The developing countries should efficiently utilise their existing limited resources and institutions to address the issue of environmental governance as the available natural resources of developing world are seriously affected by increasing pollution, said Dr Adil Najam, The Frederick S Pardee Professor of Global Public Policy and Director, The Pardee Center Boston University, USA.
He was addressing the participants of a seminar titled "Global environmental governance" organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here on Monday. He recommended that strengthening of existing institutions coupled with increased co-operation and co-ordination at national and international level could help streamline global environmental governance (GEG). Dr Adil said that the role and scope of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) should be enlarged and global environment governance agenda be jointly taken care of by environmental, developmental and related organisations.
"There is an urgent need for the developing countries to come forward and join hands with the developed countries to address the issue of environmental governance", he added. Giving several proposals in this regard Dr Adil stressed the need for designing reforms agenda based on long-term vision and goals adding that the leadership, knowledge-based systems, coherence, performance and mainstreaming of all the systems could be the basic ingredients of that agenda.
Moreover, he said that the mobilisation of high profile and respected world leaders, making UNEP as convenor and strengthening of knowledge base could become the guiding principles for that reform agenda. He identified proliferation or duplication, inefficient use of resources, global environmental governance outside environmental arena, lack of co-ordination and co-operation, state-centric systems and lack of effective implementation as key challenges to global environmental governance.
"More money is there, more actors have emerged, more values and norms have been established but the system remains complex while conception of the problem is small," he maintained.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Abid Q Suleri, executive director, SDPI, said the term global environmental governance reform agenda as a 'big challenge' internationally citing the increasing approach of 'protectionism' by developed countries in international affairs starting from trade to environment.