The Global Environmental Governance Project aims to facilitate thought and action for strengthening environmental policymaking at the global level. Standing at the interface of traditional disciplinary boundaries our research informs the policy processes that are determining the future and fate of environmental governance within the UN system. Read more about the GEG Project »
“Over the last three days, environmental leaders from different fields have been meeting” at the GEG Forum in Glion, Switzerland, NTV Kenya’s Joe Ageyo reports. The Forum served as venue to discuss the history of the environmental governance system as well as to comment on the system’s current strengths and significant weaknesses. Current and former policy makers joined with environmental researchers and advocates to call on world leaders to take swift action to address the growing global environmental crisis. Watch NTV’s report:
Glion, Switzerland, July 3, 2009 – A group of emerging environmental leaders today pledged their personal commitment to creating a new wave of environmental action in the 21st Century. Speaking at the close of four intense days of discussion, the group set out their practical ideas on how to kick-start a deep change in the way the world economy works to prioritize human welfare and a to finally secure a long-lasting, sustainable, approach to the use and preservation of our environment, which is the fundamental basis of that welfare. Continue Reading »
The GEG Forum began two days ago on June 28. Reporting on the Forum’s “historic reunion of four former Executive Directors of UNEP” and current UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, NTV Kenya’s Joe Ageyo explains that for Forum is meant to “bridge the gap” between the founders of the environmental movement and the “new generation that is stepping into their shoes.” Dr. Maurice Strong, the founding Executive Director of UNEP, explained to Ageyo, “The problems we identified 40 years ago, have now become far more acute — to the point where they literally threaten the future of life on Earth.” Together the former and current UNEP leaders called on world leaders to “seal the deal” at the upcoming climate change negotiations in Copenhagen. Watch NTV’s reports on the GEG Forum:
The Quest for Symphony outlines the past, present, and future of global environmental governance in an engaging fifteen minute documentary centered on interviews with key participants at the 25th United Nations Environment Programme’s Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum in Nairobi, Kenya in February 2009. Produced by Maria Ivanova and Joe Ageyo, The Quest for Symphony has been called “the white paper on global environmental governance in images,” and is unique as a documentary focused solely on the challenges and successes of the GEG system and the options for reform. Watch it now:
Each year on June 5, the United Nations commemorates World Environment Day to inspire “worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.” It was first established in 1972 to “mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.” This year’s theme is “Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change.” In honor of the 36th annual World Environment Day, the GEG project has unearthed an article recognizing the first World Environment Day that was published in UNEP’s Environment in 1973.
UNEP’s Executive Director at the time, Maurice F. Strong, stated, “what gives us hope for the future is that, in looking back on the Stockholm Conference today, we can clearly see that the ferment it stimulated throughout the world continues unabated, that people and governments are responding to problems that have become complex and interrelated – that perhaps, above all, Stockholm was most important for the demonstration it provided that unity of purpose…can, indeed, be a powerful, creative, and unifying force in the affairs of nations.” Read the article here.
This book provides up-to-date information on the options and opportunities to strengthen global environmental governance (GEG) and explores fundamental questions such as:
Can the current GEG system deal effectively with environmental problems?
What are the pros and cons of having hundreds of Multilateral Environmental Agreements, each with their own Secretariat and Conference of the Parties?
“This book explores what every executive must know to manage the environmental challenges facing business and society. Based on the authors’ years of experience and hundreds of interviews with corporate leaders around the world, Green to Gold shows how companies generate lasting value–cutting costs, reducing risk, driving new revenues, and creating strong brands–by building environmental thinking into their core business strategies.
Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston provide clear how-to advice and concrete examples from companies like BP, Toyota, IKEA, Nike, and GE that are achieving both environmental and business success. The authors show how these cutting-edge companies are establishing an “Eco-Advantage” in the marketplace as traditional elements of competitive differentiation fade in importance. Esty and Winston not only highlight successful strategies but also make plain what does not work, spelling out why environmental initiatives sometimes fail despite the best intentions.”
Published in Environmental Policy & Law, vol.36, nos.3-4, 2006, pp.137-157. By Bharat H. Desai
“The focus of this article is on UNEP’s birth, mandate, contribution in the development of international environmental law, its post-Rio political neglect, intergovernmental efforts at ‘revitalisation’ as well as its future direction in the context of the current debate on ‘international environmental governance’ (IEG), among others, within the UN system, governments and civil society.” -From the introduction of Mr. Desai’s article.
Each year on June 5, the United Nations commemorates World Environment Day to inspire “
This book provides up-to-date information on the options and opportunities to strengthen global environmental governance (GEG) and explores fundamental questions such as: