Global EcoLomic Governance
The concept of global governance in any given domain is ill-defined.
A Study Group of the
Stiftung für die Rechte zukünftiger Generationen (Foundation for the Righs
of Future Generations: www.srzg.de)
has elaborated
a definition which is particularly suitable for an ecolomic discussion since it
emphasizes the intergenerational as well as the political, economic and
social
aspects:
|
“We consider Global Governance as the interplay of political, economic and
social actors in order to create worldwide obligations. Its necessity
results out of a need for regulations required in a globalized world. At the
same time, Global Governance represents a necessary precondition for an
intergenerationally just and sustainable society."
http://www.srzg.de/ubb/Forum35/HTML/000012.html
(2005) |
The present economic crisis is of course
affecting the governance of both the environment and the economy, i.e. it is
profoundly affecting global ecoLomic governance. There is now a considerable
amount of activities at various levels. UNEP as the centerpiece of
global environmental governance has so far done well under these difficult
circumstances, at the
25th Session of its Governing Council/GMEF in February 2009 (ENB report)
it came out strengthened from the negotiations, among other reasons because
it is seen as successfully linking the environment and the economy through its
Green Economy Initiative. In
a related spirit, the London-based new
economics foundation, describes itself as
an independent think-and-do tank
that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being. The heads of
a number of
European environmental authorities have convened in May 2009 in
Locarno to discuss what is now often called the
Green New Deal.
Global Governance
is one of the key issues and perhaps the most important long-term concern in
the trade-environment interface. This concern has attracted a great deal of
interest and of literature, such as the long-standing proposal to either
create a World Environment Organization in parallel to the UN Environment
Program, or else as a
replacement, and the alternative suggestion of converting UNEP into a
Specialized UN Agency, which many see as being better able to serve as a
counterweight to the WTO than the presently less autonomous "Program."
The contribution of the EcoLomics International Web site
to this governance debate consists essentially in emphasizing the impact of the trading
system on global environmental governance, thus the name of global
ecolomic governance for a comprehensive ecologic and economic
perspective. The WTO as well as other components of the wider trading system
such as regional and bilateral agreements have a significant impact on the
negotiation of many Multilateral Environmental Agreements. This applies in
particular to those MEAs which are of a strongly trade-related nature like the phytosanitary and phytogentic agreements,
such as:
