FAO and EU Forests

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for proposals for the EU-supported programme on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT). Proposals must address at least one of seven thematic priorities:
- support for Voluntary Partnership Agreements;
- improved transparency;
- monitoring and national control systems;
- the enhancement of community forestry;
- support for legal and regulatory frameworks;
- support for relevant private sector efforts; and
- the improvement of timber markets.

Deadline for proposals is 12 December.

EU FAO FLEGT Programme Guidelines

UN/GA: Wildlife comes to the plenary

Poaching and the illicit trafficking of wildlife products were raised for the first time at the General Assembly during discussions on strengthening national and international governance.

In a written statement, the United States highlighted “the harm caused by wildlife poaching and trafficking to conservation efforts, rule of law, governance and economic development.”

“Such organized crime is increasingly affecting the environment and biodiversity through poaching and illegal fishing,” Gabon’s President Ali Bongo said during the High-level Meeting on the Rule of Law. “Gabon intends to strengthen its criminal justice system to combat this phenomenon. But such efforts will require a greater international legal cooperation.” President Bongo took the occasion to reaffirm his country’s commitment to “combating violations of the Convention on International Trade [in] Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora as well as other conventions to protect the environment and biodiversity.”

France also emphasized the severity and negative impacts of wildlife crime. “There are still entire sectors of activity without any legal safety,” French Minister Delegate for Development Pascal Canfin said. “International law is lacking when it comes to the plundering of natural resources, for example, or the trafficking of fauna.”

World Water Forum Declaration

The 6th World Water Forum concluded with adoption of the Marseille Ministerial Declaration. Among reiterating commitment to the UN/MDGs and recognizing the need to build resilience to climate change and variability through integrated land and water resources management, the Declaration calls for the following priorities to be addressed, in particular at UNCSD,(Rio+20): - accelerating the implementation of "human right obligations" relating to access to safe drinking water and sanitation;
- interlinking water, energy, and food security to ensure policy coherence to avoid adverse consequences; and
- incorporating water in all its economic, social and environmental dimensions in a framework of governance, financing and cooperation.

Corruption and access to land

FAO and Transparency International have produced a working paper highlighting the link between weak governance and the likelihood of corruption in land occupancy and administration in more than 60 countries.  In particular, the paper notes that the rapid expansion of the biofuel industry has provided the opportunity for corruption in the land use sector in a number of countries.

Marine Biodiversity BBNJ

The IUCN Environmental Law Centre (IUCN-ELC) in collaboration with the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) recently organized an international seminar with the objective of making substantive progress in the further development of ideas and concepts regarding recommendations from the 4th meeting of the UN Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group to study issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction (BBNJ). Three main issues discussed, amongst others, that play a key role in the BBNJ process included:
- Possible ways of sharing benefits from the utilization of marine genetic resources accessed in areas beyond national jurisdiction;
- Possible governance frameworks for the establishment and management of a network of Marine Protected Areas on the High Seas; and
- Possible role of and consequences for an UNCLOS implementing agreement.

The workshop report will be published at the beginning of 2012.

Background information and presentations

FAO: REDD+ and Sustainable Agriculture

A new policy brief titled "Building bridges between REDD+ and sustainable agriculture:Addressing agriculture's role as a driver of deforestation" recommends, inter alia: promoting inter-sectoral policies; including integrated landscape approaches in the activities covered under different carbon finance funds; promoting evergreen agriculture, which combines agroforestry with conservation farming; reflecting on tenure rights, governance and other potential socioeconomic impacts during cross-sectoral REDD+ planning processes; and improving methods for landscape level carbon accounting.

OAS: Regional Instrument on Rio Principle 10?

A public dialogue organized by the Organization of American States (OAS) on governance and public participation in sustainable development decision-making included extensive discussion of a proposal to seek a commitment at UNCSD (Rio+20) for a regional instrument to implement of the Rio Declaration's Principle 10. Members of a panel agreed that, apart from a few examples such as Mexican laws on access to information and public participation, most Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries have neither fully implemented Principle 10 nor the OAS' own 1999 Inter-American Strategy for the Promotion of Public Participation in Decision-Making for Sustainable Development (ISP).

Earth System Governance Conference

The "Lund Conference on Earth System Governance - Towards a Just and Legitimate Earth System Governance: Addressing Inequalities" will take place from 18-20 April 2012 in Lund (Sweden). Acknowledging that the conference themes of justice and legitimacy in earth system governance strongly relate to the two overarching themes of Rio+20, this conference welcomes papers that provide policy-relevant information and analysis on the reform, or transformation, of the institutional framework for sustainable development.

Call for papers and more information 

World Mountain Conference 2011

The Lucerne World Mountain Conference brought over 100 international experts and policy-makers together from 11-12 October to highlight the importance of mountains and feed into Rio+20. Lastly, participants adopted a Call for Action to adapt and develop mountain governance to avoid poverty, food insecurity and social exclusion.

