Open political decision-making processes enhance transparency, foster coordination among organizations taking part in environmental governance, and foster accountability of the actors in their decisions. Hence, UNEP commits to facilitate inputs resulting from Major Groups and other Stakeholders expertise and views, at the intergovernmental level, in line with applicable rules and regulations.
Accredited Major Groups and other Stakeholders to the UNEP are invited to participate in all relevant global and regional fora, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), the Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR) meetings as well as the associated Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum (GMGSF) prior to the UNEA. Accredited Major Groups and other Stakeholders have also an opportunity to also take part in Regional Consultative Meetings (RCMs) which take place at regional level to ensure regional perspectives are included on the way to the Assembly.
Accredited Major Groups and other Stakeholders are also invited to provide their inputs into the preparatory process including on agenda setting on the way to UNEA, directly through attending and contributing to the CPR meetings, participate remotely or through written submissions to relevant themes. Decisions and resolutions then taken by member states at the UNEA also define UN Environment’s Programme of Work.
UNEP has been organizing the Global Major Group and Stakeholders Forum (GMGSF), which is an associated meeting to the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) of UNEP and has recently also gone through an increased engagement by major groups themselves who since 2017 self-organize the GMGSF.
Accredited Major Groups and Stakeholders representatives can also participate in the Plenary sessions and the Committee of the Whole (COW) of the UNEA and make relevant statements.
Additionally, an improvement in the type of dialogue sessions at the UNEA has been made with the introduction of the high-level Multi Stakeholder Dialogue which is being held during the high-level segment of UNEA. As a result, Major Groups’ voices are increasingly incorporated into the policy discussions at UN Environment, entailing more partnerships with civil society in environmental policy development and project implementation.
At the regional level, Major Groups and other Stakeholders can participate in relevant regional preparatory meetings or regional consultative meetings (RCMs), often held back to back with ministerial regional meetings, and potentially also influence policy-making and decision-making processes. The regional meetings outcomes also contribute to the global agenda and discussions and are considered a preparatory process on the way to the Environment Assemblies providing a focus to regional challenges, needs and opportunities.
Read more on the handbook on stakeholder engagement.
