“Citizens of the Earth”
The Paris Conference
for Global Ecological Governance
2-3 February 2007
Workshop - Strengthening international environmental governance
THE CONTEXT
The nature of environmental challenges is changing. They have reached an unprecedented scale. They ignore borders between countries and disciplines. They require action on the part of all. Action taken by the international community to protect the environment is part of an institutional and normative framework, “international environmental governance” (IEG), which is increasingly complex.
Built on an ad hoc basis, this framework lacks coherence and efficiency. There are currently nearly 500 multilateral agreements on the environment, over 300 of which are regional. Nearly 20 UN agencies and international financial institutions are competent when it comes to the environment. The fact that the framework is dispersed and fragmented undermines all efforts undertaken for the environment and weakens the effectiveness of collective action on the part of the international community.
THE ISSUES
Despite efforts on the part of the international community and the institutions concerned, environmental deterioration has reached a critical threshold, and requires major coordination and an enhanced institutional system. The workshop will provide the opportunity to study the main gaps and inadequacies of the governance system, which are costly to all the actors in the system and are ineffective.
To address this fact, we must study the main gaps and inadequacies of the current system of governance along with all the possible options for reform and in particular the implementation of a United Nations Environment Organization– a UNEO.
THE WORKSHOP
The workshop will be organized around the following three discussions:
- The dispersed and fragmented nature of international collective action;
- The options under consideration;
- Creating a UNEO as a feasible and ambitious response.
Co-chairs of the workshop:
Key-note speakers:
- Mr Fernando ABAD TUDELA,
- Mr Enrique BERRUGA
- Mr Henry DJOMBO
- Mrs Massoumeh EBTEKAR
- Mr Sigmar GABRIEL
- Mr Pierre GADONNEIX
- Mr Nadhir HAMADA
- Mrs Sheikha HAYA RASHED AL KHALIFA
- Mr Peter MAURER
- Mr Gérard MESTRALLET
- Mrs Michèle PAPPALARDO
- Mr Jean-Michel SEVERINO
- Mrs Laurence TUBIANA
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The dispersed and fragmented nature of international collective action
International environmental governance, a victim of its own success, includes over 500 multilateral environmental agreements, and nearly 20 competent organizations and international financial institutions in the field of the environment.
Discussions will focus on:
- Identifying the most serious gaps in international environmental governance: a proliferation of instruments and approaches, a lack of coherent international policy on environmental issues;
- The system’s inability, despite efforts on the part of the competent institutions, to address global ecological threats and to halt the overall deterioration of the environment worldwide;
An analysis of the direct and indirect costs of this situation, which make it impossible to tolerate the status quo.
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The options under consideration
After presenting the current status of discussions concerning a strengthening of international environmental governance, the participants will study the advantages
and disadvantages of the following options:
- The strengthening of UNEP resources: What has UNEP achieved since 2002? Is the UNEP capable of implementing the Cartagena reforms? Are they sufficient in view of the system’s weaknesses?
- The establishment of a global environmental organization with a dispute settlement body and that would genuinely counterbalance the WTO: What are the economic, legal and political implications?
- The establishment of an ambitious and feasible United Nations Environment Organization.
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Creating a UNEO as a feasible and ambitious response
The discussions will focus in particular on the functions and missions that UNEO is expected to fulfil:
- UNEO, a leader bringing all the actors together to develop greater coherence of policies, streamline structures and adopt environmental standards;
- UNEO, a universal voice and conscience seeking to raise awareness, inform and communicate;
- The contribution of a UNEO to development, within the context of United Nations reform: a key role in capacity building and integrating the environment in development and poverty eradication policies;
- UNEO and science.
Lastly, the conditions and means for successfully establishing a new institutional instrument for international governance will be discussed.