New "Small Grant": Development of an Environmental Diplomacy Training Programme – 16.11.06
During the last twenty years, growing environmental awareness world-wide has resulted in the development of a number of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). Even though this impressive "body" of environmental law has been signed and ratified by a large number of countries, it remains far from fully enforced, due to the lack of adequate legislative and operational arrangements at the national level. A major obstacle in this regard is the lack of skills at the negotiation table and decision-making level.
In many instances the failure of governments to agree on and implement common environmental policies is due to a lack of scientific understanding and diplomatic ability to grasp all aspects of environmental imperatives and negotiate them in international forums. Complex and politically sensitive areas of environmental concern, which emerged in the 1990s, such as climate change or biodiversity, have challenged many governments in both the industrialised and developing world to adapt or acquire new negotiation skills.
This is why the united Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the University of Geneva have developed an Environmental Diplomacy Training Programme responding to this need, drawing on the unique concentration of environment and sustainable development related institutional resources, scientific expertise and multilateral experience in Geneva. The program is oriented towards teaching the practical skills and techniques necessary to bridge divides, build consensus positions and negotiate agreements on the environment and sustainable development.
Within the framework of the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN) "Small Grants" program, the partners of this project will develop four additional modules to this training programme: water, energy, public participation and negotiation techniques. They will also explore the potential of adapting and conducting the courses at other universities in the world.
For additional information, please contact:
Mr. Frits Schlingemann , Director and Senior Advisor, Regional Office for Europe, UNEP, tel.: + 41 22 917 82 76, e-mail: frits.schlingemann@unep.ch
Related Project(s)
Related Output(s)
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Certificate of Advanced Studies in Environmental Diplomacy 2007
(available in English only) > more |