Fostering the Governance Dialogue

In order to foster regional civil society dialogue on the IEG reform process currently underway, the Global Environmental Governance Project will be co-sponsoring an event with the Institute of Environmental Public Policy at Peking University in Beijing. On 8 August 2010, an International Environmental Governance Forum 2010 will take place in Beijing to solicit input from and engage civil society on the questions discussed by ministers and high-level representatives in the Belgrade Process. Pingjian Yang, Director of the Institute for the Theory and Practice of International Relations (pictured left) and Ting Xu, faculty at the School of International Relations, at the University of International Economics and Business (pictured right) will lead the event. Pingjian Yang and Ting Xu are two of thirteen Emerging Leaders selected by the Global Environmental Governance Project to attend the 2009 Glion Forum.

The agenda for the Beijing event includes a keynote address from Haibing Zhang, Professor at the School of International Studies at Peking University, several presentations, two panel discussions, and an hour for discussion. Some of the questions that will be posed to Chinese academics, government officials, NGO and business representatives at the Forum include: What is the most urgent thing UNEP needs to do? How can China contribute to international environmental governance? What can UNEP do for China.? For more information about the event, you can write to pku.iopp@gmail.com.

On 10 August 2010, the GEG Project is supporting  an all-day African Regional Consultative Workshop on Global Environmental Governance entitled “Addressing Gaps in the Current IEG System” to be held at the Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Environmental Management for Livelihood Improvement will host  the event. Lead organizer and Deputy-Executive Director for Environmental Management for Livelihood Improvement, Robert Bakiika (pictured left) is also the African Regional Representative at the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum. On behalf of Africa’s civil society, Robert Bakiika submitted comments on UNEP Executive Director’s Background Paper “Options for Broader Reform of International Environmental Governance.”

The workshop aims to provide a multi-stakeholder platform to exchange information, knowledge and experience on how Africa can formulate effective action on policies, strategies, programs and practices in the ongoing IEG reform process. In addition, the workshop will seek to strengthen the Africa’s presence in the discussions on governance by raising awareness and building consensus. Particularly, the workshop will assess the implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) in Africa and solicit ideas for broader reform of the international system.

The Global Environmental Governance Project recently published a  special issue newsletter, focusing on the political process on reforming governance. The newsletter from the GEG Project is normally produced quarterly, but important recent events in global environmental governance motivate a special issue. The newsletter highlights the intergovernmental process for reform of International Environmental Governance (IEG), which will also feed in to the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or Rio+2o). There are unique opportunities for civil society and academia in particular to get involved and contribute, for example through a Civil Society Advisory Group on IEG for which members can be nominated until 1 August. The newsletter includes an IEG Reform Timeline and short announcements from the GEG Project and its network. Read the full newsletter here.

Two civil society events on Global Environmental Governance are scheduled to take place in Nepal in August and September 2010. The  Global Environmental Governance Project (with support from the Norwegian government) is sponsoring the events hosted by the Department of Social Work at the Kadambari Memorial College, Purbanchal University Affiliate. Bala Raju Nikku (pictured left), lead event organizer, is Head of the Department of Social Work and one of thirteen Emerging Leaders selected by the GEG Project to attend the 2009 Glion Forum.

The first conference, a one day western regional consultation meeting on Global Environmental Governance will be held in August 2010. Participants will include  civil society representatives, academics, and development practitioners from western, mid, and far western Nepalese regions. The second, the National Consultation Meeting on Global Environmental Governance will be held on 9 September 2010 for an expected 200 academics, media, youth, civil society, and political representatives.

Participants will work in groups based on their interest in the discussion topics: climate change, forests, and water. Both meetings aim to provide input to the ministerial consultations on international environmental governance, encourage young people to become environmental leaders, gain better insights into the GEG system, raise intellectual curiosity on change in human societies, share insights from participation in the GEG Project Glion Forum, foster a national network of young environmental leaders in Nepal and connect with international networks.

At the conclusion of the meetings, the Department of Social Work at the Kadambari Memorial College plans to organize a GEG course to provide an opportunity for young people to learn about the environmental governance system.

On 11 August 2010 Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales- FARN (Argentina),  in collaboration with Asociación Civil Red Ambiental (Panama) and the Asociación Nacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (Argentina), will host a half-day “working breakfast” web conference to facilitate discussion between Latin American civil society representatives on the IEG reform process.  FARN,  a not-for-profit organization, aims to promote sustainable development through policy, law, and the democratic participation of society. Executive Director María Eugenia Di Paola, was selected as a one of thirteen Global Environmental Governance Project Emerging Leaders to participate in the 2009 Glion Forum and committed to organizing a conference on global environmental governance for public sector and academic leaders in Argentina.

Tentatively scheduled to convene at the UNEP Regional Office in Buenos Aires, the conference objectives include: increase participants’ understanding of the results of the Global Environmental Governance Forum and the Belgrade Process on international environmental governance reform, solicit input from civil society and academia in the region on the issues discussed in the Belgrade Process and strengthen the network of Latin American civil society leaders working on global environmental governance.  Participants will include senior level environmental practitioners, academics, independent environmental researchers, and representatives from multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, IBD, UNDP, and UNEP. As part of the agenda, María Eugenia Di Paola will offer insights into her experience at the Glion Forum, the latest GEG Project documentary “Quest for Leadership” will be shown, and participants will be structured into working groups to analyze challenges, leverage points and opportunities for action within the framework of the Belgrade Process. For a discussion on the IEG process thus far and a timeframe, please visit our online July 2010 newsletter.