United Nations Environment Programme environment for development

1. Issues Brief # 1
The Environmental U N EP
Dimension of IFSD
UNEP Division of Environmental Law and Conventions (DELC)
Note on Issues Briefs: The issues revolving around the theme of the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD) are complex and
numerous and the information that exists on it is often dispersed and sometimes not easily accessible. The Issues Brief series has been prepared in
order to address some of these information and knowledge gaps as well as to assist stakeholders to understand some of the main concerns that
have been raised over the course of recent formal and informal meetings concerning the environmental pillar of IFSD. The Issues Briefs in no way
represent a position of any stakeholder or the views of the UNEP Secretariat or its member states but are rather intended to be informative and non-
prescriptive. The Issues Briefs will be released on a regular basis over the course of the next 12 months leading up to the Rio+20 Conference.
Importance of Environmental Pillar to IFSD
Background linkages between environmental, sustainable development.2 Ultimately,
developmental and economic a number of institutions were
Ensuring an effective institutional concerns. However, as stated in the established (mainly under Chapters 38
framework for sustainable report of the Secretary-General to and 39 of Agenda 213 ), which were
development at all levels and giving the first meeting of the Preparatory eventually confirmed and specified
full consideration to each of the Committee for the Rio+20 by the UN General Assembly and the
three pillars: economic, social, Conference, despite these advances, Secretary-General in December
and environmental, is key to the the state of the environment 1992, including:
realisation of the goals of sustainable continues to decline and the divide
development. An international between developed and developing • The 53-member Commission
governance system involves, firstly, countries continues to expand. This on Sustainable Development
the institutions and mechanisms situation is largely attributable to (CSD), mainly to carry out public
responsible for the entire process, the escalating scale and complexity audits of the performance of
integrating all the aspects of of environmental change. These governments and international
sustainable development. At the changes will harm human well- organizations in their
same time, it also involves institutions being, especially for the poor and implementation and financing of
specialising in the three key areas. vulnerable groups in society, and Agenda 21;
Making progress towards sustainability needs to be addressed through a
necessitates both strengthening the further strengthening of international • A new UN Department for Policy
overall structure and enhancing the environmental governance and Coordination and Sustainable
individual components. an expansion of political space for Development headed by an
taking action.1 Undersecretary-General at
Since the Stockholm Conference New York headquarters, and
on the Human Environment (1972), IEG in the Rio Declaration and an Inter-Agency Committee on
achievements have been made in Agenda 21 Sustainable Development under
protecting the environment through the existing UN Administrative
the creation and strengthening In the run-up to the Rio Earth Summit Committee on Coordination;
of institutional mechanisms. Such in 1992, there were a number of
mechanisms have been established proposals for global institutional • A High-level Advisory Board
to address sectoral environmental reform to address environmental of eminent persons, reporting
issues, as well as the inter- change within the context of to the Secretary-General and
1
See the Report of the Secretary-General, Progress to date and remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits in the area of sustainable
development, as well as an analysis of the themes of the Conference (A/CONF.216/PC/2) April 2010. Also see the Information note by the UNEP Executive Director,
Environment in the UN system. UNEP, 7 June 2010. Available at http://www.unep.org/environmentalgovernance/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=tZyjX8cn738%3d&tabid=4556
&language=en-US
2
Peter H Sand International Environmental Law After Rio Among the numerous pre-Rio appraisals see P.S. Thacher, Background to Institutional Options for Management
of the Global Environment and Commons (1991); J. MacNeill, P. Winsemius & T. Yakushiji, Beyond Interdependence (1991); Falk, ‘Toward a World Order Respectful of
the Global Ecosystem’, 19 Boston College Env. Affairs L. Rev. (1992) 711; French, ‘After the Earth Summit: The Future of Environmental Governance’, Worldwatch Paper
No. 107 (1992); L.A. Kimball, Forging International Agreement: Strengthening Intergovernmental Institutions for Environment and Development (1992); Palmer, ‘New
Ways to Make Environmental Law’, 86 AJIL (1992) 259; Palmer, ‘An International Regime for Environmental Protection’, 42 Wash. U. J. Urban & Contemp. L. (1992)
5, and comments by Miller, Gelfand & Tarlock, 86 AJIL (1992) 21; see also the NGO ‘Hague Recommendations’ summarised in S. Bilderbeck (ed.), Biodiversity and
International Law: The Effectiveness of International Environmental Law (1992) 124-156.
