The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has convened regional consultations with civil society in the lead up to UNEP’s Global Civil Society Forum (GCSF) in February 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya, to identify regional priorities and perspectives on: gender and the environment; water; chemicals management; poverty and the environment; and globalization, ecosystem services and human well-being.

Each regional consultation will develop a regional statement, which will be further discussed during the GCSF and UNEP’s Governing Council, to be held from 5-9 February 2007 following the GCSF and in the same venue.
The European Regional Consultations (23-25 October 2006, Geneva, Switzerland) discussed UN reforms and international environmental governance, and the need for compliance enforcement, dispute settlement, liability and voting mechanisms for multilateral environmental agreements. Consultations in West Asia (31 October-1 November, Manama, Bahrain) focused also on war and the environment: understanding environment, conflict, and cooperation. Among the recommendations coming out of the consultations in North America (2-3 November, Washington DC) were calls for: developing effective institutional and participatory frameworks for water management; working toward a globally binding instrument on heavy metals, possibly through an existing MEA and identifying specific actions to eliminate lead and cadmium, particularly through the final elimination of lead in gasoline; provision of adequate resources to implement UNEP’s Gender Plan of Action; exploring opportunities to set up schemes and link beneficiaries to producers of ecosystems services; and assessing the impact of global commodity trading on ecosystems and ecosystem services. Other consultations were held in: Africa (26-27 October, Nairobi, Kenya); Latin America and the Caribbean (1-2 November, Bogotá, Colombia); and Asia and the Pacific (2-3 November, Seoul, Korea).
Links to further information
UNEP press releases:
Civil Society Partners Discuss Environmental Agenda
Conflict, Water and Chemicals top West Asia Civil Society Talks
European regional statement