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About UNEP's Major Groups Programme
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Since its inception, the United Nations Environment Programme has enjoyed a special relationship with major groups in tackling environmental issues. Indeed, the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment, which led to the creation of UNEP in 1972, owed much to the enthusiasm, dedication and commitment of major groups. Most of the multilateral environmental agreements (Basel Convention, Montreal Protocol, Biodiversity and Climate Change Conventions, etc) were developed thanks to the lobbying efforts of major groups.
An effective engagement of major groups at governance and programmatic levels is critical to strengthen the environmental pillar of sustainable development, and foster action to concretely implement agenda 21.
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In 1999 UNEP created a major groups & NGOs unit in the Policy Branch to provide major group with a chance of broad participation in environmental decision-making.
By creating the Major Groups and Stakeholder Branch in 2004, UNEP continued to enhance participation of major groups in its work. To achieve this goal UNEP developed and adopted a strategy based on :
- Engagement at the policy level, to take into account major groups expertise and views at the intergovernmental level.
- Engagement at the programmatic level, to involve major groups in UNEP’s implementation of its work programme.
The Major Groups and Stakeholders Branch focuses its activities on major groups at large, the 9 major groups defined in the Agenda 21, that is farmers, women, the scientific and technological community, children and youth, indigenous peoples and their communities, workers and trade unions, business and industry, non-governmental organizations as well as local authorities, as well as other relevant stakeholders.
Since 2000, UNEP organizes a yearly Global Civil Society Forum (GCSF) - now renamed the Global Major Group and Stakeholder Forum (GMGSF), in conjunction with UNEP Governing Council / Global Ministerial Environment Forum. This forum is the main entry point for major groups participation at governance level.
In 2006, changes were introduced to the Global Civil Society Forum (GCSF) cycle in order to improve the quality of engagement with major groups, with in particular the creation of the Global Steering Committee with representatives from all regions in the GSCF process. This resulted in an increased ownership of the process by civil society organizations and in an improved major groups balance, allowing therefore taking into account major groups specific priorities. In addition to these changes, there was also an improvement in the type of dialogue sessions at the GC/GMEF with the introduction of ministerial small round-tables where major groups participate fully as well as in the plenary discussions and the Committee of the Whole, demonstrating the major groups voice is increasingly incorporated into the policy discussions at UNEP. This was anticipated to result in more partnerships with civil society for environmental policy development.
In 2008 further changes were introduced by the new Guidelines on Improving the Global Civil Society Cycle (Guidelines-Round1-CSO-revised-31Mar08.pdf). These guidelines aimed to create a balanced and actively facilitated framework for managing major groups input to the UNEP governance process. The Civil Society Steering Committee was expanded to include nine (9) more members from the nine major groups. It was also renamed the Major Groups Facilitating Committee (MGFC) so as to be more representative - underlining the higher emphasis on the major groups criteria, and to provide guidance and coordinate the engagement of major groups in the GCSF cycle.
In 2009 the guidelines were revised again so as to be more clear, to create a balanced and actively facilitated framework for managing major groups and other stakeholders’ input to the UNEP governance processes, and to reflect the envisage partnership with UNEP in the implementation of its programme of work. For a start, the title of the guidelines has changed from Guidelines for Improving the Global Civil Society Forum Cyclewhich was mostly process oriented to - Guidelines for Participation of Major Groups and Stakeholders in Policy Design at UNEP. The guidelines also refer to major groups and stakeholders rather than civil society, in order to be more inclusive of all groups that are not government based. Related to this, the Global Civil Society Forumwas also changed to Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum.
UNEP also hosts events in collaboration with specific major groups such as the Global Women's Assembly on Environment in October 2004 and the Trade Union Assembly on Labour and the Environment in January 2006. |
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