An Evolutionary Perspective On Governance and Sustainability

1. An Evolutionary Perspective On Governance and Sustainability Tom Jacob T.R. Jacob & Associates, LLC

2. An Era of Transition • Yesterday: Environment/Sustainability not yet in public consciousness • Tomorrow: Deeply ingrained ethical imperatives • Change will come • Governance decision will shape the pace of adaptive change

3. Roots of Environmental Governance • Nation State –> Regulatory Control • Point source waste & emissions • Contained in sovereign bounds • Limited range of fixes • Limited, identifiable actors • Institutionalized Responses • Environment ministries/agencies • Emphasis on permitting/enforcement • State the agent of governance

4. A Conjunction of Evolutionary Forces • Emerging environmental ethic • As systemic force, the product of our lifetimes • Globalization • Accelerating interconnectedness of peoples and institutions • Communications, transportation, technology • Erosion of sovereign boundaries

5. Civilization - Historic Model Economic Concerns Social/Cultural Concerns Sovereign State

6. Environment Emerges as Global Force Economic Concerns Social/Cultural Concerns Environmental Concerns

7. Civilization - Emerging Model? Economic Concerns Social/Cultural Concerns Environmental Concerns

8. Erosion of Sovereign Boundaries Economic Concerns Social/Cultural Concerns Environmental Concerns

9. The Nation State • Still dominant organizing institution, but... • ...Constrained by sovereign bounds • …Struggling to adapt to global forces • Experiments in shared sovereignty • EU, WTO, MEAs, etc? • Imperative to re-assert some measure of control

10. …But Environmental Challenge Also Evolving • Science advancing awareness and sophistication • New dimensions of “Environmental concerns” • Subtle effects • Long term • Myriad of sources • Expanding range of activities and products • “life-cycle” considerations

11. Implications for Governance • Old Challenge: • Discrete, readily manageable range of actors • Well-understood problems • Within jurisdiction of sovereign state to contain and regulate • New Challenge: • Subtle impacts • Ever-expanding range of concerns, • Myriad of ”actors” • Beyond sovereign control • Can old “governance” model work?

12. The Answer Evolving Around Us • Key institutional forces • Corporation: capacity to mobilize resources across sovereign bounds • Public Interest Community: capacity to mobilize ideas across sovereign bounds • Both adapting to take on quasi- regulatory roles in international environmental (and sustainability) governance

13. The Corporation • Historic paradigm: Corporation as enabler of mass society • Meeting needs/wants of global mass society • “The business of business is business” • Emerging paradigm: Corporation as enabler of long term, sustainable well-being • De-emphasize “mass” • New emphasis on social and environmental responsibility • Linking global economic actors

14. The Public Interest Community • Historic paradigm: • Awareness raising • “Watchdog” • “Public conscience” • Confrontational • Emerging paradigm: • Purveyor of information • “Provider of solution” • Strategic alliances • Propagating awareness and solutions to furthest reaches

15. Examples of New “Governance” • Markets as “change agent” - Wal-Mart • Government-Industry-Public Interest collaboration - OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nano Materials • International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

16. The Challenge Going Forward… • For public interest • Demands for discipline and accountability • For private sector • New responsibility for environment and social • “The business of business is no longer just business” • For Governments • Shed narrow preoccupation with regulatory control model • Harness international governance contribution of Civil Society

17. Sustainable Development Economic Concerns Social/Cultural Concerns Emerging Domain of Civil Society? Environmental Concerns

18. Bye, Now...thomas.r.jacob@gmail.com