Key Message
Making progress toward sustainable development demands that we get international decision-making right. IISD focuses on understanding what the right structures and mechanisms are for achieving optimal transparency, participation and accountability in our governance systems.
Video
The Citizen is Willing, But Society Won't Deliver: IISD's Javed Ahmad comments on the December 2008 book by Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent (Flash Video - 2:21 min)
Governance for Sustainable Development
Finding a better way
What's New in Governance?
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The Citizen is Willing, But Society Won't Deliver: The Problem of Institutional Roadblocks (PDF - 2.2 mb)
Government systems are often blighted by "institutional roadblocks" (IRs).These phenomena are profound and pervasive, and growing worse in many sectors. They apply especially to environmental problems, stemming as they often do from a lack of integration—whether economic, political or otherwise—among our principal institutions of governance. Plainly the environmental cause is failing. After decades of efforts by governments, businesses, media and others—and despite many success stories—we are losing ground faster than ever. Problems proliferate, leaving us trying to push ever-larger rocks up ever-steeper hills. How can we get ahead of the game and prevent problems from becoming problems in the first place? A key answer is to tackle the IRs. This new electronic book by Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent looks at why institutional systems prove singularly unsystematic, and why they often fail in spectacular fashion as concerns the environment. Why should this be so? What can we do about it? What are some success stories to point the way ahead? -
Our Common Inaction: Meeting the Call for Institutional Change (PDF - 264 kb)
IISD's President and CEO, David Runnalls, suggests that our failure to dramatically reform our domestic institutions and create an international architecture to respond to the challenges of sustainable development are the main reasons behind society’s inability to manage the threats that seem about to overwhelm us. This article appeared in the November/December 2008 issue of Environment Magazine.
The International Institute for Sustainable Development has long had an interest in governance as it relates to the achievement of sustainable development. From the institute's early days, our researchers, reporters and analysts have followed multilateral environmental agreements and other modes of national and international sustainable development decision-making.
As the need to improve the planet's condition intensifies, we have broadened our work and have learned a great deal about the flaws in current systems and opportunities for improvement.
Contents
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Global Environmental Governance
Given increasing evidence of environmental degradation, our system of global environmental governance needs reform urgently—not because it has failed, but because it has outgrown its original design. IISD has published and presented extensively on the subject. -
Internet Governance and Sustainable Development
Internet governance has been on the international agenda for a relatively short time and IISD is at the forefront in the effort to understand the points of convergence between Internet governance and sustainable development. -
Sustainable Development Strategies
IISD's work in understanding sustainable development strategy development includes a sharp focus on national-level strategies, including a discussion on the necessary governance structures. -
Transparency in International Environmental Decision-making
IISD's Reporting Services division provides access to credible and timely information regarding negotiations of multilateral environmental agreements that is accessible to the public as well as experts in the field.