Environmental NGOs

Introduction

Recent decades have seen an increase in the number, role, and functions of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with an environmental focus. As transnational actors in civil society, these environmental NGOs seek to directly impact and influence environmental issues on the international, national, and local levels. This article will address how the rise of global awareness of the environment led to the creation and development of environmental NGOs in response to these issues, their objectives and roles, and the outlook for their participation and impact on these issues in the future.

The environment emerged as a new critical international issue in the 1970s. Concerns such as the depletion of natural resources, climate change, and harmful pollutants began to gain awareness in the public’s mind. The environmental movement in the United States, for example, emerged from incidents and individuals reacting to governments who were slow or unwilling to address issues and problems.

The UN system played an integral role in the promotion and creation of environmental NGOs. Two important international conferences established a platform for groups to organize, set agendas, and make policy recommendations.

Today, issues such as global warming and sustainable development command world attention. The mandates and missions of environmental NGOs are directed towards promoting solutions, advocating action, and policing agreements and policies, including holding governments accountable for these treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol.

The Environment Emerges as a Global Point of Interest

While conservation organizations date back as early as the 18th and 19th centuries, (Trzyna 1998) it was in the early 1970s that environmental issues gained prominence. The United States held its first Earth Day on April 21, 1970. Authors such as Ralph Nader and Rachel Carson published seminal works. Other important publications emerged in the first decade of the 70s, including Man’s Impact on the Global Environment . Reports from groups such as the U.S. Academy of Sciences, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) added to a growing body of information. By the 1980s this information brought focus to a global scale and created an “agenda for international action” (Speth 2002). Collectively, these publications called attention to ten issues affecting the world: loss of crop and grazing land; depletion of the world’s tropical forests; mass extinction of species; rapid population growth; mismanagement and shortages of freshwater resources; overfishing habitat destruction, and pollution of the marine environment; threats to human health from mismanagement of pesticides and organic pollutants; climate change due to increased greenhouse gases; acid rain and air pollutants on fisheries, forest and crops; and depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer (Speth, 2002).

By the mid 1990s each of these ten issues had become the subject of a major international treaty (such as the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development), plan of action or other initiative, for example, the Rio Conference held in 1992 and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC) in 1994. This new global agenda arose and moved forward due to the international community in science, government, the UN, and NGOs that formed in the first decades of the environmental movement (Speth, 2002).

History of Environmental NGOs Within the UN System

As part of that international community, the United Nations acts a major advocate for non-governmental activity. A significant event behind the formation and rise of environmental NGOs was the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, Sweden in 1972 (Genmill and Bamidele-Izu 2002).

The Stockholm Conference marked the beginning of organized environmental awareness on an international level (Halpern 1992). Representatives from 113 states, members of specialized agencies, and members of IGOs (intergovernmental organizations) and NGOs participated. The conference established a framework for environmental action and published The Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which states, “The protection and improvement of the human environment is a major issue which affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world; it is the urgent desire of the peoples of the whole world and the duty of all Governments.” Principle 21, adopted at the conference, held states responsible “to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.” This eventually became international law(Halpern 1992).

The Stockholm Conference is credited with influencing the many international conferences that followed, and for the establishment of over 1,200 multilateral and bilateral treaties and agreements, and legislation and agencies in virtually every country (Halpern 1992). Many national governments developed domestic environmental programs as a result of the Stockholm Conference, and “it legitimized the biosphere as an object of national and international policy and collective management (Speth 2002). Additionally, the Stockholm Conference also played a major role in the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), an international body that identifies global environmental issues and acts as a catalyst and educator .

Twenty years later, the 1992 United Nations conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, served as a continuation. The UN Conference on Environment and Development particularly affected the development of NGOs (Speth, 2002). Nearly every country in the world was represented (a total of 178), and more than 172 heads of state attended (UN website; Halpern 1992). More than 1,400 environmental NGOs were officially accredited in Rio , and about 7,000 NGOs participated in the “Global Forum” event organized in conjunction with the conference. (Breitmeier, Rittberger 1998).

This initiative acknowledged the need for and involvement of non-state actors in reaching sustainable development goals (Speth, 2002). Following the Earth Summit, in December 1992, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was established to ensure effective followup of UNCED. The Commission on Sustainable Development is also responsible for reviewing the progress of Agenda 21. Agenda 21 is a comprehensive document calling for a balanced and integrated approach to the environment and development. Agenda 21 addressed social and economic factors, such as poverty and consumption patterns, that affect the global environment. It analyzed the need for conservation and sound management of resources, and provided a framework for how all social groups could implement it.

Types of Environmental NGOs

Environmental NGOs exist in virtually every country in the North and South. They operate on the international, national, or local level. They may work independently, or as part of networks or coalitions. Environmental organizations can be classified according to legal or geographic focus, function, subject and when they were founded(Trzyna 1998). Environmental NGO’s functions vary, but there are general roles that these NGOs take on as part of their involvement in global environmental governance. Environmental NGOs may act in the following ways:

• Provide up-to-date research and information on critical issues;
• Offer quicker response to issues than government bodies;
• Influence public opinion on environmental issues
• Represent groups and individuals (affected by environmental conditions not covered by policymakers;
• Provide services and expertise to government and operations;
• Monitor international agreements, negotiations, and government compliance;
• Legitimize quality and authority of environmental policy choices (Yale 2002).

