Both conferences come at a time when governments are preparing their foreign and environmental ministries for the negotiations at Rio+20 in June. The French government, in particular, has been vocal in its support for creating a UN Specialized Agency for the Environment capable of centralizing international efforts for environmental protection and sustainable development. Fittingly, the conference at the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs centered on three topics: how to structure the new environmental system, how to ensure that valid scientific findings are integrated into global environmental policy, and how to ensure a democratic, multi-level model of governance.

At both conferences, scientific and governance policy experts, representatives from civil society organizations, and government officials were involved in the dialogue. Notable participants at “Towards New Global Governance for the Environtment” included Prof. Maria Ivanova, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, President of the UN General Assembly Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, and Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO.

Representatives from member states, UN agencies and organizations, and major civil society groups offered their comments on the zero draft. Many countries called for a more balanced, ambitious, and action-oriented outcome, using the current text as the basis of the negotiations. Different organizations proposed specific strategies to guarantee the objectives of the UNCSD. UNEP, for example, suggested consolidating various frameworks for action in the zero draft into a single section, while UNDP urged for stronger commitments on energy and a more comprehensive approach for empowering women and girls.

Even though the sections on the main topics of the Rio + 20 conference, the Green Economy and the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development, will be analyzed later in March, it is clear that some of the specific proposals presented within these topics by some countries are starting to take shape. This is the case of the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs approach presented by the governments of Colombia and Guatemala.

The nature of the zero draft is to offer a departure point for the negotiations. Therefore, the fundamental challenges still lay ahead. To achieve a reconciliation between ambitious goals and political commitments will be a fundamental factor for the successful outcome of the summit. Additionally, a clear balance between the three pillars: environment, economy and sustainable development will need to be addressed and reconciled in Rio if the efforts to achieve sustainable development and poverty eradication are to be successful.

The zero draft discussion will continue with the first round of ‘informal-informal’ negotiations on the zero draft of outcome document, and will take place in New York between March 19 and 23.

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The workshop took place on 26-28 June 2011, and brought together academics and policymakers. The goals of the workshop were to identify existing reform ideas and to generate new ones, grounded in rigorous academic analysis and tested against practice. We seek to provide concrete input as governments negotiate a new set of institutional arrangements for environment and sustainable development in the run up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012. The workshop also provided the opportunity to create a long-term, focused research and policy network.

In the follow up to the workshop a report has been published highlighting the main points agreed upon by the participants.

The main points of the report are: first, that there is consensus that the ultimate goal of the global governance system for environment and sustainable development is to solve environmental problems and to ensure human well-being within planetary limits. Second, that the main challenges of environmental governance are the fragmentation of agreements, goals and institutions, the dilution of authority within and beyond the environmental system, the imbalance of power among international regimes, the existence of weak anchor institutions for global environment, and the inadequacy of resources for environmental protection.

The report goes on to detail that effective international environmental governance requires the effective execution of three main functions: scientific assessment, policy and law development, and implementation. In lieu of this, governments have endorsed the principle that form follows function, identified six system-wide functional responses to the system challenges, and proposed five institutional reform options which have become the focal points in the lead up to the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). These options were suggested in the Nairobi – Helsinki outcome document.

The report further points out that participants did not deem any of the reform options sufficient by itself and sought to fill in the gaps in functions and strategy within the current system by developing an approach to evaluating the institutional forms currently under consideration dubbed ‘ The Redesigning of Initiatives Assessment’.

Finally, the report details the Action Agenda which specifies that no single institution is likely to possess the ability and authority to deal effectively with planetary issues. And that a holistic approach, engaging all existing institutions as well as a bold vision for new institutional arrangement is needed. The Action Agenda reflects the need for immediate inputs and ideas into the policy process for longer term research and action in environmental governance.
One main outcome of the meeting which was organised by the Federal Office for the Environment of Switzerland, the Global Environmental Governance Project of the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and the World Trade Institute at the University of Bern, is already in progress with the Governance and Sustainability issue briefs series.

This series of short policy papers on governance and sustainability provides analytical input to contemporary analytical discussions on institutional reforms for environment and sustainable development. The issue briefs provide analytically grounded and politically plausible reform options that negotiators could consider in the run up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20 and beyond. To read more on the report summary and issue brief series click here.

To read more about the workshop click here.

The discussion will cover various issues from the reduction in biodiversity, the increase in economic inequality to the creation of a more uniformed global society. Decisions of the annual meeting could be presented at Rio+20 this summer. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is scheduled to attend.

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The conference’s purpose is to identify new proposals to create a sustainable development agenda that can adapt in a world undergoing profound transformations. It will also provide a forum for different civil society organizations and stakeholders to discuss their expectations for global environmental governance reform and their role in the reform process.

Specifically, the conference will focus on three main issues:

• Governance that meets the needs and expectations of all actors in society;
• Governance based on a solid interface between science and policy and that uses the new technologies to modernize its operation; and
• A system of international governance built on a model of democratic association of all the actors in society.

Prof. Maria Ivanova, Director of the Global Environmental Governance Project and Co-Director of the Center for Governance and Sustainability at UMass Boston, will participate in the conference.

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