ABSTRACT
First a few words concerning a phrase you have already read many times in this document: ‘global environmental governance’ (also known as GEG). Each of the three words is important. The concept of ‘governance’ requires discussion because of the subtle but significant differences between it and the concept of ‘government.’1 Though they cover much of the same ground, governance is more than government. For example, according to the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS), the differences are between ‘a single authority and shared purposes and responsibilities.’2 Further, governance includes all of the ways that individuals and institutions plan and manage their common affairs and consists of ‘formal institutions, informal arrangements,’ and what citizens know and do.3 However, governance does not, as often believed, reduce the importance of a government since, as noted by the UNCHS, government still ‘holds the regulatory powers and the majority of fiscal responsibility;’ and, its ‘normative and political legitimacy’ helps to create and sustain the structures that encourage us to act together.