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International Institutional Arrangements and International Legal Instruments and Mechanisms.

2. I nstitutional F ramework for S ustainable D e v elopment issues B rief # 1
through him to the Commission; (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Sustainable Development” deals
• An independent, non- Organisation (FAO), the United exclusively with issues of governance
governmental Earth Council Nations Industrial Development and presents a set of commitments
– established to promote and Organisation (UNIDO), the which support enhancing governance
advance the implementation of International Maritime Organisation systems for sustainable development
the Earth Summit agreements. (IMO) contribute to both the social at all levels. Specific commitments
and economic pillar. Almost all of the include;
A special financial mechanism, the above mentioned institutions have
Global Environment Facility (GEF), significant environmental portfolios • Article 139 f) Increasing
was also established. which add to and complement effectiveness and efficiency
the CSD, the United Nations through limiting overlap and
In addition, the world saw the Environment Programme, the GEF duplication of activities of
completion of two main treaties, and the Multilateral Environmental international organisations,
the United Nations Framework Agreements (MEAs). within and outside the United
Convention on Climate Change Nations system, based on their
(UNFCCC) and the Convention on Despite the formation of new mandates and comparative
Biological Diversity (CBD). In addition, institutions for advancing sustainable advantages;
the negotiation of the United development, cumulatively, they have
Nations Convention to Combat not been able to halt environmental • Article 140 (b) Strengthen
Desertification (UNCCD) was initiated change which threatens human collaboration within and
and UNEP’s role reiterated. wellbeing. Rather than adding new between the United Nations
institutions, measures for enhancing system, international financial
Principle 4 of the Rio Declaration the effectiveness and efficiency of institutions, the GEF and the
on Environment and Development the current institutional infrastructure WTO, utilising the United
stipulates that “In order to needs to be considered. Such Nations System Chief Executives
achieve sustainable development, measures could include actions Board for Coordination, the
environmental protection shall towards rationalisation, enhanced United Nations Development
constitute an integral part of the complementarity and strengthened Group, the Environment
development process and cannot cooperation. Management Group and other
be considered in isolation from it.” inter-agency coordinating
There has been global acceptance IEG in the Johannesburg Plan of bodies. Strengthened inter-
of an integrated approach to Implementation agency collaboration should be
governing relationships among pursued in all relevant contexts,
environmental, economic and social The concept of three interdependent with special emphasis on the
issues. International economic and mutually reinforcing pillars operational level and involving
institutions form the strongest of sustainable development partnership arrangements on
of the three pillars with a regime was incorporated into the specific issues, to support,
centred on the international financial 2002 Johannesburg Plan of in particular, the efforts
and trade organisations, including Implementation (JPOI)4. The of developing countries in
the World Bank, the International environmental pillar should be implementing Agenda 21;
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the visualised as providing “the
World Trade Organisation (WTO). foundation for the economic • Article 140 (d) Fully implement
The social pillar of sustainable and social pillars of sustainable the outcomes of the decision
development is represented by development, because life on earth on international environmental
institutions such as the International is conditioned upon a healthy governance adopted by the
Labour Organisation (ILO), the World environment”.5 Governing Council of the United
Health Organisation (WHO), and Nations Environment Programme
the United Nations Human Rights Contained within the JPOI are a range at its seventh special session6
Council (UNHRC). Policy sector of commitments on strengthening and invite the General Assembly
institutions such as the United environmental governance. Chapter at its fifty-seventh session to
Nations Development Programme XI on “Institutional Frameworks for consider the important but
4
The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) met from 26 August - 4 September 2002, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The WSSD’s goal, according to UN
General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 55/199, was to hold a ten-year review of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) at the Summit
level to reinvigorate global commitment to sustainable development. The JPOI is designed as a framework for action to implement the commitments originally agreed at
UNCED.