Oslo Governance Forum

The Oslo Governance Forum (OGF), meeting from 3-5 October, focused on participatory governance assessments and social accountability as a means for strengthening democratic governance at the national and international level. Discussion topics included governance for REDD+ and natural resource management.
Forum Website
Statement by UN Secretary-General

Scientific Community Input to Rio+20

The Earth System Governance Project has released its new policy brief: 'Transforming Governance and Institutions for a Planet under Pressure - Revitalizing the Institutional Framework for Global Sustainability-.' Written by a select group of 31 governance experts, it offers an assessment of the state of knowledge on the institutional framework for sustainable development (IFSD) and on possible reform options.

Global Soil Partnership

The Global Soil Partnership (GSP) for Food Security and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation seeks to build capacities and forums for exchanging knowledge and technologies of sustainable management of soil resources. It plans to propose national and international quality-soil health best practices, standards, guidelines and monitoring systems and will address the following five pillars of action:
- harmonizing guidelines and standards for measurement;
- strengthening soil data and information;
- promoting targeted soil research focusing on gaps and priorities;
- promoting sustainable management of soil research and improved global governance; and
- encouraging investment and technical cooperation in soils.

GSP Website
GSP Brochure

Network for Asia, Australia and Pacific

The Asia Pacific Network for Environmental Governance (APNEG) has recently been founded to promote the interdisciplinary study of governance of the environment at different scales and with an interdisciplinary approach to address complex environmental issues.

ADB and Green Growth

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has released a report titled “Greening Growth in Asia and the Pacific,” which aims to present a snapshot of ADB’s support to environmentally sustainable growth in the region. It also sets out ADB’s medium-term operation programme on the environment, which will focus on three strategic directions:
- promoting transitions to sustainable infrastructure, including infrastructure that will counteract the causes and consequences of climate change;
- improving natural resource management and maintaining ecosystem integrity; and
- building environmental governance capacity.

Accountability for Environmental Governance

The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer Range Future has released a new policy brief titled “Rio+20: Accountability and Implementation as Key Goals," in which the authors assert that UNCSD (Rio+20) is an opportunity to strengthen global environmental governance through, inter alia, four “accountability-enabling mechanisms”: improved metrics and reporting mechanisms; transparency mechanisms; compliance mechanisms; and capacity building.

UNEP: World Congress Prior to Rio+20

On the eve of UNCSD (Rio+20), UNEP and additional sponsors will convene the World Congress on Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) from 1-3 June. The Congress will bring together Attorneys-General, Chief Prosecutors, Auditors-General (Cour des Comptes), Chief Justices and Senior Judges from around the world to foster a common vision among those key stakeholders of how to transform discussions into action and use law, justice and governance to promote sustainable development. 

CITES/SC-61

Meeting from 15-19 August, the 61st session of the CITES Standing Committee considered a complex agenda. While underlying issues of transparency, accountability, and funding came to the fore, delegates agreed to recommendations on several topics, including trade and conservation issues in great apes, elephants, tigers, rhinoceroses, sturgeons, ramin, bigleaf mahogany and other species.

Furthermore, the SC also took decisions on, inter alia:
- the relationship between CITES and UNEP;
- conducting a study on the rationale and history of the rules applying to votes by secret ballot within CITES’ COPs;
- the adoption of national laws for the implementation of the Convention;
- review of significant trade (RST);
- enforcement matters;
- other issues on interpretation and implementation of the Convention;
- the withdrawal of the recommendation to suspend trade with Nigeria, following the decision by the 61st meeting of the Standing Committee (SC 61) to lift the suspension;
- Peru's efforts to establish restrictive mahogany export quotas and reliable verification systems to ensure that harvest is sustainable and trade legal; and
- lifting a recommendation to suspend trade in Himalayan yew (Taxus wallichiana) from India, a tree with important pharmaceutical uses.
IISD-RS Coverage
CITES Press Release on Elephants
CITES Press Release on Financing
CITES Website

UN/S-G: Report on Agenda 21

The UN/GA has circulated an advance, unedited version of a report of the UN-SG, titled “Implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development.” The report was prepared in response to UN General Assembly resolution 65/152, adopted in December 2010 during the Assembly’s annual consideration of the item.

This year’s report also reviews progress on preparations for UNCSD (Rio+20) and notes that the study on the five options of the Nairobi-Helsinki Outcome, requested by the UNCSD Bureau, is being prepared in consultation with the Executive Committee of Economic and Social Affairs Plus (ECESA Plus). This Committee has decided to broaden the scope of the study, considering options for strengthening each of the three pillars as well as their more effective integration, which will be presented in September 2011.

The report also announces some modalities for the UNCSD (Rio+20), including the schedule of high-level plenary meetings on 4-6 June 2012, which it notes is “expected to conclude with the adoption of the focused political document and the report of the Conference.”

IPBES: Documents for First Plenary

Documents for the first session of the plenary of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) are being posted as they become available at: http://ipbes.net/plenary-sessions/first-session-of-plenary.html.

The document addressing "Legal issues relating to the establishment and operationalization of the platform" (UNEP/IPBES.MI/1/2) is yet to be released.

Seminar Examining UN in Global Governance

A seminar organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile and the UN/ECLAC on 8 August examined the role of the UN in global governance and heard several calls for the organization to reform to meet the economic and political challenges of the 21st century.
Press Release