EDITOR’S NOTE

Dear friends,

The planet’s future will be decided by Asia and Africa, home to three-fourth of the world’s population. The populations of both continents are young. They want to be educated and have access to basic amenities—drinking water, food, electricity, housing and healthcare. Most importantly, they want jobs.

How will Africa and Asia meet these needs? Will they grow like the US, consuming vast amounts of resources and spewing pollutants? Or will they chart a new path to prosperity?

The above questions are at the core of a new initiative of the Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE’s) South-South Network of Environment Regulators, which aims to bring environmental regulators from different countries in Asia and Africa on a common platform to engage in constructive dialogues and share knowledge and best practices.

Environment regulators have an important role in ensuring that environmental acts and regulations are soundly framed, environmental monitoring is conducted and compliance assured. With this crucial role to play, it is important that they understand contemporary environmental challenges, update their knowledge on a regular basis and are abreast of new developments.

Interacting and networking with regulators from different countries is also key to promoting experience and knowledge sharing, leading to the identification of common issues and the possibility of collaborating to address these issues.

Keeping the above in mind, CSE is pleased to introduce a newsletter, Environmental Governance in the Global South, to be circulated on a monthly basis. This initiative aims at keeping the regulators informed with the latest news, stories, developments and events in the Global South. The newsletter will highlight the latest news, stories and publications as well as upcoming events and announcements from the Global South. 

I would encourage you to support this initiative by joining and actively participating in this network. I also hope that you will enjoy reading our newsletters and will send your valuable feedback to us.

Chandra Bhushan