5
Note by the Executive Director, “International Environmental Governance: Moving Forward with Developing a Set of Options.” Page 3
6
References in the present chapter to Agenda 21 are deemed to include Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the outcomes of
the Summit
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3. I nstitutional F ramework for S ustainable D e v elopment issues B rief # 1
complex issue of establishing that determine global and regional that it is seen as something to
universal membership for the policies, which generate trickle-down be freely enjoyed by humans,
Governing Council/Global effects to the national level. Within owned by no one and having no
Ministerial Environment Forum; the economic pillar, the international economic value or cost. Given the
financial institutions, in particular characteristics of the environment,
Through the JPOI, the World Summit the World Bank Group, the IMF and its protection would mandate a strict
on Sustainable Development also the WTO, provide strongholds for governance structure or abundant
supported the full implementation of economic interests with substantial resources to ensure its protection
the ‘Cartagena Package’.7 influence on national policies. They through incentives.
owe their influence to their own
The 2005 World Summit Outcome governance structures and their The relative weakness of the
Document set out, in paragraph endowment with financial leverage environmental pillar was recognized
169 (A/Res/60/1), areas for further and compliance controls. The by the Secretary-General in his report
reflection on the current institutional institutional set-up in the economic to the Preparatory Committee for the
framework of UN environment sphere also exemplifies the close Rio+20 Conference at its first session
work. These areas include: enhanced interrelationship between money and (A/CONF.216/PC/2), when he wrote
coordination; improved policy power. that “the environmental pillar is
advice and guidance; strengthened perhaps where progress has been the
scientific knowledge, assessment Within the social pillar, institutions slowest” and that “most indicators
and cooperation; better treaty such as UNDP, the ILO and the WHO of environmental improvement
compliance, while respecting the have their specific areas of expertise, have not demonstrated appreciable
legal autonomy of the treaties; and underpinned by internationally convergence with those of economic
better integration of environmental agreed standards and principles. and social progress; indeed, the
activities in the broader sustainable While governance structures at the overall picture is one of increased
development framework at the international level are not as stringent divergence.”9
operational level, including through as within the economic sphere and
capacity-building. are less well-endowed financially, Effective management of the
the moral imperative for decision environment faces an additional
Weakness of environmental makers to ensure social well-being hurdle in that the environment
governance in the context of and the potential political pressure interlinks with a multitude of other
sustainable development of a constituency that can speak on sectors located within the economic
its own behalf provides a sufficient and social spheres, including
As environmental services underpin basis for successful action. Within finance and development, industry,
social and economic welfare the social sphere, the specialization agriculture, health and culture.
and consequently sustainable of bodies dealing with specific issues This has meant that sustainable
development, the governance also guarantees a relatively broad development has not been forcefully
systems of all three pillars together coverage of social issues. implemented, for its implementation
form the core elements of sustainable requires the economic and social
development governance. A The environmental pillar, with its pillars to integrate the environment
functioning sustainable development fragmented governance structure into their decision-making processes
governance system requires that the and relatively meagre financial even while they do not see it as a
governance structure for each pillar means, is much weaker than the main area of concern to them.
be equally strong and that all three economic and social pillars. It In addition to the weakness of
be mutually supportive. owes its weakness to a number of the governance system of the
factors. One is that protection of environmental pillar itself, the
When comparing the strengths of the environment lacks the moral lack of a sustainable development
the economic and social pillars it significance attributed to the entity with sufficient authority to
becomes apparent that they have protection of human lives. Another is achieve coordinated governance
much stronger foundations than does that in economic terms it is generally of the three pillars means that the
the environmental pillar, in that they viewed as a ”public good”;8 in overall governance of sustainable
possess strong anchor institutions greatly simplified terms this means development is also weak.
