NGOs and the environment: From knowledge to action

The place of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in international governance seems nowhere more securely established than in the field of environmental action.1 Within the United Nations system, NGOs have been recognized as essential contributors to environmental protection for well over a decade. The 1987 report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, urged governments ‘to recognise and extend NGOs’ right to know, and have access to information on the environment and natural resources; their right to be consulted and to participate in decision-making on activities likely to have a significant effect on the environment; and their right to legal remedies and redress when their health or environment may be seriously affected.’2 The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro confirmed by numbers alone that NGOs had taken their place beside states and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), in particular, those of the United Nations (UN) system, as rightful participants in environmental management. The Global Forum for NGOs held concurrently with the official Earth Summit drew representatives from some 7,000 organizations, outnumbering governments present by about one hundred to one.3 More important, the intense preparatory activity in the non-governmental sector leading up to and through the Rio conference showed that environmental NGOs had developed extensive skills in scientific and technical exchange, policy-making and policy-implementation, which supplemented their more traditional roles in campaigning, activism and ideological consciousness raising.4