Studying Global Environmental Meetings to Understand Global Environmental Governance: Collaborative Event Ethnography at the Tenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Campbell ◽  
Catherine Corson ◽  
Noella J. Gray ◽  
Kenneth I. MacDonald ◽  
J. Peter Brosius
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Research Practices ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Over Time

This special issue introduces readers to collaborative event ethnography (CEE), a method developed to support the ethnographic study of large global environmental meetings. CEE was applied by a group of seventeen researchers at the Tenth Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) to study the politics of biodiversity conservation. In this introduction, we describe our interests in global environmental meetings as sites where the politics of biodiversity conservation can be observed and as windows into broader governance networks. We specify the types of politics we attend to when observing such meetings and then describe the CBD, its COP, challenges meetings pose for ethnographic researchers, how CEE responds to these challenges generally, and the specifics of our research practices at COP10. Following a summary of the contributed papers, we conclude by reflecting on the evolution of CEE over time.

scholarly journals Indigenous Participation and the Incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge and Perspectives in Global Environmental Governance Forums: a Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Zurba ◽  
Anastasia Papadopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Indigenous Participation

AbstractGlobal environmental governance (GEG) forums, such as those convened through the United Nations, result in the development of monumental guiding frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference of Parties (COPs) Aichi and post-2020 targets. The ratification of policy frameworks by member and/or signatory states can result in major shifts in environmental policy and decision-making and has major implications for Indigenous communities. In this article, we present systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature on Indigenous participation in GEG forums, and focus on the specific questions: (1) what GEG forums include Indigenous participation and (2) how do Indigenous peoples participate in GEG forums, including how their perspectives and knowledges are framed and/or included/excluded within governance discussions, decisions, and negotiations. We provide a bibliometric analysis of the articles and derive seven inductively determined themes from our review: (1) Critical governance forums and decisions; (2) inclusion and exclusion of Indigenous voices and knowledge in GEG forums; (3) capacity barriers; (4) knowledge hierarchies: inclusion, integration, and bridging; (5) representation and grouping of Indigenous peoples in GEG; (6) need for networks among and between Indigenous peoples and other governance actors; and (7) Indigenous peoples influence on GEG decisions and processes. Our findings can be used to improve GEG forums by contributing to the development strategies that address the barriers and inequities to meaningful and beneficial Indigenous participation and can contribute to future research that is focused on understanding the experiences of Indigenous peoples within GEG forums.

scholarly journals Introduction: The Institutional Fragmentation of Global Environmental Governance: Causes, Consequences, and Responses

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fariborz Zelli ◽  
Harro van Asselt
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Research Themes ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Governance Architecture ◽  
Institutional Fragmentation

This article introduces a special issue on the expanding research agenda on institutional fragmentation. The term refers to the growing diversity and challenges to coordination among private and public norms, treaties, and organizations that address a given issue area of international politics. International relations scholars increasingly address this phenomenon, framing it with alternative concepts like regime complexes or polycentricity. A considerable part of the existing debate remains focused on whether a centralized or polycentric governance architecture is preferable. Instead, as this special issue shows, domains of global environmental governance—like climate change, biological diversity, renewable energy, and forestry—are already fragmented. It is time to address new, more pertinent questions and help advance institutionalist research on this phenomenon. We introduce four major research themes for analyzing the fragmentation of different domains of global environmental governance: taking stock, causes, consequences, and responses.

scholarly journals Reforming the approach of the Global Environmental Facility to biodiversity conservation

Oryx ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-106
Author(s):  
Russell A. Mittermeier ◽  
Ian A. Bowles
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Global Environmental Facility ◽  
Earth Summit ◽  
Funding Mechanism ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Global Environmental

Biodiversity – a measure of the wealth of species, ecosystems and ecological processes that make up our living planet –received public prominence as a result of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. The loss of biodiversity, say the authors, is the greatest environmental problem the world faces but the issue has not been given the attention it deserves. With the emergence of the Global Environmental Facility in 1990 came the chance to fund biodiversity conservation on a unprecedented scale and in 1992 the GEF was adopted as the interim funding mechanism for the Convention on Biological Diversity signed at the Earth Summit. Three years after its foundation, the authors of this paper suggest that the GEF has to be reformed radically if it is to become an effective force in conservation. Their conclusions are based on Conservation International's experience with the GEF over the last 3 years in more than 10 countries.

scholarly journals What Does Collaborative Event Ethnography Tell Us About Global Environmental Governance?

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 125-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosaleen Duffy
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Black Box ◽  
Epistemic Communities ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Insight Into

This forum places CEE at COP10 in the context of wider theoretical debates about global environmental governance. This special issue enhances our understanding of governance by examining how ideas travel and develop at meetings before they become the official documents and announcements that are the more common foci of such papers. The articles in this issue of GEP open up the ‘black box’ of decision-making and allow us to gain a better understanding of global environmental governance, in theory and in practice. These articles are firmly in line with International Political Economy approaches, allowing us to reflect on how regulations can mirror and deepen existing global inequalities, revealing the continuing power of epistemic communities, and demonstrating the important role of ideas. The special issue allows us insight into how global conventions work, how alliances are formed, how particular ideas emerge, and crucially, how alternatives are rendered silent and invisible.

