
28th Annual Conference of the International Environment Forum
Developing a Vision for Global Collaboration
Report of the second event, 17 September 2024
Offering insights from a Baha’i perspective, the panel discussion revolved around transforming global governance toward a system that enables genuine global cooperation for human wellbeing and environmental sustainability.
Panelists:
Sovaida Maani Ewing: Director of the Center for Peace and Global Governance
Joshua Lincoln: Senior Fellow Center for International Law and Governance (CILG) at the Fletcher School of global affairs, Tufts University
Payam Akhavan: International Human Rights Lawyer
Moderator: Wendi Momen, MBE, FRSA
Scroll down for the biographies of the speakers.
Summary by IEF Member Philippe Gerling
To achieve meaningful change, we must first accept responsibility for the interconnected reality we’ve created, recognizing that global dangers like climate change and nuclear threats require collective solutions. Historian Arnold Toynbee emphasized the necessity of political unification to avoid catastrophe, suggesting that a world federation could emerge from a shift towards global governance based on the principles of oneness and equity. This would involve forming a supranational authority to manage critical resources and ensure equitable distribution, alongside a system of collective security. Drawing on historical examples like the European Coal and Steel Community, which succeeded in fostering cooperation among former adversaries, a similar model could be applied globally to address energy distribution, climate change, and nuclear proliferation. We must act swiftly and courageously, bridging individual and collective efforts to establish shared values and a global ethics framework that acknowledges our mutual responsibilities and interdependence.
The state of environmental and global governance reveals a critical need for reform due to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Current approaches are fragmented, with ineffective agreements like the Paris Agreement failing to create a cohesive strategy. The Summit of the Future and its Pact for the Future aim to address these challenges but primarily identify existing issues without offering innovative solutions. There is an increasing demand from developing nations for greater control over financial resources to tackle global problems, while ongoing negotiations around the Plastics Treaty illustrate the difficulties of reconciling commercial interests with environmental objectives.
Overall, while frameworks for addressing these challenges exist, meaningful progress hinges on collaborative efforts over time. The plight of small island states, often seen as the canary in the coal mine of climate change, highlights a stark power disparity between these vulnerable nations and major polluters whose greenhouse gas emissions threaten their very existence. Many of these islands face the imminent risk of disappearing due to rising sea levels. The principles of the Bahá’í Faith, particularly the oneness of humankind, underscore the urgent need for global cooperation in addressing climate change, which transcends national boundaries. Despite international legal frameworks, including the Paris Agreement, major polluters have largely evaded binding commitments to mitigate emissions. In response, small island states like Antigua, Barbuda and Tuvalu have sought recourse through international law, culminating in initiatives that led to an advisory opinion from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, recognizing greenhouse gas emissions as a form of pollution with binding obligations. This organic process highlights the necessity of integrating legal norms into climate negotiations to safeguard vulnerable communities. Ultimately, the fight against climate change demands a radical transformation in our values and behaviors, challenging the prevailing consumerist mindset that often prioritizes short-term gains over long-term sustainability.
This seminar highlighted a critical issue: while we may agree on certain values, existing institutions often prioritize shareholder profits over ethical considerations, leaving governance structures ill-equipped to address these challenges. Powerful corporate entities frequently evade accountability, contributing to the failures of the UN system and its agreements. Arthur Dahl’s extensive experience working with small island states and drafting key environmental frameworks underscores the persistent disconnect between scientific recommendations and the interests of influential actors who remain indifferent to pressing global issues. Addressing this governance gap is essential, requiring a concerted effort to hold these powerful entities accountable and to integrate their actions into the broader framework of sustainable development and environmental responsibility. Only then can we hope to align economic incentives with the values necessary for a sustainable future.
