Fostering the GEG Dialogue
History of Global Environmental Governance
The United Nations Environmental History Project seeks to fill the gap in the intellectual history of environmental governance by providing both grounded historical documentation and individual oral accounts of the ways in which ideas about environmental policy were formulated, debated, and/or distorted. Read More »
Current State of Global Environmental Governance
Retarding and reversing the damage that we are already inflicting on our environment requires an unprecedented and coordinated long-term effort involving ambitious, innovative, and flexible coalitions of state and non-state actors, especially non-governmental organizations that tap into the resources, knowledge, and activism of citizens.Read More »
The Future of Global Environmental Governance
The Global Environmental Governance (GEG) system suffers from structural shortcomings and has not addressed effectively the environmental problems that threaten our planet.
While the number of institutions, policies, and programs charged with stewardship of the global commons has risen dramatically over the last thirty years, the state of the global environment continues to show negative trends and increasing risks. The need for meaningful reform is critical and widely recognized. Read More »
News, Events, and Publications
Maria Ivanova, GEG Project Director, Selected to Represent North American Civil Society at the 2009 UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum in Nairobi
November 2008
Members of the GEG team participated in UNEP's North American Regional Civil Society Consultation held at the World Resources Institute on November 13-14, 2008. Professor Maria Ivanova co-facilitated a session on ecosystem management and environmental governance and was elected one of two North America regional representatives to the February 2009 UNEP Global Civil Society Forum and Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum to be held in Nairobi, Kenya. William and Mary students Katie Ball and Clare Stankwitz acted as official note takers at the conference - a unique opportunity for undergraduate students – and had a chance to interact with colleagues from the International Environmental Governance Student Interest Group of Yale University.
Global Environmental Governance and the Energy Challenge
October 6, 2008
Dr. Maria Ivanova joins other climate leaders in a unique yearlong online forum
entitled Climate Visions. The forum sponsored by Euronews, European Voice and
Shell aims to encourage dialogue on the energy challenge by addressing different
aspects of the energy challenge each month. With Climate change threatening to
overwhelm global society this century, during the month of October, leaders addressed
the question of preparation. You can read Dr. Maria Ivanova's response as well as
others at http://www.commentvisions.com/month/october/6.
Global Environmental Governance Forum: Moving Forward by Looking Back
September 17, 2008
The GEG Project will be convening a Global
Environmental Governance Forum: Moving Forward by Looking Back in the summer
of 2009. The Forum will bring together the past, present, and future architects
of the environmental governance system. The motivating vision for the proposed
initiative is a reinvigorated international environmental governance system able
to effectively tackle global environmental challenges. To this end, we seek to
craft a collective vision and a blueprint for reform, based on a fuller
understanding of successes and challenges to date and the reasons behind them.
This initiative is supported by the United Nations Foundation, the Swiss
government, and the United Nations Environment Programme.
Click here to learn more.
Students Participate in Internship with the Wildlife Institute of India
Summer 2008
Stephanie R. Burton and Molly M. Neel, students from the
College of William and Mary traveled to India to participate in an internship
with the Wildlife Institute of India. While there, they completed a study on
the trade of endangered Mammals in India. Their research led to the creation
of a Spatial Database using Geographical Information System (GIS) software.
You can read their full report
here.
Summer Research Program in Washington: Exploring US Environmental
Leadership
Summer 2008
A team of four William and Mary students worked with Dr. Maria Ivanova in Washington, D.C. during the summer of 2008 to explain the periods of US leadership and withdrawal from global environmental governance over the past forty years. Students engaged in intensive research at the Library of Congress and the National Archives, conducted interviews with key policy figures, and participated in environmental policy events in the Washington area. By linking historical findings to contemporary debates, the team contributed to a platform for meaningful US reengagement in the international environmental debates of the 21st century
Forthcoming publication: Ivanova, Maria and Daniel C. Esty.
"Reclaiming US Leadership in Global Environmental
Governance," in SAIS Review of International Affairs, Vol. XXVIII, Issue 2,
Summer-Fall 2008.
Students Philip Zapfel, Clare Stankwitz, George Cortina and Caroline Cress
with UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner and Professor Maria Ivanova
during the launch of UNEP’s Africa Atlas
at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D. C.
“The current popularity of discussion about governance has its genesis in the fact that our traditional institutions have kept pace neither with the changing world around us nor with the expectations of citizens .. The project of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy seeks to make an important contribution to the discussion.”
– Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Executive Director, UNEP (1992-1997)
