Formal Entry Points for Civil Society

In  February 2010, the GEG Project was instrumental in opening up the intergovernmental consultations on international environmental governance to formal contributions from civil society.

In the 11th Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum, held in Bali right before the UNEP Governing Council in February 2010, GEG Project Director Dr. Maria Ivanova delivered a plenary presentation on International Environmental Governance: Where can civil society add value and how?One of the recommendations outlined in the presentation was to call for the establishment of an advisory body on IEG consisting of civil society representatives. Following on the recommendation from civil society, UNEP has created a Civil Society Advisory Group on IEG, which will be spearheading and guiding a dynamic and multidimensional process over the coming 2-3 years. The advisory group will communicate key messages to the governmental negotiations and foster constructive engagement of civil society from all regions in the efforts to improve the global environmental architecture.

The IEG consultations were previously restricted to governments only, but thanks to successful lobbying by GEG Project Director Maria Ivanova in collaboration with the governmental delegaton from Switzerland, the UNEP Governing Council decision SSXI/1 now includes paragraph 9, which requests UNEP “to seek relevant inputs from civil society groups from each region in the process of further strengthening international environmental governance”.