Speaker: Prof. Dr. Lena Partzsch, Professor of Comparative Politics with a Focus on Environmental and Climate Politics, Freie Universität Berlin
In the last session of the ‘Stockholm+50’ lecture series, Prof. Partzsch first outlines the conception of the series and then draws a synthesis regarding (1) perceptions of sustainable development, (2) actors and institutions that have most mattered for governance efforts over the last decades, and (3) alternative and innovative forms of governance that exist and deserve more research attention for a transition to environmentally salient sustainability. The lecture series takes account of five decades of global environmental governance since the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. The starting point of the series was Agenda 2030, with which international community agreed on 17 wide-ranging goals.
The first lectures were dedicated to the ‘green goals’: SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 15 (Life on Land), SDG 14 (Life below Water), and SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation). A second part of the series dealt with environmentally relevant SDGs due to their sub-targets, in particular, SDG 7 (Clean and Affordable Energy), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). Finally, there were two lectures on those SDGs which are environmentally crucial in terms of implementation: SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
Drawing a synthesis, Prof. Partzsch concludes that lecturers agreed that (1) a ‘thinking in silos’ prevails in global sustainability governance. At the same time, throughout all environmental governance subfields, the environment has increasingly been perceived as a global commodity in recent decades. This causes tensions between those who have the means to exploit natural resources and those who do not. (2) Regarding actors and institutions, a fragmented and polycentric institutional landscape has hindered effective governance towards sustainability so far. (3) Finally, Prof. Partzsch outlines how voluntary actions as alternative forms of governance, including city networks and bottom up-civil society initiatives, give hope. She concludes however that global governance reforms are needed towards greater environmental sustainability.
Partzsch, L. (2023). "14: Synthesis: The Environment in Global Sustainability Governance". In Partzsch, L. (ed.) The Environment in Global Sustainability Governance. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press. [ Ссылка ]
