A global environmental watchdog modelled on the powerful World Trade Organisation (WTO) could be formed as part of any international climate change treaty, according to environment ministers meeting in Bali last week who agreed to form a new working group to investigate proposed reforms to environmental governance procedures.
Speaking to reporters at the close of the meeting, Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), signalled there was growing support for the formation of a new World Environment Organisation (WEO).
"The status quo... is no longer an option," he said of the current international environmental governance regime. "Within the broader reform options, the WEO concept is one of them."
He added that the 135 nations present at the meeting had agreed to establish a new high-level ministerial group to assess proposed reforms, which will convene within a few months.
Concerns over environmental ...