014 and has now entered its third phase (2025–2028). The programme is a joint initiative of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SwEPA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), fully funded by the Swedish Government.

During the current phase, EGP provides direct support to public agencies and other key stakeholders involved in mining governance in Argentina, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Zambia. The programme also provides indirect support to many more countries through its learnings, including a network consisting of countries from previous EGP phases.

Local, national, regional and global effects

EGP works with ministries, public agencies, human rights institutions, civil society organizations, local communities, the private sector and other stakeholders in the mining sector. The programme aims to have an impact on the drivers of conflict, environmental degradation, inequality, exclusion, and poverty.

Nationally, EGP encourage locally led processes that bring stakeholders together to advance and improve effective laws, regulations and institutional frameworks. At the community level, EGP works to enhance participation in decision-making and environmental monitoring. Regionally and globally the programme supports the exchange of innovative policy approaches and good practices across countries and regions.

Find out more about EGP 

Partnership with UNEP on strengthened environmental governance in the United Nations System 

The Partnership for Strengthened Internal Environmental Governance within the United Nations System was part of the EGP 2014–2024. Within this project, the Swedish EPA identified needs and managed project activities in collaboration with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) partners to support a strengthened and more systematic internal governance of environmental performance within the UN system. The key target group for the partnership were the over 50 UN organizations represented in an UN system interagency working group on environmental sustainability. 

Project activities were concentrated within three major working areas: 

  • Leading the interagency coordination and support on Environmental Management Systems (EMS) including reduced environmental impact from travel, meetings and improved waste management and data collection
  • Environmental Sustainability within UN Programmes focusing on interagency support and enhanced reporting
  • Strengthening reporting on Environmental Performance through improved data collection and analysis

UNEP’s Greening The Blue  (greeningtheblue.org)

Enhancing UN Environmental and Social Sustainability – UN Environment Management Group (unemg.org)