Joint Brazil-China-Mexico Session
The Challenges of Social -Environmental governance
November 21-27, 2003
Bras¨ªlia and Piren¨®polis - Brazil

Conception and Methodology

The Session was conceived with the idea of providing a "journey" or an "over-flight" through different concepts and models of governance at their different levels. To establish the scope of the discussions, we will focus the issue of governance in the sphere of environmental policy, primarily from the government point of view at all levels - local, state, national and international.
To do so, the event will start with a discussion, in Brasilia, on a concrete institutional example for governance in the environmental area, which is the Brazilian case of the National Environment System (SISNAMA in its Portuguese abbreviation). This system, which aims to link the actions of all the bodies within the Federation in the management of the environment, is beset by challenges and difficulties in its implementation. As a result, we will have a base on which we can realize in concrete terms our conceptual discussions on governance.
Following this, each group will make a presentation, bringing concepts and cases that show situations with similarities to and differences from the Brazilian case. These presentations should provide information that will allow a comparison and add value to the view of governance of each group and the institutional forms proposed for the environmental policy of each participating country.
All the participants will then make a field trip to Piren¨®polis (in the neighboring state of Goi¨¢s) for a closer look at the social, political and environmental reality in which the SISNAMA has to operate. The observations will provide a counterpoint for a reflection on the complexity of this issue and the immense challenges of putting the aims of environmental policy into practice.
To enrich the debate, there will also be discussion panels, involving different players, on the environmental policy instruments within the State of Goi¨¢s and the Federal Government. There will also be a panel to discuss aspects of governance involving international natural resources.
Participants will have the opportunity to systematize and discuss the issues raised by the field visits, bearing in mind the experience of their own countries and information from the panels, and present their conclusions at the end of the Session, again in Bras¨ªlia. The Session does not intend to exhaust all issues related to governance, but we hope that all participants will be able to make a contribution to future reflection on important issues in their respective operating areas and that a dialogue will continue through the LEAD network.