The tremendous value of civil society’s contributions and inputs to UNEP’s work, as a result of the substantive, fruitful dialogue established with civil society as real partners over the long term;

The growing relevance of this engagement in the current global context of financial, economic, environmental and social crises and the need to strengthen strategic partnerships with major groups and stakeholders

The global political situation was becoming ever more volatile and that a stable, strong, accountable, transparent and participatory intergovernmental system could prove an effective buffer to that volatility;

The intergovernmental system and the United Nations system in particular offered unprecedented opportunities for people to participate effectively in global agendas;

Political will and making the right choices based on the scientific knowledge available, the ability of the individual to make an informed choice and the ability of the individual to understand the consequences of that choice, but that these choices were likely to be even fewer if urgent action were not to be taken.

The development of a database of partners and a UNEP-wide interactive knowledge management system on these partnerships to ensure better coherence of these partnerships throughout the organization;

The importance of establishing partnerships with educational institutions and of including further relations with development NGOs;

Putting a particular emphasis on partnerships at country level, as civil society is critical to disseminate environmental information and practices at country level, yet access to civil society might appear challenging in some countries.

Mr. Michael Gribble, ICCA (Business and Industry) welcomed UNEP’s efforts to become more result-oriented and emphasized that having major groups involved in the implementation of the POW was an invaluable complement to governmental/intergovernmental initiatives. He stressed out that partnerships were one of many ways of involving major groups, which bear the potential to bring additional technical expertise, and contribute to awareness raising and capacity building through their networks. In UNEP’s collaboration with major groups, he further emphasized key success factors: avoiding a centralized approach, unnecessary bureaucracy and transaction costs; encouraging diversity, interdisciplinary work, flexibility, continuous improvement approaches; and delivering tangible results.

Mr. Thierry de Oliveira, Economist, UNEP, DEWA presented the Global Environment outlook (GEO) process, a major example of long term partnership with civil society started in 1995 with a view to keeping the environment under review and providing scientific data to support the development of effective policies and actions. He mentioned the need to rethink the GEO process and the dissemination/communication of these data to make it more effective in achieving its goals, as well as the key role that civil society had to play in making it even more policy-oriented and accessible to a broader range of stakeholders in the field. A draft impact review of the GEO process will soon be available.

Mr. Lucien Royer, Director, Canadian Labour Congress and Chair, Major Groups Facilitating Committee (MGFC), further insisted on the need to build on this mapping exercise to serve not only environment but also the other two dimensions of sustainable development throughout UNEP’s activities, especially with regard to establishing clear links between the POW and implications at workplace level.