Individual Presentations
SOVAIDA MAANI EWING: BUILDING A WORLD FEDERATION — THE WAY TO BRIDGE OUR GLOBAL GOVERNANCE GAP
Our world is buffeted by a cascading series of global crises. Since humanity has become interconnected and interdependent as never before, it is subject to systemic risk. One of the most existential of these global challenges is the destruction by humans of our environment upon which we rely for our very life and sustenance as demonstrated by climate change and its accelerating and devastating impacts. This wanton destruction is spawning other crises including violent conflict. The only way to resolve such seemingly intractable challenges is to take principled and systematic collective action at a global level. Humanity must voluntarily take the next step in expanding the circle of integration and unity. The model offered by the Baha’i Writings is the creation of a world federation or a United States of the World. The remit of its authority would be limited to certain narrow areas in which common action is the only path to tackling the shared challenges. This idea of a world federation was promoted by Abdu’l-Baha, one of the Central Figures of the Baha’i Faith during His year-long travels in the United States in 1912. Other great thinkers like the famous 20th century historian Arnold Toynbee, have also called for the creation of a voluntary and limited world government. There are many exciting and impactful features of this vision, a few of which Sovaida highlighted during the dialogue.
JOSHUA LINCOLN: OBSERVATIONS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GLOBAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS AMIDST GEOPOLITICAL FRAGMENTATION, ECONOMIC DEGLOBALIZATION AND CRASHING PLANETARY BOUNDARIES
The inclusion of global governance reform as the fifth topic of the draft 2024 Pact for the Future reflects an accelerating acceptance that existing systems are no longer fit for purpose. Reform is seen as increasingly urgent. But meaningful global consensus on what comes next is elusive. The very divided geopolitical present makes progress toward that consensus even more challenging. At the same time, the Triple Planetary Crisis (climate change, pollution and biodiversity) is acting as a push factor for change even as it offers no direct answers for other global challenges such a nuclear proliferation or SDG implementation for example. Nonetheless, several specific milestones over the 2015-2025 decade are worth appraising more carefully. First, they offer clues about their own directions of travel. Second, they raise further questions about the evolving relationship between the brittle over-arching system of global governance and the fragmented emerging sub-system of environmental governance.
PAYAM AKHAVAN: THE QUEST FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE
Frustrated by the lack of meaningful progress in the COP negotiations under the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 2015 Paris Agreement, Small Island States, many of which face extinction because of rising sea-levels and extreme weather events, have exercised unprecedented global leadership in raising the obligations of the major polluters most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions before international courts and tribunals. In their quest for climate justice, their basic demand is that States respect their pre-existing obligations to prevent trans-boundary harm to climate vulnerable States, failing which they must provide compensation for loss and damages. What does the introduction of international law and "the polluter pays" principle mean for the future of COP negotiations at a time when the threat of catastrophic harm has reached an alarming stage?
Speaker biographies
![]() Sovaida Ma’ani Ewing is a prolific author, speaker, and international lawyer with 20 years of experience in public and private legal practice. She is the founding director of The Center for Peace and Global Governance (cpgg.org), a virtual think tank and online forum that pools and proposes principled solutions to pressing global challenges. She has published five books in the area of peace and global governance. Her latest book is “The Alchemy of Peace: 6 Essential Shifts in Mindsets and Habits to Achieve World Peace.” |
![]() Joshua Lincoln (PhD) is a Senior Fellow with the Center for International Law and Governance (CILG) at the Fletcher School of global affairs, Tufts University. He is also an advisor to leaders in government, business and non-profit organizations, sits on the advisory board of the Cambrian Futures Group and is a member of the New Carbon Economy Consortium. His current work includes projects on the governance implications of the global decarbonization shift and the negotiation and implementation of a plastics pollution treaty. |
Professor Payam Akhavan is the Chair in Human Rights at Massey College, University of Toronto, Visiting Professor at Sciences Po in Paris, Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and Special Advisor to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. He serves as counsel to the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the International Court of Justice. |
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Moderator Dr. Wendi Momen is a social activist and advocate, focusing on a cluster of issues that promote social justice: the advancement of women, poverty eradication, health, criminal justice, interfaith harmony, housing, the environment and business ethics. She is a trustee of Widows Rights International, an executive board member of the UK Civil Society Women’s Alliance, treasurer and trustee of Bedford Council of Faith, an ambassador for the National Alliance of Women’s Organisations, trustee of the Bahá’í Agency for Social and Economic Development UK and trustee of the Ashworth Charitable Trust and a member of two women’s organisations, Soroptimist International and Advance. She is co-founder and Governing Board member of Ethical Business Building the Future (ebbf.org) and a board member of the International Environment Forum. |
To see other events of the 28th Annual Conference, go here.

Last updated 3 October 2024