CIVICUS speaks with Anja Olin-Pape, Head of Strategy at the Global Challenges Foundation, about the deficits of the global governance system and civil society’s proposals for reform.
The Global Challenges Foundation is a Sweden-based international civil society organisation dedicated to promoting improved global decision-making models to reduce and mitigate global catastrophic risks. Anja leads the Foundation’s work on UN reform and policy issues, with a focus on global risk governance, accountability and interfaces between science and policy.
What are the major global challenges your organisation works on?
The Global Challenges Foundation is dedicated to mitigating global catastrophic risks with enhanced global governance. We have recently released our 2023 annual report on global catastrophic risks. Our primary areas of concern are climate change, ecological collapse and weapons of mass destruction.
We assess the global governance system’s responses to these risks and the limitations of our joint capability to tackle them. Our job is to enhance the existing global governance system to overcome its gaps, inequalities and fragmentation, as well as the disconnect among international institutions.
We do so by supporting international organisations, researchers and partners with financial resources and helping them grow their networks and capabilities. We have supported, for example, the High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism and the Earth Commissions research on planetary boundaries. We are also supporting the United Nations’ (UN) processes towards the upcoming Summit of the Future, as well as civil society and member states. The science-policy interface is a priority for us.
How able to address pressing global challenges do you think global governance institutions are?
First of all, we should acknowledge the importance and success of our current multilateral system. We have a system we can lean on. When global risks arise, we have international forums tasked with addressing them.
But the tools we have could be used better. They should also be adapted to meet the needs of the 21st century. We have far-reaching global goals and an international rule of law system, but our commitments lack implementation. The international system lacks sufficient accountability mechanisms and the current power dynamics prevent the effective use of the tools that do exist. To act on the goals and objectives that we set for ourselves, we need to enhance implementation, follow-up and accountability mechanisms.
We also need to enhance legitimacy, by enhancing transparency and overcoming inequality in the international system. It results in short-sightedness and an inability to make the decisions we need at the time and scale that we need them. The system doesn’t provide enough access to civil society and falls short in democratic participation.
How could the main flaws of the global governance system be corrected?
One of the global governance system’s main flaws is its lack of flexibility, which hinders transformation. We are locked in a fragmented system by our siloed approach to risks and lack of recognition that global challenges are interlinked. Deciding what type of system we want is also a big challenge.
We need to address risks holistically and deal with the trade-offs and conflicts of interest that hinder transformation. Leaders also face a major trade-off: they are responsible to their people but also need consider future generations and shape the planet’s future on a global scale. We need to reassess short-term returns and steer our thinking and decision-making on an international scale. We also need to improve our foresight capabilities instead of waiting for the correct policy to be put in place once an issue arises.
We must improve the way we negotiate, make decisions and implement them. Under the current system, the typical outcome is the lowest common denominator solution. Take the Paris Agreement, for example: the 1.5 degrees goal is just the joint lowest common denominator that countries could agree on. Still, in order to meet it, we need to work our way forward freeing ourselves of those that drag us behind. By changing the way they cooperate and promoting innovative approaches to decision-making and implementation, states could build on existing institutions rather than starting from scratch.
How is the Global Challenges Foundation working towards change?
The Global Challenges Foundation is a financing organisation that supports researchers who innovate in developing approaches to enhance global safety and foster thriving communities, ensuring the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals. We support civil society and the private sector in developing ideas for change within the international system.
We focus both on relevant policy topics and blue-sky thinking. Some of our projects include a search for answers to questions such as: what would a completely new body within the UN system look like? How can we make climate change summits more impactful? How can civil society, particularly young people’s voices, be better heard? What reforms should be prioritised for the benefit of future generations? How can the UN become a more effective organisation? How can we assist member states dependent on the system to strengthen their positions and promote their ideas about the multilateral arena?
How can civil society play a bigger role in shaping global governance?
Civil society already plays a significant role in the global governance system. It is a vital tool for achieving a more democratic system, which is particularly crucial if we consider that many country leaders fail to truly represent their people. Civil society fosters accountability and transparency. It pays attention to when and by whom decisions are made and how they affect people. It promotes bottom-up approaches and connects the local to the global, bringing an understanding of the reality on the ground into the global governance system.
Civil society should keep working on fact-checking and promoting accountability in the international space. And to play even bigger role, it should seek allies among UN member states while making sure they respond to people’s needs. Civil society should not only push its own agenda on member states but also work with them on defining the agenda and policy responses. Member states constantly struggle to keep up with everything that happens within the UN space, so civil society may come in handy here too.
Get in touch with the Global Challenges Foundations through its website or LinkedIn page, and follow @ChallengesFnd and @anjaolinpape on Twitter.
This interview was conducted as part of the ENSURED Horizon research project funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
