Zondervan, Ruben. 2012. Governance for Sustainability towards Rio+20. Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research, 18 (2), May 2012

1. NEWSLETTER
Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research • Volume 18, Issue 2, May 2012 • ISSN 2185-6907
Guest article
GOVERNANCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY
TOWARDS RIO+20
Features
IAI AND ITS ACTIVITIES AROUND
RIO+20
BEYOND CARBON: ENSURING
JUSTICE AND EQUITY OF
REDD+ ACROSS LEVELS OF
GOVERNANCE
APN AND SBSTA
HOW DO WE ADD VALUE TO
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE?
Featured ARCP Projects Collaborative Research on Sustainable Urban
Water Quality Management in Southeast
Asian Countries: Comparative Analysis of
Enhancing Adaptation to Climate Change Current Status and Strategic Planning for
by Integrating Climate Risk into Long-Term Sustainable Development
Development Plans and Disaster Management
Featured CAPaBLE Projects
The GEOSS Asian Water Cycle Initiative
(AWCI) Planning its Second Phase, Targeting Water Safety from Source to Tap — Strategies
Water Cycle Integrator (WCI) and Implementation
Photo: Windwärts Energie/Mark Mühlhaus

2. Guest Article
Governance for
Guest article
Sustainability
towards Rio+20
Ruben Zondervan
2 012 is 40 years since the
landmark UN Conference on
the Human Environment (Stock-
maps and reports over the last 40
years with less, if any, impact in the
history of international environ-
postpone the conference itself for
frivolous reasons.
holm) that led to the creation of mental governance. Slow, ineffec- But there is more to annual COPs
the United Nations Environment tive and fragmented implementa- and Rio+20 than just a few days of
Programme (UNEP); 25 years since tion of the agreements is further inter-governmental get-together.
the influential Brundtland Report hampering governance of envi- These events are climaxes and
on sustainable development; and ronmental change. catalysers of processes they
20 years since the UN Conference are embedded in and which
on Environment and Develop- The unprecedented speed and include countless actors includ-
ment (Rio de Janeiro) that resulted magnitude of these changes, as ing business associations, youth
in Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration indicated by numerous science movements, major group repre-
and the three Rio Conventions. All assessments, raises urgency for a sentatives, regional organizations,
are major achievements in gover- global, effective architecture for cities alliances, and many NGOs.
nance of sustainability. governance of sustainability that
can adapt to changing circum- For example, the two themes of
But 2012 is not just about com- stances, that involves civil society, the Rio+20 Conference — green
memorating highlights from the that is accountable and legitimate economy in the context of sustain-
past. A number of conferences beyond the nation state and that able development and poverty
important to global environmen- is fair for everyone. Such earth eradication, and the institutional
tal change and sustainable devel- system governance is imperative framework for sustainable devel-
opment will take place in 2012: in order to navigate the anthropo- opment — have received ample
the 18th Conference of Parties to cene and to provide stewardship attention by these actors over the
the United Nations Framework for the planet. past year already, and will increas-
Convention on Climate Change ingly do so as the conference
(UNFCCC COP18), the G20 In this regard, this year’s con- draws closer.
Summit, but first and foremost ferences should not follow the
the United Nations Conference trend set in 2011 when the COP17 The global environmental change
on Sustainable Development agreed on postponing agree- research community has also
(Rio+20). ment, and the Rio+20 process joined this process towards
has become known to the Rio+20. For example, the four
However, there have been plenty general public by the decision to global environmental change
of conferences, action plans, road research programmes (IHDP, IGBP,
4 • APN Newsletter May 2012

