Institute for European Environmental Policy

1

Sustainable Development Governance at National, Regional

and Local levels in a Global Context, preparing for Rio

Patrick ten Brink

Senior Fellow and Head of Brussels Office, IEEP

PREPARING FOR THE 2012 RIO SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

THE CONTRIBUTION OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN EUROPE

Session 2: Strengthening the Institutional Framework for Sustainable

Development - Reforming Sustainable Development Governance

23 March 2011 - 10.00 am – 5.30 pm

Meeting room VMA 3

Van Maerlant street 2

1040 Brussels

2

Structure of the presentation

Governance challenges & responses Risks

Water

Biodiversity

Climate

Deforestation

Progress & Opportunities Stockholm to Rio

Conventions: global framework for national to local action

Subsidy reform: national action with local to global implications

Marine: Fisheries/Coral Reefs

Steps to a Green Economy: multi-level governance

WEF(2011)

Global Risks 2011

(6th Edition)

Governance Challenges: Multiple WEF: Global Risks Landscape 2011

Perception data from WEF Global Risks Survey

3

Governance Challenges: Multiple WEF: Global Risks Landscape 2011 Perception data from WEF Global Risks Survey

National, regional & local

risks “variations on a

theme” of the above

Risk interconnections Complexities: Interactions & Synergies

Risk interconnections

WEF(2011)

Global Risks 2011

(6th Edition)

Complexity/synergy

5

Water stress, availability & sanitation

Many poles for action: countries (inc. cooperation), regions, cities, citizens, companies

• Investment in environmental infrastructures, regulation, pricing, innovation.

• Investment in Green infrastructure/natural capital. Rewarding benefits / PES

• Labelling and consumer information et al.

http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/index.php?id=25

1.1 billion people live without clean

drinking water

2.6 billion people lack adequate

sanitation (2002, UNICEF/WHO

JMP 2004)

1.8 million people die every year

from diarrhoeal diseases.

3 900 children die every day from

water borne diseases (WHO

2004)

Tool: Mexico national PSAH framework

with local applications: PES to forest

owners to preserve forest: manage & not

convert forest

Results:

Deforestation rate fell from 1.6 % to 0.6 %.

18.3 thousand hectares of avoided deforestation

Avoided GHG emissions ~ 3.2 million tCO2e

National step forward re MDGs

Hydrological services: Aquifer recharge;

Improved surface water quality, reduce

frequency & damage from flooding`

Munoz 2010); Muñoz-Piña et al. 2008; Muñoz-Piña et al. 2007.

Reduce Deforestation Address Poverty

Governance: measurement, policy

synergies, rewarding benefits provision

Water: National action to facilitate local action

Water: Nation on nation impacts: Consumer

responsibilities

UK external water footprint – Understanding the implications of our consumption

WRAP and WWF (2011) See also OPEN:EU for more on footprints:

http://www.oneplaneteconomynetwork.org/

Local action: San Francisco “meat

free Mondays”; Ghent: Thursdays! For citizens: info, labelling & footprints

8

Governance challenge: Biodiversity loss

UNEP (2011)

UNEP Yearbook 2011

Biodiversity loss leads to loss of natural wealth, ecosystem services,

benefits to economy and society/wellbeing (see TEEB (2009,2010,2011) MEA (2005)

TEEB Reports: http://www.teebweb.org/

Summaries (in range of languages) and chapters

TEEB for Policy Makers report

“I believe that the great part of miseries of mankind are brought upon

them by false estimates they have made of the value of things.” Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790

“There is a renaissance underway, in which people are waking up to the

tremendous values of natural capital and devising ingenious ways of

incorporating these values into major resource decisions.” Gretchen Daily, Stanford University

Contribution to Governance solutions -

Understanding the value of nature

Book announcement: The Economics of Ecosystems and

Biodiversity in National and International Policy Making now

available from Earthscan

Provisioning services • Food, fibre and fuel

• Water provision

• Genetic resources

Regulating Services • Climate /climate change regulation

• Water and waste purification

• Air purification

• Erosion control

• Natural hazards mitigation

• Pollination

• Biological control

Cultural Services • Aesthetics, Landscape value, recreation and

tourism

• Cultural values and inspirational services

Supporting Services • Soil formation

+ Resilience- eg to climate change

Important to appreciate the whole set of eco-

system services & take into account in

decisions – and not only after they have been

lost and oft costly substitutes needed. This is

critical for good governance at all levels.

Governance : Understanding and responding to the value of nature, our “natural capital”

Ecosystem

Valuation Benefits

Annual Value

(2005, CDN $)

Carbon Values 366 million

Air Protection Values 69 million

Watershed Values 409 million

Pollination Values 360 million

Biodiversity Value 98 million

Recreation Value 95 million

Agricultural Land

Value

329 million

Cities understanding the value of their natural assets

Multiple Benefits: at the Urban level – City of Toronto

• Estimating the value of the Greenbelt for the City of Toronto

• The greenbelt around Toronto offers $ 2.7 billion worth of non-market

ecological services with an average value of $ 3, 571 / ha.

