Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 7.1
Interview responses regarding the benefi ts of consultative status and informal
ties with IGOs
Benefi ts of consultative status
Benefi ts of informal relationships
•
Receipt of UN documents
•
Distribution of position
papers
•
Access to UN meetings
•
Guidelines for agency
accreditation and Meeting
participation
•
Interpretation of UN documents
•
Feedback on position papers
•
Insight into country delegation positions
and political context
•
Insight into other UN agencies and personnel
•
Consideration when opportunities arise
•
Information and introduction re: other
organizations with similar interests
•
Co-sponsorship of events and projects
•
Funding opportunities
•
Inside, “privileged” information
moments to increase NGO responsiveness and infl uence (Caniglia 2001;
Dodds 2004 Hemmati 2002). Table 7.1 highlights the distinct benefi ts
that NGOs receive from formal consultative status and informal ties with
intergovernmental personnel.
To strengthen their position at the UNFCCC, NGOs formed a loose
self-organizing committee, which meets daily and has been coordinated
by Climate Action Network (CAN). CAN is a massive network of NGOs
from around the world and carries a great deal of scientifi c and moral
authority as a representative of civil society interests at the climate
change talks; they also publish
ECO
, a daily NGO newsletter that
reviews and comments on the negotiations expected to take place that
day. Members of government delegations have been known to approach
CAN to have statements published in
ECO
, which is one indicator of
how successful this publication has been at elevating NGO viewpoints
inside the UNFCCC (Pulver 2005). Throughout the negotiating sessions,
the NGOs arrange meetings with government delegations and lobby
those delegates in hallways, bathrooms, just about anywhere they can
fi nd them. One NGO delegate is reported to have taken up smoking as
an excuse to congregate with government delegates as they smoked
outside the negotiating hall!
3
In general, NGO infl uence is restricted to these informal avenues of
access. As Newell (2008) points out, NGOs at the UNFCCC are restricted
to traditional lobbying, shame-and-blame strategies, and watchdog roles.
This does not suggest that nonstate actors cannot infl uence the process;