3. DIVERSITAS and WCRP), as orga- of governance for sustainability. Steven Bernstein, Michele M.
nizers of their joint Planet under This vision is called the “Hakone Betsill, Harriet Bulkeley, Benjamin
Pressure Conference, have com- Vision”, named after the venue of Cashore, Jennifer Clapp, Carl
missioned nine policy assess- the workshop in Japan at which Folke, Aarti Gupta, Joyeeta Gupta,
ments with the aim to make it was developed in September Peter M. Haas, Andrew Jordan,
concrete science-based policy 2011. In March 2012, these efforts Norichika Kanie, Tatiana Klu-
recommendations for Rio+20. culminated in the publication of vánková-Oravská, Louis Lebel,
One of these assessments focuses “Navigating the Anthropocene: Diana Liverman, James Mead-
Guest article
on the institutional framework for Improving Earth System Gov- owcroft, Ronald B. Mitchell, Peter
sustainable development and has ernance” in Science. This article Newell, Sebastian Oberthür,
been compiled based on state- builds on the Policy Brief and is Lennart Olsson, Philipp Pattberg,
of-the-art social sciences by the inspired by the Hakone Vision. Roberto Sánchez-Rodríguez,
Earth System Governance Project. Heike Schroeder, Arild Underdal,
Overall, the contributions by the Susana Camargo Vieira, Coleen
The Policy Brief for example rec- earth system governance research Vogel, Oran R. Young. Assessment
ommends applying systems of community call for a constitu- managers: Andrea Brock, and
qualified majority voting in spec- tional moment — the beginning Ruben Zondervan. 2011. Trans-
ified areas to strengthen inter- of a reform process leading to forming governance and institu-
national environmental treaties; transformative change of sustain- tions for a planet under pressure.
creating multilaterally harmo- ability governance. The year 2012 Revitalizing the institutional
nized systems that allow for dis- offers an opportunity for this. No framework for global sustain-
criminating between products on more, no less. ability: Key Insights from social
the basis of production processes; science research. Planet Under
developing or strengthening reg- Pressure Policy Brief, 3 (http://
ulatory frameworks on inter alia References: www.earthsystemgovernance.
emerging technologies for water, Biermann, Frank, Kenneth Abbott, org/publication/biermann-frank-
food and energy; upgrading Steinar Andresen, Karin Bäck- institutional-framework-global-
UNEP to a specialized UN agency; strand, Steven Bernstein, Michele sustainability)
improving national governance; M. Betsill, Harriet Bulkeley,
strengthening and streamlin- Benjamin Cashore, Jennifer Earth System Governance Project
ing public-private governance Clapp, Carl Folke, Aarti Gupta, (editor). 2011. Towards a Charter
networks and partnerships; and Joyeeta Gupta, Peter M. Haas, Moment. Hakone Vision on Gov-
crucially, strengthening account- Andrew Jordan, Norichika Kanie, ernance for Sustainability in the
ability and legitimacy. Tatiana Kluvánková-Oravská, 21st Century. Tokyo: International
Louis Lebel, Diana Liverman, Environmental Governance Archi-
Many interesting ideas have been James Meadowcroft, Ronald B. tecture Research Group. 2011.
tabled by others as well, includ- Mitchell, Peter Newell, Sebas- (http://www.earthsystemgover-
ing ideas on an ombudsperson tian Oberthür, Lennart Olsson, nance.org/publication/earth-sys-
for future generations, regional Philipp Pattberg, Roberto Sán- tem-governance-project-editor-
conventions on transparency, a chez-Rodríguez, Heike Schroeder, towards-charter-moment)
sustainable development council Arild Underdal, Susana Camargo
and sustainable development Vieira, Coleen Vogel, Oran R.
goals. Many of them still lack Young, Andrea Brock, and Ruben
rigorous scientific assessment, Zondervan. 2012. Navigating the
hence posing interesting new Anthropocene: Improving Earth
challenges and fields for research. System Governance. Science, 335
(6074): 1306–1307. (http://www.
The Earth System Governance ear thsystemgovernance.org/
Project has taken the initiative to news/2012-03-15-navigating-
further investigate these reform anthropocene-improving-earth-
directions and proposals and — system-governance)
based on existing knowledge
and findings from science — to Ruben Zondervan
Biermann, Frank, Contributing
provide an ambitious vision for the authors: Kenneth Abbott, Steinar
Executive Director, Earth
required transformative change Andresen, Karin Bäckstrand, System Governance Project
Governance for Sustainability towards Rio+20 • 5