INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITION

Environmental governance is a concept in political ecology and environmental management policy referring to defining elements and practices needed to achieve sustainability. In simpler terms, it is a whole set of rules, practices, and institutions concerned with environmental management. The term environmental governance has and can be defined in different ways depending on the scope and locus of decision making power (UNEP Yearbook, 2010). The United Nations defines environmental governance as follows;

‘ Multi-level interactions (i.e., local, national, international/global) among, but not limited to, three main actors, i.e., state, market, and civil society, which interact with one another, whether in formal and informal ways; in formulating and implementing policies in response to environment-related demands and inputs from the society; bound by rules, procedures, processes, and widely-accepted behavior; possessing characteristics of “good governance”; for the purpose of attaining environmentally-sustainable development.’

The Rio conference of 1992 gave the environmental management field a major impetus. Agenda 21 committed member states of the UN to sustainable management principles and showing the commitment.   The main drivers of environmental governance issues include consumption, economic growth, biodiversity, pollution, and agricultural production. Similarly, major environmental governance issues include climate change, soil deterioration, water, precautionary principle, nuclear risks among others.

The process of governing the rich and diverse natural resources across the globe is a complex challenge. The UN Environment relates issues of environmental governance to seven sustainable development goals that include:

• Goal 1: No poverty
• Goal 5: Gender equality
• Goal 12: Sustainable Consumption and Production
• Goal 13: Climate action
• Goal 15: Life on Land
• Goal 16: Peace Justice and strong institutions
• Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals.

Environmental governance issues are mainly captured via agreements. There are over 1000 multilateral agreements, 1500 bilateral agreements and 300 other types of agreements on matters concerning the environment. A detailed database on environmental agreements is provided by International Environmental Agreement (IEA) database project of the University of Oregon.  Silvica names some of the main multilateral environmental conventions under Rio Conventions to include:

• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
• Ramsar conventions of Wetlands
• Convention of International Trade in Endangered species (CITES)
• Basel Convention on the Control of and trans-boundary movement of Hazardous Wastes
• United Nations Frameworks on Climate Change (UNFCC)