APN Newsletter - Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

DIVERSITAS and WCRP), as organizers
of their joint Planet under
Pressure Conference, have commissioned
nine policy assessments
with the aim to make
concrete science-based policy
recommendations for Rio+20.
One of these assessments focuses
on the institutional framework for
sustainable development and has
been compiled based on stateof-the-art
social sciences by the
Earth System Governance Project.
The Policy Brief for example recommends
applying systems of
qualified majority voting in specified
areas to strengthen international
environmental treaties;
creating multilaterally harmonized
systems that allow for discriminating
between products on
the basis of production processes;
developing or strengthening regulatory
frameworks on inter alia
emerging technologies for water,
food and energy; upgrading
UNEP to a specialized UN agency;
improving national governance;
strengthening and streamlining
public-private governance
networks and partnerships; and
crucially, strengthening accountability
and legitimacy.
Many interesting ideas have been
tabled by others as well, including
ideas on an ombudsperson
for future generations, regional
conventions on transparency, a
sustainable development council
and sustainable development
goals. Many of them still lack
rigorous scientific assessment,
hence posing interesting new
challenges and fields for research.
The Earth System Governance
Project has taken the initiative to
further investigate these reform
directions and proposals and —
based on existing knowledge
and findings from science — to
provide an ambitious vision for the
required transformative change
of governance for sustainability.
This vision is called the “Hakone
Vision”, named after the venue of
the workshop in Japan at which
it was developed in September
2011. In March 2012, these efforts
culminated in the publication of
“Navigating the Anthropocene:
Improving Earth System Governance”
in Science. This article
builds on the Policy Brief and is
inspired by the Hakone Vision.
Overall, the contributions by the
earth system governance research
community call for a constitutional
moment — the beginning
of a reform process leading to
transformative change of sustainability
governance. The year 2012
offers an opportunity for this. No
more, no less.
References:
Biermann, Frank, Kenneth Abbott,
Steinar Andresen, Karin Bäckstrand,
Steven Bernstein, Michele
M. Betsill, Harriet Bulkeley,
Benjamin Cashore, Jennifer
Clapp, Carl Folke, Aarti Gupta,
Joyeeta Gupta, Peter M. Haas,
Andrew Jordan, Norichika Kanie,
Tatiana Kluvánková-Oravská,
Louis Lebel, Diana Liverman,
James Meadowcroft, Ronald B.
Mitchell, Peter Newell, Sebastian
Oberthür, Lennart Olsson,
Philipp Pattberg, Roberto Sánchez-Rodríguez,
Heike Schroeder,
Arild Underdal, Susana Camargo
Vieira, Coleen Vogel, Oran R.
Young, Andrea Brock, and Ruben
Zondervan. 2012. Navigating the
Anthropocene: Improving Earth
System Governance. Science, 335
(6074): 1306–1307. (http://www.
earthsystemgovernance.org/
news/2012-03-15-navigatinganthropocene-improving-earthsystem-governance)
Biermann, Frank, Contributing
authors: Kenneth Abbott, Steinar
Andresen, Karin Bäckstrand,
Steven Bernstein, Michele M.
Betsill, Harriet Bulkeley, Benjamin
Cashore, Jennifer Clapp, Carl
Folke, Aarti Gupta, Joyeeta Gupta,
Peter M. Haas, Andrew Jordan,
Norichika Kanie, Tatiana Kluvánková-Oravská,
Louis Lebel,
Diana Liverman, James Meadowcroft,
Ronald B. Mitchell, Peter
Newell, Sebastian Oberthür,
Lennart Olsson, Philipp Pattberg,
Roberto Sánchez-Rodríguez,
Heike Schroeder, Arild Underdal,
Susana Camargo Vieira, Coleen
Vogel, Oran R. Young. Assessment
managers: Andrea Brock, and
Ruben Zondervan. 2011. Transforming
governance and institutions
for a planet under pressure.
Revitalizing the institutional
framework for global sustainability:
Key Insights from social
science research. Planet Under
Pressure Policy Brief, 3 (http://
www.earthsystemgovernance.
org/publication/biermann-frankinstitutional-framework-globalsustainability)
Earth System Governance Project
(editor). 2011. Towards a Charter
Moment. Hakone Vision on Governance
for Sustainability in the
21 st Century. Tokyo: International
Environmental Governance Architecture
Research Group. 2011.
(http://www.earthsystemgovernance.org/publication/earth-system-governance-project-editortowards-charter-moment)
Ruben Zondervan
Executive Director, Earth
System Governance Project
Governance for Sustainability towards Rio+20 •
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Guest article