The State of Global Environmental Governance 2019

The report evaluates global environmental governance in 2019, highlighting a disconnect between urgent scientific warnings and stalled political action. While progress was made in managing hazardous wastes and plastics, climate and biodiversity governance faced significant setbacks. The document emphasizes the growing need for integrated governance to address the interlinked nature of climate, ocean, and land degradation, while noting that most Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are not on track for 2030.

• The Basel Convention achieved significant progress in 2019 by taking the first multilateral action to reduce global plastic waste. This included adding mixed, unrecyclable, and contaminated plastic waste exports to the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure, effective in 2020, and the entry into force of the 'Ban Amendment' which prohibits developed countries from exporting hazardous wastes to developing countries.
• Major scientific reports released in 2019 provided dire warnings about the planet's health, yet intergovernmental political processes remained deadlocked. Key reports included the GEO-6 report on deteriorating global environmental situations, the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land, the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere, and the IPBES Global Assessment Report, which warned that one million species are at risk of extinction.
• Climate change governance stalled in 2019, characterized by a lack of ambition and failure at COP 25 to agree on rules for the market mechanism under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Despite the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit, where 67 countries pledged greater ambition, these nations represent only a small fraction of global emissions.
• Biodiversity governance faced significant blockages in 2019. Parties to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) failed to enhance the multilateral system for access and benefit-sharing, primarily due to disagreements over digital sequence information (DSI). Additionally, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) failed to establish marine protected areas in the Weddell Sea, Antarctic Peninsula, and East Antarctic.
• There is an increasing recognition of the need for integrated governance to address the interconnections between different environmental issues. In 2019, linkages were emphasized between oceans and climate change, and between climate and biodiversity, though political cooperation remained difficult, as seen in the IPCC's inability to produce a joint technical report with IPBES due to workload.
• The 2019 review of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicates that almost no targets are on track for achievement by 2030. SDG 13 (climate action) is among the least achieved, and the world faces a 'global learning crisis' regarding SDG 4 (education). However, some progress was noted in improving market access for exports from least developed countries (LDCs) under SDG 8.

APA

Allan, J. I., Antonich, B., Bansard, J., Bhandary, R., Chasek, P., Jones, N., Leone, F., Jungcurt, S., Paul, D., Tsioumani, A., & Tsioumani, E. (2019). The State of Global Environmental Governance 2019. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/environmental-governance-2019.pdf

Chicago

Allan, Jen Iris, Beate Antonich, Jennifer Bansard, Rishi Bhandary, Pamela Chasek, Natalie Jones, Faye Leone, et al. The State of Global Environmental Governance 2019. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2019. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/environmental-governance-2019.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{allan2019state, author = {Allan, Jen Iris and Antonich, Beate and Bansard, Jennifer and Bhandary, Rishi and Chasek, Pamela and Jones, Natalie and Leone, Faye and Jungcurt, Stefan and Paul, Delia and Tsioumani, Asterios and Tsioumani, Elsa}, title = {{The State of Global Environmental Governance 2019}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2019}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/environmental-governance-2019.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }