Towards a Global Environment Agency Effective Governance for Shared Ecological Risks

This report, published by the Climate Governance Commission and the Global Challenges Foundation, highlights the need for enhanced environmental governance at global, national and local levels in order to better address and protect earth's inter-connected ecosystems.

The report proposes the establishment of a Global Environmental Agency which would build upon, and strengthen, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The role of such an Agency would be more than a simple catalytic or coordination function, but could rather establish a central authority gradually acquiring the mandate to take decisions based on majority voting for the tasks that lower levels of governance (e.g., at the national level) are not able or willing to perform, in line with the principle of subsidiarity.

The report suggests five core functions of such an agency:

• Knowledge provision;
• Deliberative and legislative action;
• Enabling and facilitating implementation of ecosystem protection policies
• Trust and justice building;
• Learning, evaluating and adapting policies in light of new knowledge and emerging realities.