North American Regional Consultation Meeting
for the 10th UNEP Global Civil Society Forum
Day Two - November 14, 2008, Washington, D.C.

The second and final day of the North America Civil Society Consultation began with a video-conference between John Scanlon and Olivier Deleuze (UNEP, Nairobi) and consultation participants in Washington D.C. The UNEP representatives led a discussion on the GC/GMEF themes for the Ministerial Consultation in February 2009. 

A report back to the plenary then highlighted the main points of the discussion from the previous day’s break-out groups on:

• climate change and disasters and conflicts
• harmful substances and hazardous wastes and resource efficiency/sustainable consumption and production
• ecosystem management and environmental governance
  

The consultation elected Maria Ivanova of the College of William and Mary (United States) and Kathryn White of the United Nations Association (Canada) as regional representatives for North America to the Global Civil Society Forum and the Governing Council/GMEF.

A regional statement was adopted and will be made available to UNEP headquarters and posted on this website in the coming days. A more detailed consultation summary will also be made available. It will articulate participants’ observations and recommendations in four key areas.

• The importance of taking advantage of a window of opportunity for bold action to address alarming environmental degradation
• Suggestions to improve civil society’s participation in UNEP’s work
• The need to mainstream environmental considerations in decision-making processes that impact the environment at the local, regional and global level
• Important considerations for the reform of environmental and financial institutions.