12.2.3.3 Civil society

Civil society refers to the arena of uncoerced collective action around shared interests, purposes and values (Rayner and Malone, 2000). In theory, its institutional forms are distinct from those of the state, family and market, although in practice, the boundaries between state, civil society, family and market are often complex, blurred and negotiated. Civil society commonly embraces a diversity of spaces, actors and institutional forms, varying in their degree of formality, autonomy and power. Civil societies are often populated by organizations such as registered charities, development non-governmental organizations, community groups, women’s organizations, faith-based organizations, professional associations, trades unions, self-help groups, social movements, business associations, coalitions and advocacy groups (Najam, 1996). As this definition emphasizes, civil society is closely related to the more recent concept of ‘social capital’. As described by Putnam (1993), social capital describes the overlapping networks of associational ties that bind a society together.

During the past three decades, the mantle of civil society has been increasingly claimed by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The NGO sector has experienced an explosion in numbers worldwide as well as a proliferation of types and functions. There is considerable debate about the extent to which NGOs claim to be or even represent civil society in the traditional sense can be maintained. Certainly, their dependence on either government or business raises questions about the extent to which they are truly independent of the state and the market. According to The Economist (2000), a quarter of Oxfam’s US$ 162 million income in 1998 was given by the British Government and the EU. World Vision US, which claims to be the world’s largest privately funded Christian relief and development organization, receives millions of dollars worth of resources from the US Government. The role of governments in supporting NGOs is not limited to financial support. At least one UK-based NGO has advised various small governments in climate negotiations and has even drafted text. Other NGOs are closely associated with the market sector, known as BINGOs (Business and Industry NGOs). A question frequently raised about NGOs is of accountability (Jordan and van Tuijl, 2006). Relatively few NGOs are directly accountable to members in the same way that governments are to voters or businesses are to shareholders, raising further questions about the extent to which their claims to the mantle of civil society are justified (Najam, 1996).

Whether they are truly ‘civil society’ or not, there is little doubt that NGOs can be effective in shaping development and environment. A multitude of interest groups, including civil society in its various manifestations, seek to influence the direction of national and global climate change mitigation policy (Michaelowa, 1998). Non-governmental organizations have been particularly active and often influential in shaping societal debate and policy directions on this issue (Corell and Betsill, 2001; Gough and Shackley, 2001; Newell, 2000). The literature on the various ways in which civil society, and especially NGOs, influence global environmental policy in general and climate policy in particular, points out that civil society employs ‘civic will’ to the policy discourse and that it can motivate policy in three distinct but related ways (Banuri and Najam, 2002). First, it can push policy reform through awareness-raising, advocacy and agitation. Second, it can pull policy action by filling the gaps and providing policy services such as policy research, policy advice and, in a few cases, actual policy development. Third, it can create spaces for champions of reform within policy systems so that they can assume a salience and create constituencies for change that could not be mobilized otherwise.

The image of civil society ‘pushing’ for environmental protection and climate change mitigation policies is the most familiar one. There are numerous examples of civil society organizations and movements seeking to push policy reform at the global, national and even local levels. The reform desired by various interest groups within civil society can differ (Michaelowa, 1998). But common to all is the legitimate role civil society has in articulating and seeking their visions of change through a multitude of mechanisms that include public advocacy, voter education, lobbying decision-makers, research, and public protests. Given the nature of the issue, civil society includes not only NGOs but also academic and other non-governmental research institutions, business groups, and broadly stated the ‘epistemic’ or knowledge communities that work on better understanding of the climate change problematic. Some have argued that civil society has been the critical element in putting global climate change into the policy arena and relentlessly advocating its importance. Governments have eventually began responding to these calls from civil society for systematic environmental protection and global climate change mitigation policies (Gough and Shackley, 2001; Najam et al., 2004). In particular, studies on the negotiation processes of global climate change policy (Levy and Newell, 2000; Corell and Betsill, 2001) highlight the role of non-governmental and civil society actors in advancing the cause of global climate change mitigation.

The role of civil society in ‘pulling’ climate change mitigation policy is no less important. In fact, the IPCC assessment process itself is a voluntary knowledge community seeking to organize the state of knowledge on climate change for policy-makers. It is an example of how civil society, and particularly how ‘epistemic’ or knowledge communities can directly add to or ‘pull’ the global climate policy debate (Siebenhuner, 2002; Najam and Cleveland, 2003). In addition, the knowledge communities as well as NGOs have been extremely active and instrumental in servicing the needs of national and sub-national climate policy. This is done in various ways: by universities and research institutions writing local and national climate change plans; by NGOs helping in the preparation of national climate change positions for international negotiations and increasingly being part of the national negotiation delegations (Corell and Betsill, 2001); by civil society and epistemic actors playing key roles in climate change policy assessments at all levels from the local to the global.

Finally, civil society plays a very significant role by ‘creating spaces for champions of policy reform’ and providing platforms where these champions can advance these ideas. The Pew Climate Initiative and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment are two examples of how civil society has created forums and space for discourse by different actors, and not just civil society actors, to interact and advance the discussion on where climate change mitigation and sustainable development policy should be heading. Increasingly, civil society forums such as these are very cognisant of the need to broaden the participation in these forums to other institutional sectors of society.