UNEP has its global headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, with six regional offices: North America (New York), Africa (Nairobi), Asia and the Pacific (Bangkok), Europe (Geneva), Latin America and the Caribbean (Mexico City) and West Asia (Bahrain). In recent years, UNEP has strengthened its regional presence in response to Governing Council decisions. In addition to the Regional Office for North America in New York, there are several specialized UNEP offices in the US and Canada.

UNEP's Regional Office for North America (RONA) carries out critical liaison and monitoring functions as the UNEP office located at UN Headquarters and therefore responsible for maintaining close communications with the UN Secretariat, General Assembly and committees and 185 Diplomatic Missions. It also supports UNEP's programme in its inter-agency activities, especially with those UN Funds and Programmes located in New York. In addition, RONA maintains close contacts with the governments of the region, in particular high-level officials, environmental agencies and legislative staff responsible for environment and international organizations.

An economically and technologically advanced region, North America is the center of intense activities of media and non-governmental organizations, which together create widespread environmental awareness and a climate highly conducive for transforming environmental concerns and policies into actions. RONA is drawing on these special advantages to strengthen UNEP's integrated work programme for 1998-1999 through its outreach and liaison work. In line with priorities for the North American region UNEP/RONA:

- promotes global environmental citizenship through existing networks and outreach to major groups, especially to youth;

- identifies, in coordination with UNICEF, ways of reducing environmental risks to human health and well-being, especially for children;

collaborates with regional bodies such as NAFTA Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and Organization of American States (OAS) on common objectives; and

- creates a better awareness of how environmental assessment can help identify environmental problems and solutions.

These areas benefit from partnerships with the major groups in civil society, in particular, academic and research institutions, NGOs and private sector.