The first meeting of the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) consultative group of ministers on international environmental governance convened from 27-28 June 2009, in Belgrade, Serbia.

Participants adopted an outcome document stressing that any reform of environmental governance must be based on the principle that the form follows the substance. The next meeting will convene in Rome, Italy in the last quarter of 2009.
Immediately following the UNEP meeting, the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), together with the Global Environmental Governance Project, UNEP and the Horn of Africa Regional Environment Center, convened the Global Environmental Governance Forum, under the theme “Reflecting on the Past, Moving into the Future,” in Montreux, Switzerland, from 28 June-2 July 2009. The Forum brought together past, present, and future architects of the environmental governance system to devise options for a blueprint for reform of contemporary international environmental institutions, in light of the original vision for the system’s form and function. The outputs generated through the Forum are expected to offer an input for future international policy discussions to develop a more effective and coherent international environmental governance architecture.
Links to further information
Global Environmental Governance Project website
UNITAR website