Before becoming involved in any negotiation, a negotiator is expected to have a clear brief outlining what deliverables his/her government expects. In this regard, one is expected to know his/her government’s interest and bottom-line, and to prepare both his/her aspirations and reserve positions accordingly. Having reviewed the documents of the meeting one can prepare scenarios and options to guide his/her interventions.
In preparing for a position or intervention, it is important for a negotiator to under-stand and influence his/her own group’s position, especially in respect of the coun-tries within his/her bloc which are not in line with his/her position. This contributes to the knowledge of a negotiator of the strengths and weaknesses of his/her position, and to maximizing his/her options during the negotiation process. The negotiator’s bloc must consider the possible targets and goals of other negotiating groups and consider bloc-specific aspiration and reserve positions.
It may be important to find out where a negotiator can agree or make concessions with others. Once a negotiator understands others’ positions, he or she can ask him-self or herhim-self: What can I do all by myhim-self to pursue my interests? What can I do directly to influence the other side to make them respect my interests? How can I bring a third party into the situation in order to further my interests? In this regard,
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Multilateral Environmental Diplomacy and Negotiations
the negotiator may need to inform other blocs of his/her interest as he/she justifies the importance of his/her position.
When other negotiating blocs present their own positions, the negotiator can trans-late them in terms of concrete interests. To avoid unnecessary conflicts, however, there may be a need to depersonalize interventions where possible to prevent escala-tion of tensions and creaescala-tion of an adversarial negotiating environment.
If the negotiator wants to object that the text proposed by other parties is unaccept-able, he/she is expected to justify his/her position with solid reasons, to defend it with the key points contained in his proposal, and to seek support from others. In this regard, a negotiator will have to listen carefully to the objections of others and to identify his/her potential issue-related allies. As a negotiator tracks the convergence of views, not all negotiators from the other side may differ with his/her position; and he/she might be able to identify potential like-minded governments with whom is-sue-specific alliances or coalitions could be forged.
Once negotiations devolve into smaller groups, such as contact groups, a negotiator can advance his/her position there aggressively, considering his/her position as the negotiations progress. One can then prepare the strategy and possible concessions, be prepared for tactical retreats, and change course toward his/her goal. If the nego-tiations do not go as planned and desired, the negotiator is not expected to over-defend his/her position, or to corner himself/herself. There is always an option of asking the meeting to reflect his/her view in the report of the meeting, which may not change the outcome of the meeting but could be a source of explanation in the future when the same issue arises. In a contact group, one can frame a problem into a ‘win–win’ solution by addressing all interests of the parties, and by identifying the general criteria that must be respected in an acceptable result. Working towards a
‘win–win’ solution means that all sides must present multiple proposals. This will require developing more than one proposal in an effort to reach common ground as the group works towards consensus.
7 Conclusion
Although multilateral environmental negotiations differ from one MEA or UN meeting to another, depending on the size and objective of the meeting, there are clear features that one can identify that cut across MEA processes and meetings. This paper was an attempt to elaborate processes in major multilateral environmental negotiations which are not necessarily followed to the letter in smaller meetings of MEAs but can guide those who attend such meetings on understanding the proc-esses and the role of the actors. The information provided in this paper can also assist those who wish to organize major UN conferences to understand the role of the various phases in meetings and players and what they seek to accomplish.
17 Sylvia Bankobeza To be effective, a negotiator is expected to understand MEAs, the principles of envi-ronmental law, and the synergies and inter-linkages of various MEAs because these issues regularly surface and can be of added value to a negotiator when deliberating on MEAs. When negotiators understand the various formats of the sessions and strategies and actively participate, it levels the playing field in multilateral environ-mental negotiation by actively involving negotiators in the whole process of nego-tiation.
The current multilateral environmental negotiation processes are increasingly being negotiated through blocs. Information and materials for meetings are currently being provided online through websites. The era of paperless meetings and preference for bloc negotiations is here and will be the way to go in the future. A true victory in multilateral environmental negotiations is one where all blocs regard the outcome as fair and equitable with all interests having been addressed in some way.
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