The 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.

On the 7-9 July 2010, the first meeting was conducted in Nairobi, Kenya, for the Consultative Group of Ministers or High-level Representatives on International Environmental Governance (IEG), established under UNEP Governing Council decision SSXI/1. Delegates from 59 countries participated in the meeting which was co-chaired by Ms. Paula Lehtomäki, Minister for Environment of Finland, and Mr. John Njoroge Michuki, Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources of Kenya.

The outcomes of the consultations are presented in a Co-Chair’s Summary, reflecting the interactive dialogue that occurred among the delegates. The starting point for discussion was a background document entitled ‘Ideas for Broader Reform of International Environmental Governance’ which outlined 24 possible reform options. Annex I of the Co-Chair’s Summary contains a revised table reducing the number of options to an indicative number of 9. The remaining options do not necessarily command consensus and other ideas will still be considered, but the new table shows what has the broadest support by governments so far. Annex II of the Co-Chair’s Summary outlines a revised roadmap for the implementation of decision SSXI/1. A standardized format for analysis of options was also tabled.

The consultation meeting in Nairobi was closed to observers, but views from civil society on IEG was considered through a Major Groups and Stakeholders Input Summary, compiled by the Global Environmental Governance Project Director Maria Ivanova based on input from a broad range of civil society actors around the world, and circulated to governments as an official background document. The second meeting of the Consultative Group will take place in Helsinki, Finland in November 2010. According to the roadmap, civil society will be invited to contribute through web-based consultations in September.

Universities  all over the world are not doing enough in order to help society to cope with the challenges posed by climate change. This is one of the findings of the “World Climate Change Survey”, a research initiative aimed at identifying  the general level of awareness of and needs of university students about climate change in university programmes worldwide. Undertaken by the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany as part of the International Climate Change Information Programme (ICCIP – http://www.iccip.net) the survey was targeted to university students so that first-hand information on current practice  could be gathered and reality-based suggestions could be made to address any identified problems or needs.

The results of the survey are presented as the first chapter of the newly-launched book “Universities and Climate Change” published by Springer.

The survey also points out a number of information and communication needs that exist and that should be met in order to allow a better integration of climate-related issues in the university curriculum across the world. Details on the survey and the results gathered can be accessed at: http://survey.climateonline.net/

source: climate list (IISD)

Nominations are now open for a limited number of civil society representatives to participate in the MDG Summit at the UN Headquarters in New York 20-22 September. Applications can be submitted until Tuesday 27 September via an online form here. Conducted with the overall objective to accelerate progress towards all the Millennium Development Goals, the summit will be structured around six roundtables on different themes with four civil society representatives in each. Civil society consultations on the MDGs carried out earlier this year resulted in an 80-page report, also available in a 6-page executive summary format, along with individual contributions submitted by participating organizations here.

UNEP has decided to act upon an unanimous recommendation by major groups and regional representatives who participated in the 11th Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council in Bali, by creating a Civil Society Advisory Group on International Environmental Governance (IEG). Nominations are open until 1 August 2010 for possible candidates who may be elected members of the Advisory Group.

The Advisory Group will be spearheading and guiding a dynamic and multidimensional process within major groups and stakeholders to communicate key messages to the governmental negotiations and foster constructive engagement of global civil society, in line with Governing Council Decision SSXI/1 paragraph 9.

The members of the Advisory Group should ideally have all the following qualifications:

• Relevant experience, expertise and interest in the  IEG process
• Broad knowledge of international organisations, UN bodies and procedures
• Proven interest and availability to invest time in reviewing thoroughly the relevant documents
• Preparedness to present regional interests
• Preparedness to present interests of other major groups and stakeholders
• Readiness to consolidate received inputs and comments and make them available in an easy-to-read format
• Ability to work towards strict deadlines
• Availability to travel, if elected, to represent the Advisory Group at relevant meetings
• Ability to be effective in inter-governmental negotiations.

There is no guarantee that UNEP can cover the costs of participation in the Advisory Group, and candidates must be aware that their contribution may be entirely on non-payment basis.

If you wish to nominate yourself or someone else to be a candidate of the Civil Society Advisory Group on IEG, you need to send an e-mail by 1 August to civil.society@unep.org. Include your contact details, gender, major group and organization, along with a description of how you meet all the above listed qualifications, your motivation to become a member of the advisory group, and your previous experience with international governance.

Are you planning an environmental conference, training course or meeting? Make sure that your event is completely imbued by environmental concerns, not only in theory but also in practice. Meetings in person provide great opportunities for discussing, exchanging experiences, networking and advancing ideas for sustainability. Thinking and talking is imperative, but for real change to happen we must also act to be the change we want to see. For this purpose, UNEP in cooperation with ICLEI produced a Green Meeting Guide in 2009, full of useful advice on how to reduce negative environmental impacts of organized events. The Guide provides a checklist for everything from how to choose the venue and cater for meals and accommodation, to heating and cooling the premises and communicating the necessity of green meetings. The Guide is written for UN staff but will be of interest to non-UN event organizers as well. The work builds on extensive experiences of ICLEI’s Greening Events Initiative. Download the Green Meeting Guide as PDF here.