The panel, co-chaired by two presidents, Tarja Halonen of Finland and Jacob Zuma of South Africa, has 21 members in total with governments, the private sector, and civil society represented, including many high-profile participants such as former and current heads of state and ministers from both developed and developing countries. The full list of names and more information about the panel can be found in an article from the UN News Centre.

A final report by the panel is scheduled for delivery in the end of 2011, which means the findings will come in time to feed in to the UNFCCC COP17 in South Africa and the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro.

For more than 20 years, outstanding individuals and organizations have been recognized and awarded the UNEP Sasakawa Prize for significant contributions to environmental protection and sustainable development.

The theme of the prize this time has been chosen in support of 2011 as the International Year of the Forests. The winner will receive a $200,000 cash prize in an Awards Ceremony and Reception to be held in conjunction with the UNEP Governing Council in February 2011.

UNEP is accepting nominations until 30 September 2010. For more information, please visit www.unep.org/sasakawa

Objectives of the event include: to expose participants to the debates on the current international environmental governance system and reform process, to address the effects of the international environmental governance system on developing countries like Ethiopia, and to offer ideas for the next governmental consultation meeting which will take place in November in Helsinki. News from the event will be posted on this website in September.

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.

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 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.