By Kimbowa Richard, Regional Coordinator (LVEMPII CS Watch Project c/o Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development)
The United Nations Environment Programme’s fourteenth
Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum (GMGSF.14) was held from 16th
to 17th February 2012 in Nairobi. The GMGSF.14 was in
preparation for the twenty seventh session of the Governing Council/ Global
Ministerial Environment Forum (GC/GMEF) of the UNEP to be from 18th to
22nd February 2013.
The GMGSF.14 aimed to create a platform for Major Groups
and Stakeholders and Governments to exchange views on their respective
positions and perspectives regarding implementing Rio+20 especially on commitment to have a strengthened environmental pillar of sustainable development; and implementing a green economy as an important
tool for achieving sustainable development.
With the dust from Rio+20 now settled, the time for
implementation had now begun. While not everyone was pleased with the results
in Rio in June 2012, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development did agree to
potentially far-reaching actions to strengthen the environmental agenda, among
them a commitment to strengthen UNEP as the leading global environmental
authority.
This year’s GMGSF.14 and the Governing Council meeting
marked the first test of the international community’s resolve to follow
through on this commitment. Appropriately, the meeting was organized around the
theme: “Rio+20: From Outcome to Implementation.”
The meeting highlighted opportunities for civil society
to engage in implementation of the Rio + 20 Outcome Document: The Future We Want, as well as linking
sustainable development to the ongoing Post 2015 development planning.
Opportunity: Para 88 of the Rio + 20
outcome document
Tomoko
Nishimoto (UNEP Director, Division of Regional Cooperation) in her opening
remarks noted that para 88 of the Rio + 20 outcome document (The Future We
Want) that commits Partners to ‘...strengthen
the role of UNEP as the leading global environmental authority that sets the
global agenda and promoting coherent implementation of the environmental
dimension of sustainable development within the UN….’, was a historical moment. She added that the expeditious
resolution by the Un General Assembly (New York, December 2012) to implement
this shows the level of commitment by the international community towards
global environmental management.
She
noted that this commitment implies universal membership of the Governing
Council of Governing Council/ Global Ministerial Environment Forum. Hence the GMGSF.14
was the last one in its present form, as future ones will have universal
membership (no limit to geographical boundaries).
From Governing Council to Environmental
Assembly
Jürgen
Friedrich from UNEP’s Division for Environmental Law and Conventions presented
options associated with strengthening of UNEP, including: renaming its
Governing Council as an “Environment Assembly” to reflect its universal
membership; integrating high-level sessions into the Governing Council;
expanding the Bureau; organizing a “Global Conference on the State of the
Planet; and the strengthening of intersessional work. Civil Society has the
opportunity to participate in agenda setting; policy shaping; and
implementation. In this regard the GMGSF.14 put forward a draft set of Principles
of Civil Society Participation in UNEP.
The GC/GMEF
took a decision to change turn itself
from a Governing Council to the “UN Environment Assembly of UNEP,” that in effect reflects the intent of
delegates to enhance UNEP’s status. A similar decision was taken to discontinue
the GMEF and, instead, convene a high-level segment at the end of each assembly
that reflects a desire to confer higher status upon GC decisions. “What we have
now is simply a ministerial talk-shop in parallel to where the substantial
decisions are taken,” said one delegate as quoted by IISD Reporting Services.
Post 2015 Development planning: How far is
the process being owned?
Amina
J. Mohammed, Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Post-2015 Development
Planning, briefed the GMGSF.14 participants on the UN work streams towards
post-2015. She emphasized the importance of civil society engagement in the
post-2015 processes under eleven consultations around themes ranging from
health and education to equality, governance, energy, environment, and conflict
and security as well as ongoing conferences on inequalities, migration,
biodiversity, trade and other issues.
In
the ensuing discussion, participants raised: the possibility of a treaty on
human rights and the environment; complementarity of post-2015 processes with
national sustainable development strategies; and translating the multilateral
process to be relevant for grassroots communities.
Despite the national level dialogues already scheduled or held in 74 countries, the thematic consultations
and an online global conversation through social media, that is supposed to reach
very large audiences, the post 2015 Development planning process has not been
felt at the sub national levels (for example local authorities) where its
ownership is paramount ahead of implementation of the final outcome.
The relevance of
this is the lesson learnt in implementing the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), where a lot of time was spent in the initial years after adoption to
raise awareness (in East Africa) instead of right away getting to
implementation.
Annual dialogue with UNEP Executive Director
During this
session, the UNEP Executive Director - Achim Steiner highlighted that citizens
and Governments need one another in addressing the current sustainable
development challenges (food, fuel, climate, economic, political, and security
crises).
‘Lack of
progress, irreconcilable positions should be seen as strength rather than a
constraint’, the UNEP Executive Director emphasized in relation to the need for
working together at all levels.
Noting rapid
progress in implementation of the decision to strengthen UNEP, Steiner
encouraged civil society to take advantage of new opportunities for agenda
setting, including consideration of how UNEP’s rules of procedure should be
rewritten.
Achim Steiner
also reiterated that UNEP has the mandate to implement Para 88 (h) of the Rio +
20 Outcome document on ‘..ensuring the active
participation of all relevant stakeholders drawing on best practices and models
from relevant multilateral institutions and exploring new mechanisms to promote
transparency and effective engagement of civil society..’
Among many issues, participants
discussed with Steiner the role of UNEP in behavior change; the lack of
coherence between international and national levels in seeking access to
environmental justice; and concerns over biofuels and forest policy.
Five ongoing processes after the Rio + 20 Conference
A number of processes
have been launched after Rio that should be of interest to civil society members
and partners, depending on their expertise and interest. These include:
- The 10-Year Framework
of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP)
as contained in the A/CONF.216/5 document… (paragraph 226, “The Future we Want”;
Rio+20 Outcome Document) The 10YFP is a very concrete and operational outcome of Rio+20: http://bit.ly/YkxKFM
- Green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty
eradication (para 56 - 74, The Future we Want”;
Rio+20 Outcome Document). A new partnership on this has been launched: Partnership for Action on Green Economy, or
PAGE, is a response to the outcome document of the United Nations Conference
on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) PAGE will support 30 countries over the
next seven years in building national green economy strategies that will
generate new jobs and skills, promote clean technologies, and reduce
environmental risks and poverty.
- Sustainable Development Goals
and linkage to the post 2015 development framework with the Open Working
Group on the UN general Assembly now constituted and has started work
- Campaign for People's Goals for
Sustainable Development Statement that is seeking sign ups from more CSOs across
the world
- The People’s Summit outcomes: implementation