Producing national environmental action plans

Around 50 National Environmental Action Plans (NEAPs) required by the World Bank have been prepared by borrower governments, with technical and/or financial assistance from the Bank, various international organizations, NGOs and other donors A NEAP is intended to be a coherent environmental strategy plan It can can cover a wide spectrum of activities and provide a framework for integrating environmental considerations into a nation's overall economic and social development programmes NEAPs also make recommendations for specific actions, outlining the environmental policies, investment strategies, legislation and institutional arrangements required The Organization of American States (OAS) is supporting the preparation of environmental action plans for Latin American countries.

The UNCED's Agenda 21, which sets out how to make development socially, economically and environmentally sustainable, calls for the development of national action programmes on sustainable development. Many countries in the European Region have developed or are developing such plans as an integral part of the post-UNCED process, either based on the decisions of the Lucerne Conference and the Environmental Action Plan for Central and Eastern Europe or as part of the Fifth Programme of Work on Environment of the European Union (EU).