Sustainable Development Insights, No. 5, May 2010

Global Environmental Governance: The Challenge of Accountability
By Adil Najam and Mark Halle

May 2010 (8 pages)
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This issue argues that accountability – or lack thereof- is a fundamental challenge in confronting improved global environmental governance (GEG) and that success must be measured not simply by the vitality of the negotiation process but by the robustness of implementation. States as well as institutions must be judged not by their statements of good intentions but by measurable implementation of their commitments and achievement of goals. The authors provide five reasons for GEG’s culture of unaccountability and seven related ideas for GEG reform.

Sustainable Development Insights is a series of short policy essays supporting the  Sustainable Development Knowledge Partnership (SDKP) and edited by Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee Center for the study of the Longer-Range Future. The series seeks to promote a broad interdisciplinary dialogue on how to accelerate sustainable development at all levels.

Adil Najam is the Frederick S. Pardee Professor for Global Public Policy at Boston University and Director of the Pardee CEnter. He is also an Associate and Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Sustainable Development and has written extensively on global environmental governance.

Mark Halle is the Director for Trade and Investment and the European Representative of the International Institute for Sustainable Development. He previously worked for the IUCN, WWF, and the UNEP. He was founder and Chairman of the Board of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development.