Global Environmental Change class content week 5 & 6 (Unit 2)

Global environmental governance is defined as follows

the sum of organizations, policy instruments, financing mechanisms, rules, procedures and norms that regulate the processes of global environmental protection

The Montreal Protocol is held up as an example of an effective MEA and demonstrates that global environmental governance and negotiation

Can work

As Dr. Davis concludes in his talk, it is critical to think of the negative environmental, human health, and economic implications that the world has avoided because The Montreal Protocol is in place. As one example, estimates suggest that

millions of skin cancer cases have already been avoided because of the protocol.

What does MEA stand for?

Multilateral Environmental Agreement. This refers to a legally binding international treaty, convention, or protocol between three or more countries designed to address global environmental challenges

Meganck and Saunier (2012) consider Global Environmental Governance (GEG) in terms of

1: Process

2: Architecture

3: Implementation

Meganck and Saunier (2012) on PROCESS: “The visible portion of the GEG process is made up of a large variety of

assemblies, conferences, congresses, and summits

GEG means

Global Environmental Governance

Meganck and Saunier (2012) on ARCHITECTURE: “The organizations surrounding an agreement consist of a variety of

formal and informal advisory committees (panels, subsidiary bodies, bureaus, etc.) as well as the conferences or meetings of the parties that negotiated and/or signed on to the treaty or protocol

Meganck and Saunier (2012) on IMPLEMENTATION: “Implementation of global environmental governance frequently causes seemingly endless

anxiety, frustration, debate, accusations and delays

Money, negotiation impasses, and logistics are central to challenges and holdups: “financing the work of the agreement’s plan of action; the staffing of a secretariat or other institution(s) designed to insure that the agreements meets its objectives; and intense negotiations to decide just where the secretariat will be located and what the limits to its authority should be” (p. 6). Ultimately, “funding is nowhere near what is required to fulfill current commitments to agreed upon targets for global environmental governance

This is talking about implementations

For example, The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) “encourages and facilitates implementation of the mandates of the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment and the UN Commission on Sustainable Development

This is an example of Architecture

Within Architecture, most

of the treaties and conventions that have entered into force now will also have a secretariat to track ratification, help ensure implementation, and provide support to their administrative bodies

Each country that is party to an MEA, or that is part of negotiating towards a new agreement, is permitted to send

delegations to meetings and other events.

nation-state delegations are often made up of

government scientists, other civil servants, political staff, and often times a key leader (e.g., Minister of Environment).

At the UN, if granted status, the organization or individual can then pursue permission to do one or more of the following:

• Make recommendations on treaties and other outcome documents

• Pursue opportunities to speak during general assembly in New York and at assemblies held at in international meetings

• Host 'side events' at meetings

• Speak in an official capacity with/lobby representatives of member states

• Act as observers of negotiations and report to the public about progress (or lack thereof)

One common way that sustainable development has been understood and pursued since the late-1990’s is as a global agenda wherein

goals are negotiated and ratified through UN processes and architectures and pursued through UN implementation agencies and approaches

A set of goals, called the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), were established in

2000 and pursued through to the end of 2015

A subsequent set of goals, called the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), were established in

2015 and will be under pursuit until 2030.

The UN General Assembly formally enshrined the SDGs when it passed a resolution on the 25^th of September, 2015. The second item in the Declaration states:

We are committed to achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions – economic, social and environmental – in a balanced and integrated manner.

What are SDG’s

Sustainable Development Goals

Setting broad and ambitious goals is important. However, there are two even more important things: i) The first one is that

an agreed-upon blueprint is in place to inform how countries will monitor and measure progress towards goals

Setting broad and ambitious goals is important. However, there are two even more important things: i) The second one is that

countries commit to report systematically on progress within their borders. Targets and indicators are crucial and can be understood as the basic blueprint for global SDG monitoring and measurement.

Indicators are

measures and/or indices used to draw comparison and inform specific types of conclusions

In the contexts of Sustainable Development Goal indicators,

they are used to know if/when a target has been met and to help keep track of progress towards each of the 17 goals.

Each SDG target has one or

more indicator that has also been agreed upon by all signatory countries.

How many SDG does the UN have

17