From Negotiation Halls to Governance Architecture: Reflections from UNEA-7

Rong Bao, first-year PhD in Public Policy student, focuses on global environmental governance, multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) synergies, and the roles of intergovernmental organizations.  

Rong Bao at the Karibuni sign of the UN Headquarters in Nairobi. Karibuni means “welcome” in Swahili.

This is my fifth year attending international environmental negotiations, but the first time examining them through the lens of a governance scholar. It was also my first UNEA.

UNEA-7 felt less like attending meetings and more like watching the architecture of global environmental governance being quietly redesigned. 

As only the second time hosting “MEAs Day,” UNEA-7 significantly advanced the agenda on synergies by promoting “whole-of-government” approaches that connect biodiversity, climate, and pollution frameworks.

On MEAs Day, I moved between sessions on chemicals and waste synergies, CITES enforcement, methane mitigation, financing mechanisms, and the emerging plastics treaty. 

What struck me most was not just the ambition in the room—but the realism. 

Again and again, speakers emphasized that institutional coherence matters more than proliferation, that credible science–policy interfaces underpin legitimacy, and that compliance works best when incentives and capacity-building accompany enforcement. Finance, data transparency, and customs infrastructure were discussed not as technical add-ons, but as the backbone of implementation.

These conversations reshaped how I think about the Environmental Conventions Index (ECI), a flagship project in my lab. 

Rather than tracking treaties one by one, the ECI has evolved into a cluster-based framework capturing synergies across biodiversity and chemicals regimes. It moves beyond counting ratifications to measuring governance capacity: national legislation, enforcement systems, financial access, monitoring capacity, data transparency, and lifecycle regulation. 

In other words, it helps assess whether commitments are embedded in ministries, budgets, and supply chains—not just in conference declarations.

The emerging plastics treaty crystallized this insight. Its success will likely depend on upstream product design, predictable financing, and digital trade data systems. 

UNEA-7 reminded me that multilateralism succeeds not through lofty text alone, but through institutional design that aligns political economy realities with environmental goals. The formats may evolve, but the work continues—shaping collaboration to protect the nature and planet we care about. 

For my research, that realization felt less like theory and more like a roadmap.

Attending the Wangari Maathai Nobel +20 Gala Dinner with my advisor Maria Ivanova (second to the right) and African environmental leaders.