The Major Groups Facilitating Committee (MGFC) - 12

• Eighteen major groups representatives are appointed every two years after email consultation and online bidding process, two from each of the nine major groups: 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, and Local Authorities.
• Twelve regional representatives (two from each of the six regions: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and West Asia) are elected for a one year term during the Regional Consultative Meetings (RCMs).

1. Provide and develop logistics and process understanding so the Major Groups will be able to maximise their presence under the aegis of the rules of engagement and procedure that the UN and UNEP have set up.
2. Provide guidance and find expertise to develop policy positions representing the best from the Major Group constituencies relevant to the agenda points of the UNEP GC/GMEF.
3. As the UNEP GC and GMEF are policy meetings, and the work of the Major Groups in this context is of that nature, the agendas of all the meetings, regional and central, will be that of the UNEP GC or GMEF.
4. The agenda of the GMGSF including the choice of the keynote speakers, and the names of the sponsored participants to the GMGSF will be decided by consensus between UNEP Secretariat and the MGFC.

1. Maximise participation of representatives of its Major Group worldwide in the UNEP GC/GMEF and its related meetings;
2. Promote a good representation of the Major Group at the regional meeting, and ensure that the participants have received the necessary information relating to the agenda beforehand;
3. Facilitate the involvement of Major Groups members with specific issue knowledge in UNEP related work, both in the local, national and regional contexts as well as at UNEP GC and the UNEP GMEF;
4. Foster balanced representation on the basis of gender, focus and region;
5. Mobilise knowledgeable representatives of the Major Groups to participate in the UNEP GC and/or UNEP GMEF;
6. Assist participating Major Group members in having access to information related to the agenda for the UNEP meetings and in participating fully in the GC/GMEF and its related meetings, and in having free and unfettered access to delegates;
7. Provide general information, training and capacity building on UNEP process in line with the expressed visions, goals and targets as found in the Bali Plan of Action;
8. Generate broad media-interest, as well as on-going educational programmes around the world;
9. Maintain a web-based information hub, issue based list-serves, as well as general informational sites;
10. Disseminate issue-based information from the Major Groups and Stakeholders focussing on these issues, to others not directly involved in those issue-networks; and
11. Coordinate the work of the Major Groups policy papers.

1. Foster the participation of organisations of their Major Group at the six regional meetings;
2. In regions where their Major Groups are under-represented, help to identify and involve emerging or newly-established Major Groups in the regional meetings;
3. Promote inter-regional exchange and coordination of inputs within their Major Group;
4. Facilitate the integration of regional concerns into the Major Groups policy statements; and
5. Actively participate in identification of skilled or specialised presenters or facilitators at meetings.

1. Ms. Ms. Anabella Rosemberg. (ITUC) (TUAC), Workers and Trade Unions.
2. Mr. Yahya Msangi, Coordinator, ITUC (TUAC) Africa. Workers and Trade Unions
3. Ms. Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Coordinatrice de l'AFP, Indigenous People and their Communities.
4. Mr. Famark Hlawnching, Asia Indigenous People's Pact Indigenous People and their Communities
5. Ms. Susanne Salz, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, Local Authorities
6. Ms. Maruxa Cardama, Secreatary General, nrg4SD. Local Authorities
7. Ms. Sascha Gabizon, Director, Women in Europe for a Common Future, Women
8. Ms. Mildred Mkandla, Earth Care Africa, Women
9. Ms. Birgit Engelhardt, International Council of Chemicals Associations (ICCA), Business and Industry
10. Ms. Norine Kennedy, Vice-President, Environmental Affairs United States Council for International Business. Business and Industry.
11. Mr. Daniel B Magraw Jr. President, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), NGOs
12. Ms. Rose Mwebaza, ISS, Institute for Security Studies, Nairobi, Kenya
13. Ms. Sara Svensson, Tunza Youth Advisor for Europe. Tunza Youth Advisory Council, Children and Youth.
14. Ms. Shaikha Alalaiwi, Tunza Advisory Council, Children and Youth.
15. Mr. Robert Jordan, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements. Farmers
16. Dr. Peter Bates, Science Officer, International Council for Science, Scientific and Technological Communities.
17. Dr. Mohammed Raouf, Research Fellow. Gulf Research Center, Scientific and Technological Communities

Members of the Major Groups Facilitation Units

1. Mr. Jan-Gustav Strandenaes, Senior Policy Adviser, The Northern Alliance for Sustainability (ANPED), Non-Governmental Organizatio
2. Ms. Andrea Bacher,  Policy Manager,  International Chamber of Commerce. Business and Industry

Regional Representatives

Africa

1. Ms. Zenabou Segda, Women Environmental Programme, Burkina Faso
2. Mr. Augustine Njamnishi, Bio Resources Development and Conservation Programme, Cameroon

Asia and the Pacific

1. Ms. Imogen P. Ingram, Island Sustainability Alliance CI Inc (ISACI), Cook Islands
2. Mr. Paul Lagoy Quintos, IBON International, Philippines 

Europe

1. Mr. Jeremy Wates, European Environmental Bureau, Brussels
2. Mr. Sebastien Duyck, Rio Plus Twenty

Latin America

1. Mr. Luis Flores, Consumers International, Chile
2. Ms. Calvin James, Caribbean network for integrated Rural Development (CNIRD), Trinidad and Tobago

North America

1. Ms. Vanessa Timmer, One Earth Initiative, Canada
2. Mr. Diallo Shabazz, Solar One (S1), USA

West Asia

1. Eng Saba Al - Asfoor, Bahrain Women Association for Human Development, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
2. Mr. Kassem El-Saddik, Development Without Borders, Lebanon