Environmental governance and development cooperation : achievements and challenges

Environmental governance can be understood as 'the establishment, the reaffirmation or change of institutions (policies, laws, procedures, practices and organisations) to resolve conflicts - overt or latent - between actors over environmental resources. Environmental governance takes place at many levels of society through statutory as well as through customary institutions and with the involvement of a wide range of actors. As societies change and new economic actors as well as new ways of using natural resources develop, the need for the establishment of a statutory framework for environmental governance is accentuated. In 1987, when the Brundtland Commission's report Our Common Future was published, only nine out of 103 developing countries counted on national environmental legislation. In 2008, this number had grown to 86. In addition, also a framework for international environmental governance has been developed. This report provides an overview of these achievements and examines the extent to which development cooperation has contributed. Moreover, based on case studies from Kenya, Nicaragua, Niger and Vietnam, the report summarises the challenges ahead for environmental governance and development cooperation.