Chapter 8: Reshaping Global Governance

Hilary French

The Rio Earth Summit resulted in several major developments in international governance, including new treaties on climate change and biological diversity, the creation of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development, and sections of Agenda 21 dedicated to broader questions of institutional reform, financing, and public participation. But a few years later, the World Trade Organization was created with a starkly different vision of the future global economy.

Ten years after Rio, there are more than 500 environmental treaties and agreements, but few of them contain specific targets and timetables and most are weak on provisions for monitoring and enforcement. At the same time, the U.N Environment Programme and other key ecological initiatives are strapped for cash, and overall aid spending has declined substantially. Despite this lackluster track record, at the World Summit in Johannesburg nations will have another chance to shift the course of the global economy and the institutions that underpin it away from destruction and toward ecological and social integrity.

World Summit priorities: Partnering with NGOs, businesses, governments, and international institutions are key to ensuring a successful outcome at Johannesburg; promoting greater cooperation and coherence between the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization; and respecting the goals and provisions of international environmental, human rights, and labor treaties and standards.

• Reinvigorating International
• Environmental Governance
• Striking a Global Fair Deal
• New Global Actors
• Democratizing Global Governance