Expert Preparatory Roundtable: Governance Innovations to Protect Our Planet

In the Our Common Agenda report, the UN Secretary-General laid out a broad vision for a
revitalized approach to global governance, announcing the formation of a High-Level Advisory
Board on Effective Multilateralism (HLAB). This body is tasked with identifying where
governance improvements are most needed and proposing options for how this might be achieved.
One of the most important areas for HLAB’s work will be the environment, where decades of
work to build global governance regimes have yet to address the triple planetary crisis of global
warming, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

UN University Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR), in cooperation with the Climate
Governance Commission, the Global Governance Forum, the World Future Council, the
Ecological Law and Governance Association, the Earth Trusteeship Initiative, and Common
Home of Humanity is convening a roundtable event to connect with thought leaders in global
environmental governance, and to provide thoughts and recommendations for consideration by HLAB.

The 22 June roundtable is guided by the following interrelated question areas:

• What can we learn from past efforts to improve the frameworks for global commons and
  ecological governance at the planetary level? Are there examples/models that offer a viable
  way forward?
• What would make an Earth system approach to governance unique in terms of
  intergovernmental mechanisms, norms, operational tools, participation, enforcement, and
  review processes?
• What specific recommendations on Earth system governance can be provided to the
  HLAB for their consideration (e.g., new institutions and legal instruments/operational
  tools/normative principles, enhanced international scientific advisory functions, a
  continuation of the Global Pact for the Environment, repurposing the Trusteeship
  Council, etc.), to focus on global commons governance)?
• How can the global commons/Earth system governance field help to address other
  environment-related challenges, such as biodiversity and nature loss, pollution, and waste?