Environmental NGOs may also be organized along a specific environmental issue. On its website, the World Directory of Environmental Organizations breaks NGOs down into the following categories:

• Forms of life. Animals in general; mammals, birds, fishes, other animals, plants and other life forms; genetic resources; wildlife trade; invasive alien species; endangered, threatened, vulnerable and rare species;
• Types of natural environments. Arid and semiarid lands; caves, coral reefs, forests, grasslands and savannas; islands; lakes, rivers and streams; mediterranean-type ecosystems; mountains; oceans, seas, and coastal zones; polar zones; tropical ecosystems; wetlands.
• Environmental Resources and Problems. Acidification; air quality; biotechnology; climate change; cities and other human settlements; cultural heritage; desertification; hazardous materials; human health and the environment; natural hazards; noise; radiation and nuclear energy; occupational safety and health; offroad vehicles; oil spills; pest management; rural environments; soil erosion and depletion; solid waste and resource recovery; war, terrorism, and the environment; water.
• Environmental Strategies; Social and Economic Dimensions. Agriculture and food; architecture and construction; arts and humanities; auditing, environmental; business and the environment in general; Common property management; Communications media; Conflict resolution & collaboration; Consumption; Corruption control; Development assistance; Ecolabeling; Economics; Education & training; Energy; Ethics; Financing mechanisms; Fisheries; Forestry; Gender; Geographic information systems; Governance, policy-making & public management; Human rights; Impact and risk assessment; Indigenous peoples & traditional knowledge; Industrial ecology; Integrative approaches; Landscape approaches; Land-use regulation; Law & legal action; Market-based approaches; Minerals & mining; Monitoring Natural sciences; Planning; Pollution prevention and industrial ecology; Population; Protected areas. Psychology; Religion; Social sciences; Specialized support services; Sustainable development; Technology; Tourism; Trade, international; Transportation; Youth

Conclusion

Since 1996, environmental NGO activity has continued to expand. Environmental organizations have begun focusing on gaining an understanding of international policymaking (Yale 2002). As nations move towards new goals in environmental governance, the role of environmental NGOs increasingly turns to agenda setting and policy development. Environmental NGOs are playing a larger role in placing issues on the global agenda. They have moved, and continue to evolve beyond advisory or advocacy roles (Yale 2002).

NGOs continue to defend environmental rights and act as advocates for justice, working with, and through government bodies. Whether they be global, broad-based groups or regional, issue-specific organizations, NGOs serve as a key resource in the fight to keep environmental conservation and sustainable development in the conscience of individuals and nations, with the aim to spur action and create lasting positive change.

References

Breitmeier, Helmut and Volker Rittberger. 1998. Environmental NGO’s in an Emerging Global Civil Society. Tubingen: Centre for International Relations/ Peace and Conflict Studies, Institute for Political Science.

Gemmill, Barbara, and Abimbola Bamidele-Izu. 2002. “The Role of NGOs and Civil Society in Global Environmental Governance.” In Global Environmental Governance: Options & Opportunities, ed. Daniel C. Esty and Maria H. Ivanova. Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy.

Halpern, Shanna L. 1992. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development: Process and Documentation. Providence, RI: Academic Council for the United Nations System (ACUNS).

InterEnvironment.org. The World Directory of Environmental Organizations Online. http://interenvironment.org/index.htm. Accessed September 19, 2006.

IUCN/The World Conservation Union. Membership Relations and Governance. http://www.iucn.org/members/mem-statistics.htm

Oberthür, Sebastien, et. al. 2002. “Participation of Non-Governmental Organizations in International Environmental Governance: Legal Basis and Practical Experience.” UBA Berichte 11/02: 4-16.

Paul, James A. 2000. “NGOs and Global Policy-Making.” Global Policy Forum.

Speth, James Gustave. 2002. “The Global Environmental Agenda: Origins and Prospects.” In Global Environmental Governance: Options & Opportunities, ed. Daniel C. Esty and Maria H. Ivanova. Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy.

Trzyna, Ted. 2005. “About environmental organizations & programs.” World Directory of Environmental Organizations Online. California Institute of Public Affairs, Sacramento, California.

UN.org. UN Conference on Environment and Development (1992). http://www.un.org/geninfo/bp/enviro.html. (Accessed on September 19, 2006).

Bibliography/Links Hempel, Lamont C. Environmental Governancei: The Global Challenge. 1995, Island Press.

Keck, Margaret, and Kathryn Sikkink. Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. 1998, Cornell University Press.

UNEP – Division For Sustainable Development, Agenda 21: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/index.htm UNEP – Stockholm 1972 http://www.unep.org/Documents.multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=97&ArticleID= Commission on Sustainable Development http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/policy.htm World Directory of Environmental Organizations Online http://www.interenvironment.org/wd/ World Resources Institute http://www.wri.org/ EarthTrends http://earthtrends.wri.org/ CITES: The United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora: http://www.cites.org/