IMAGE CREDIT:GENEVA ENVIRONMENT NETWORK

Introduction

September 2024 will be a momentous time for the world as the global governing body, the United
Nations(UN), is poised to change if not substantially, at least appreciably. With the anticipated changes
in the UN, global governance will equally change, and with it, we shall likely begin to view the world in
a manner substantially different from that we do today. Even if the current UN reform does not reach
the threshold of catalytic reforms, the buzz already created around the UN and global governance will
remain on the global agenda for the foreseeable future. As of April 2024, plans are at advanced stages
in various regions of the world in attempts to shape the nature of the proposed reforms at the UN. But
how did we get here and what is African agency in the unprecedented reform of global governance?
This discussion paper lays out the brief history of the reform process now commonly referred to as the
Summit of the Future, with the abbreviation, SOTF, entering global diplomatic lingua, like SDGs.
The paper is exclusively based on a review of key documents relating to the Summit of the Future. The
aim is to provide key developments leading to the Summit. This paves the way for analysis of the zero
draft of the Pact of the Future, the document that will be refined and probably endorsed during the
September 22-23, 2024 Summit in New York. An eclectic reading of African perspectives is presented
with the understanding that a future version will delve a little more into the question of African agency.

Reform of The Global Governance System PDF