→ Implication re: future management of the greater city area ?

Source: Wilson, S. J. (2008)

Map: http://greenbeltalliance.ca/images/Greebelt_2_update.jpg

12

Challenges to governance: Climate Change

Avoiding the problem, adapting to what we cannot avoid.

UNFCCC: Multilateral context for national action: shared responsibility, mechanisms

Key: National, regional & city actions – especially in context of insufficient global (or

national) commitment & actions • understanding adaptation needs, investment in adaptation (man made and natural capital), spatial planning

• Mitigation: RES, energy efficiency, ETS, taxes/charges, subsidy reform, innovation, avoided deforestation, restoration

+ labelling, consumer information and consumer choice UNEP (2011)

UNEP Yearbook 2011

13

Challenges to governance: deforestation

UNFCCC, UNCBD + bilateral + domestic + private + NGO + peoples

Multiple paths for action, diff. interests & opportunities & costs

Instruments: REDD+, bilateral aid, national commitments, city procurement etc

Stockholm to Rio to Jo’burg to Rio

1972 1992 2002 2012

UN's first major conference

on international

environmental issues

Beginning of modern

political and public

awareness of global

environmental problems

Emergence of

international

environmental law

Led to the creation of UNEP

172 governments &108

heads of state/government

Climate: UNFCCC

Biodiversity: CBD

Desertification: UNCCD

Agenda 21 (Cities et al)

Forest principles

Johannesburg

declaration

Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs)

Global Compact

Restore the world's

depleted fisheries for 2015

Stockholm Conference

United Nations

Conference on the

Human Environment

Rio Summit

United Nations Conference on

Environment and Development

(UNCED) – also known as, Rio

Conference, Earth Summit

WSSD

World Summit on

Sustainable

Development or

Earth Summit 2002

Rio+20 Earth Summit

UN Conference on

Sustainable

Development (UNCSD)

Themes:

a green economy

in the context of

poverty

eradication and

sustainable

development,

an institutional

framework for

sustainable

development.

? 2015

MDGs

15

Governance: commitment to Conventions

Rio Rio+20

Issue: awareness: need for national

government commitment

Issue: need for implementation –

national, regional, city, citizen

UNEP (2011)

UNEP Yearbook 2011

Subsidy Reform : Win-win: environment-economy

Subsidies: over $1trillion/year: a mix of “the good, the bad and the ugly”

Opportunities: win-wins, reduce lock-in, progress towards a green economy

Free up money to help with MEAs

TEEB (2009)

Global Fish stocks: an overexploited,

underperforming natural asset at risk of collapse

Half of wild marine fisheries are fully exploited; a further quarter already over-exploited

At risk : $ 80-100 billion income from the sector

est. 27 million jobs

over a billion people rely on fish as their main or sole source of animal protein

Source: adapted from FAO 2005

short term vs long term

Need: reduce pressure on coral reefs, MPAs et al & encourage GHG reductions

@ -450ppm and 2 degrees already accepting major losses

Critical governance issue: MPAs and no-take zones: government spatial

planning/regulation/enforcement, need to factor in local (short term)

acceptability, transition challenges & sustainable financing for MPAs.

Marine: Critical natural asset in danger

19

Steps to a sustainable green equitable socio-economy

1972

Past: Global Commitments &

National env. measures

2020 2050 2012

Integration /

mainstreaming

– policy

coherence

Near future:

“walk the talk”

Long term: sustainable,

resource efficient, green,

equitable socio-economy

Medium term:

“Turning the curve”

Decarbonisation Resource Efficiency Resource limits Ecosystem capacity/limits

Absolute Decoupling Risk management Beyond GDP measures Equity Happiness

Solutions: Economic signals/markets;

measurement and assessment; regulation; spatial

planning; greening the supply chain; investments

in innovation & natural capital; labelling and

certification; consumer choice/responsibility &

social norms for a sustainable economy / society.

Commitments

1992

Transition to a

new green

economy

paradigm

Measurement

& transparency

+ve Environmental Policies

Limited integration/mainstreaming

Continued losses of natural capital

Making multilateralism work

+

Differentiated responsibility:

multiple actors, interests,

incentives, opportunities – multi-

level governance

Building consensus &

partnerships

Implementation

New

commitments

Learning from

success & failures

Thank you

Patrick ten Brink

ptenbrink@ieep.eu

IEEP is an independent, not-for-profit institute dedicated to the analysis, understanding and promotion of policies for a sustainable environment.

www.ieep.eu

The Manual of European Environmental Policy

http://www.europeanenvironmentalpolicy.eu/