The WFEO-UN Relations Committee (WURC) was created in September 2011 with the mission of acting as the WFEO interface with different UN agencies as well as intergovernmental organizations requiring engineering content, systems, methodologies and analyses.
The WFEO UN Relations Committee (WURC) collaborates with the International Science Council (ISC) as co-Chairs of the Scientific and Technological Community Major Group and is actively engaging with the other 20 Major Groups and Other Stakeholders (MGoS) at the UN.
The WURC Chair, Dr K. N. Gunalan and Dr. William Kelly engage in meetings leading up to the UN Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Forum, the most important UN event to discuss science, technology and innovation, and the High Level Political Forum (HLPF), the main UN platform on sustainable development, contributing to both oral and written interventions.
Until the creation of this Committee, the interface with the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was carried out by the WFEO Energy Committee.
WURC’s main objective is to put the Engineering contribution at the forefront of the Major Group’s international efforts towards fulfilling feasible programs and measures with a focus on sustainable development, climate change, environmental issues, and disaster risk reduction.
The Committee concentrates its activities on actions developed within ECOSOC, UNCSD, UNDESA, UNEP, UNISDR, UNFCCC, UNDP, UNESCO, WMO, OECD, UNISDR and the World Bank. WURC activities include those related to the Rio+20 Conference and Post Rio+20.