1.0 Introduction

The core issue of natural resource and environmental governance involves the way societies deal with environmental problems to enable uninterrupted supply as well as the distribution of risks and rewards in an equitable manner. The exercise of involvement and the distribution of risks and rewards concern interactions among and between formal and informal institutions and actors within society that influence how environmental problems are identified and framed, the mechanisms for their resolution, which makes the decisions and how such decisions are executed effectively and efficiently.

Societies deploy many array of systems and mechanisms by which they gain access and protect their environmental and natural resources. People and nations protect the environment for a variety of reasons. These reasons can be summarized under four main headings namely: supply depot, repository of waste, provide identity and social relations, and for aesthetic value.

Since the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ghana has witnessed renewed interest in and concern over environmental issues. Increasing state enthusiasm towards meeting environmental challenges in Ghana has been reflected and reinforced following the United Nations conference on the environment in 1972 and also implementation of structural adjustment programme (SAP) in the early 1980s. The severe impacts of SAP on the environment and poor people cannot be neglected as key external factor that catalyzed rapid reforms and development of various environmental management instruments. 

External aid plays a critical role in the development of state policies and institutions for natural resources and environmental governance.  International institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank and some bilateral governments have taken an interest in the environmental and natural resource sectors of the country. Over the years, successive governments have conducted environmental programmes financially supported by these agencies. The natural resource and environmental governance (NREG) is one of such donor support natural resource and environment sector programmes.

This paper explores some of the policy gaps and outlines key advocacy opportunities in order to provide civil society organisations (CSOs) with policy advocacy agenda in the environment sub-sector of NREG. The paper begins by providing an overview of the circumstances leading to NREG and proceeds to briefly examine NREG as another donor support. Based on the brief examination, the paper identifies and proposes key policy issues for CSOs advocacy agenda for the environment sub-sector.