7
The 2002 ‘Cartagena Package’ (UNEP/GC SS.VII/1) – adopted at the seventh session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GC/GMEF)
includes recommendations aimed at strengthening international environmental governance through improving coherence in international environmental policymaking,
strengthening the role and financial situation of UNEP, improving coordination among and the effectiveness of multilateral environmental agreements and further
promoting capacity building, technology transfer and country-level coordination.
8
In economics, a public good is a good that is “non-rivalrous” and “non-excludable”. A good is non rivalrous when its consumption by one individual does not reduce
its availability for consumption by others; a good is non-excludable when no one can be effectively excluded from using it.
9
Ibid., para. 23.
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4. I nstitutional F ramework for S ustainable D e v elopment issues B rief # 1
agenda and has detracted from the between the components of
Albeit formulated at the international original premise that environmental ecosystems (e.g., soil, water and
level, global policies and agreements sustainability, economic species). These processes produce
ultimately need to be implemented development and social welfare are benefits to people (or ecosystem
at the national level. It is therefore complementary goals (see figure). services) in the form of food,
necessary to look at the national As a result, the importance of the clean water, carbon sequestration
level and examine the governance environment to the other two pillars and reductions in erosion, among
structures for sustainable of sustainable development has others.11 In essence, the goods and
development there. yet to be sufficiently recognised in services that drive our economy
mainstream policymaking.10 and support our social systems are
How strengthening governance derived largely from a healthy and
of the environmental pillar Environmental issues are intertwined functioning environment.
strengthens sustainable with many economic development
development governance and social issues and are intricately The environment, however, is under
interwoven with poverty. The threat. Regular scientific assessments
Despite the political popularity of Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and reviews show an alarming
the idea of achieving sustainable shows that there is a direct decline of the environment as a
development, we continue to relationship between the health result of human impacts.12 These
lack coherent strategies for its of the environment (ecosystems) reports show that, in the aggregate,
implementation. Part of the reason and economic and social welfare, between one third and one half of
for this is that a lack of clarity has establishing conclusively that efforts the planet’s land surface has been
enabled sustainable development to to alleviate poverty and improve transformed by human activity. The
become a catch-all for special interest human well-being will not succeed interim report on the economics
groups, resulting in an incoherent, where environmental degradation of ecosystems and biodiversity13
sprawling and costly agenda. is allowed to continue. Underlying estimates that over the past century,
all the resources that we use are 35 per cent of mangroves and 40
This situation has done little to ecosystem processes: the biological, per cent of forests have been lost,
advance the sustainable development chemical and physical interactions while 50 per cent of wetlands and
Links between ecosystem services, sustainable development and human well-being
Human well-being Inequitable economic
(including health, security, basic material security leads to social
for a good life, freedom of choice and dysfunction
human rights
Social Economic
Loss of ecosystem
Ecosystem services functions affects
The poor suffer  the economy, while
lack of economic
the most when
Environmental security can lead to
ecosystem
accelerated loss of
services are lost
ecosystems
10
David G. Victor, “Recovering Sustainable Development”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 85, No. 1 (2006).
11
R. L. Goldman, “Ecosystem services: how people benefit from nature”, Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, vol. 52, No. 5, pp. 15–23.
12
The international community has continuously synthesized scientific and national reports into numerous global reviews, such as those in the series published by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 1990, 1992, 2001, 2005 and 2007, the Global Environmental Outlooks of UNEP (the fourth in 2007), the Human
Development Reports of the United Nations Development Programme (annually since 1990), the World Resources Reports of the World Resources Institute (in 2000,
2002, 2005 and 2008), and the WWF Living Planet Reports (the latest in 2008, but reporting on species population trends since 1970).
13
See TEEB (2009) The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: An Interim Report. The most recent report in the series of reports on the economics of ecosystems and
biodiversity was released in October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan, at the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. All the
reports can be found at www.teebweb.org/.