Measuring the Negotiation Burden of Multilateral Environmental Agreements

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miquel Muñoz ◽  
Rachel Thrasher ◽  
Adil Najam
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Environmental Agreements ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Multilateral Environmental Agreements ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Environment And Development ◽  
Quantitative Indicators ◽  
Over Time

The Global Environmental Governance (GEG) system has grown significantly since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. In this paper we analyze ten leading Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), reviewing various quantitative indicators (related to time, resources and commitment) to chart their evolution and to measure the “negotiation burden” that the burgeoning GEG system is imposing on states and secretariats. We find that these representative MEAs have not only grown in size but also have become busier over time, although there are indications that as the GEG system “matures,” it may also be stabilizing. Among other things, we find that the reported budget for these ten MEA secretariats has grown nine-fold in sixteen years, from US$ 8.18 million in 1992 to US$ 75.83 million in 2007. Counting only the most important of meetings, and using the number of meeting days as an indicator of the “negotiation load,” we find that the negotiation load for the leading MEAs has stabilized, averaging around 115 meeting days per year. Decisions also seem to plateau at about 185 per year.

scholarly journals Inclusion in Global Environmental Governance: Sustained Access, Engagement and Influence in Decisive Spaces

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10052
Author(s):  
Natalia Aguilar Delgado ◽  
Paola Perez-Aleman
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Environmental Equity ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Transnational Governance ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Nagoya Protocol ◽  
Global Environmental

With increased participation of non-state actors in global governance, the inclusion of vulnerable groups in making sustainability regulations remains a relevant challenge requiring more research. Based on an ethnographic study on creating the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing of biological resources and knowledge, we advance a new multi-dimensional view of inclusion that integrates sustained access, involvement, and influence in the intergovernmental negotiation meetings. We elaborate the concept of decisive spaces, that is, less accessible settings where diverse actors interact in a deliberative way to co-produce recommendations and solutions to an issue that highly influence the regulatory and governance decisions. We argue that the inclusion of vulnerable actors depends on their continuous access to and involvement in these decisive spaces for creating and implementing transnational regulations. Our findings advance the understanding of inclusion for addressing challenges facing transnational governance of environmental, equity, and social justice issues.

State Sovereignty in the Planetary Management of Natural Resources

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico J. Schrijver
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
Progressive Development ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Global Values

Protagonists of global environmental governance often view the sovereign State as well as the principle of sovereignty as major stumbling blocks for effective environmental conservation and sustainable development. Some even herald the demise of the idea of the sovereign State. However, reality has it differently. Sovereignty is no longer an unqualified concept. Manifold new duties have been imposed upon the sovereign State as a result of the progressive development of international law. Much of the modern international law movement vests States with the responsibility to adopt regulations, to monitor and secure compliance and exercise justice in order to achieve its implementation, whereas supranational global environmental governance has remained notoriously weak. This article examines this proposition by reference to the environmental and developmental role of states in three landmark multilateral treaties: The United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (1982), the Convention on the Conservation of Biological Diversity (1992) and the Paris Agreement on climate change (2015). They demonstrate that sovereignty serves as a key organisational principle for the realization of global values, such as environmental conservation and sustainable development.

State Sovereignty in the Planetary Management of Natural Resources

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Nico J. Schrijver
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
Progressive Development ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Global Values

Protagonists of global environmental governance often view the sovereign State as well as the principle of sovereignty as major stumbling blocks for effective environmental conservation and sustainable development. Some even herald the demise of the idea of the sovereign State. However, reality has it differently. Sovereignty is no longer an unqualified concept. Manifold new duties have been imposed upon the sovereign State as a result of the progressive development of international law. Much of the modern international law movement vests States with the responsibility to adopt regulations, to monitor and secure compliance and exercise justice in order to achieve its implementation, whereas supranational global environmental governance has remained notoriously weak. This article examines this proposition by reference to the environmental and developmental role of states in three landmark multilateral treaties: The United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (1982), the Convention on the Conservation of Biological Diversity (1992) and the Paris Agreement on climate change (2015). They demonstrate that sovereignty serves as a key organisational principle for the realization of global values, such as environmental conservation and sustainable development.

scholarly journals Spaces for local voices? A discourse analysis of the decisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louisa Parks
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Discursive Space ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Critical Literature ◽  
Indigenous Voices

This article discusses the existence and shape of a discursive space for local and indigenous voices in the arena of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Critical literature on global environmental governance argues that dominant or hegemonic discourses shape international-level decision making on environmental protection, and delimit the boundaries of possible policy choices. These discourses are identified by such scholarship as reflecting a dominant worldview stemming from a capitalist view of value and a dichotomous view of nature as separate from culture, which precludes discursive spaces for worldviews based on different conceptions of value and more holistic views of nature as inextricably bound up with culture. Such worldviews are often held by indigenous peoples and local communities considered to be crucial in protecting the environment and natural resources. The present article aims to contribute to this debate by looking in detail at decisions of the parties to the CBD, which is an arena argued by some to be more open to local and indigenous voices. The article presents a discourse analysis of the CBD's decisions since its creation and up to its most recent meetings held in late 2016. The analysis applies the arguments of the critical literature to the decisions of the CBD in order to investigate how far they conform to the critical view of them, or whether, and if so to what extent, they host spaces for local and indigenous voices.

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