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UNEP Major Groups and Stakeholders Branch - Civil Society Accreditation
Open Dialogue between UNEP Executive Director & Civil Society Delegates

Saturday 3 February 2007
In his statement to the 8th Global Civil Society Forum, Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of UNEP called attention to the crucial moment we are living in. He pointed out than now more than ever before, environmental issues such as those related to climate change come to the fore of the international agenda, emphasising that this poses fundamental challenges and demands to all those from the environmental field, both in the governmental and non-governmental spheres.He said that this also demands increasing dialogue between trade, economic, social and environmental organizations.

Steiner told civil society delegates that the upcoming Ministerial Forum on Globalization and the Environment will provide opportunities for Governments, other UN organizations and civil society to elaborate on agendas for mutual engagement. Mr. Steiner further noted the importance of strengthening and designing more productive ways of engagement between UNEP and civil society, including business.

Sharing Perspectives:
Dr. Kenza Al Ghali said it is important to seek new communication modalities between civil society and UNEP, pointing out that the international community produced enough "declarations and recommendations and now it is time for action". Indicators for the success of environmental action should be closely tied to poverty eradication, economic prosperity and influence to get governments to sign MEAs such as Kyoto. She requested more dynamic involvement of CSOs in the GC.
Esther Camac of the Asociacion Ixacavaa de Desarrollo e Informacion Indigena asked UNEP to ensure the participation of representative groups of civil society and indigenous peple in setting policy and programmatic issues at UNEP. She also said it was necessary to review the concept of services and benefits of ecosystems in relation to local communities and indigenous people.
Felix Dodds, Executive Director of the Stakeholders Forum asked what kind of on-going process on globalization will UNEP hope to initiate as a result of the GC. Dodds refered to Corporate Social Responsibility as a major topic for civil society discussions pointing out that it was important for environmetal organizations to define who to work with in the corporate world and under what circumstances.