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5. I nstitutional F ramework for S ustainable D e v elopment issues B rief # 1
60 per cent of ecosystem services Overall, the report estimates, failure with dynamic social and ecological
have been degraded over the past 50 to halt biodiversity loss on land systems. Since the 1972 United
years. Species loss is 100–1,000 times may cost $500 billion by 2010, Nations Conference on the Human
higher than in geologic times and will this being the estimated value of Environment achievements have
worsen with climate change. In terms ecosystem services that would have been made in protecting the
of the world’s fisheries, 80 per cent been provided had biodiversity been environment through the creation
are fully or overexploited and critical maintained at year 2000 levels. At and strengthening of institutional
thresholds are being exceeded: for sea, unsustainable fishing reduces mechanisms. Such mechanisms have
example, coral reefs risk collapse if potential fisheries output by an been established to tackle sectoral
carbon dioxide emissions are not estimated $50 billion per year.15 environmental issues, in addition
urgently reduced.14 to the interlinkages between the
These gains have been achieved at environment, development and
Links between the environment, an ever-growing cost in the form economic concerns. These advances
economic development and social of degradation of many ecosystem notwithstanding, the state of the
welfare services, increased risk of non-linear environment continues to decline.
changes and exacerbation of poverty
A stable environment, the fostering of for some groups of people.16 Improving environmental conditions
economic and social development and to reduce poverty involves changing
the enhancing of human well-being Moving towards better institutions and policy instruments.
(including security, the basic material integration of the three pillars of It has been argued that the causal
for a good life (for example, sufficient sustainable development roots of environmental degradation
nutritious food), health and good lie in institutional and policy issues
social relations) are interlinked and The need for growth and rather than in poverty itself and that
inseparable and prosperity and poverty development and the need to protect the relationship between poverty
reduction depend on maintaining the and maintain the natural environment and environment is mediated by
flow of benefits from ecosystems. are often pitted against each other institutional, social, economic and
as opposing objectives. In reality, cultural factors.
Goods and services derived from the world’s economies would grind
the environment have contributed to a halt without the services that One of the major policy priorities for
to substantial net gains in ecosystems provide. Environmental improved environmental sustainability
economic development, social policy is greatly affected by economic is, therefore, improving international
welfare and human well-being planning and activity, making environmental governance. To
overall. The version of the report consideration of the environment in meet the challenges of sustainable
on the economics of ecosystems isolation from economic activity and development, and taking into account
and biodiversity for national and development an ineffective approach developments since the United
international policy-makers shows to achieving sustainability. Equally, Nations Conference on the Human
that the economic and social economic planning that ignores Environment, current structures and
sectors are directly concerned with environmental impacts may result institutions in the economic, social
Printing: Publishing Services Section, UNON, Nairobi, ISO 10041:2004 certification.
biodiversity and ecosystem services, in increased negative impacts on and environmental fields, in addition
including agriculture, fisheries, resource use and human well being. to their respective links, need to be
forestry, development, health, Accordingly, the institutional basis strengthened at the international,
energy, transport and industry. for decision-making must integrate regional and national levels, so
Several depend on natural capital for environmental and economic decision- as to ensure coherence, integrate
their flow of inputs, research, new making to create sustainability. policies, limit overlap and strengthen
products and business innovation. Governance for environmental implementation and accountability.
For example, 20–25 per cent of the sustainability is therefore one of
pharmaceutical sector’s turnover the great current challenges for
(some $650 billion per year) is political decision-makers and we
derived from genetic resources, and must promote governance based
ecotourism generates around $100 on learning from experience and
billion per year in employment. adapting to change, so as to deal
TEEB (2009), The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for National and International Policy Makers.
14
Ibid.
15
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005). Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Synthesis. Washington, DC: Island Press See also TEEB (2010) The Economics of
16
Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Mainstreaming the Economics of Nature: A synthesis of the approach, conclusions and recommendations of TEEB
5