We can very much recommend a detailed and analytical introduction and overview of the key organizations that make up la Genève Internationale:

Partnerships for the Planet.

It has been published as a book and online jointly by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, WBCSD, UNEP, and IUCN under the coordination of Paul Garnier, Diplomatic Counselor at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN in Geneva.

English Version

http://www.partnerships4planet.ch/

Version française

http://www.partnerships4planet.ch/index_fr.html

"Stories from Geneva – a project combining a booklet and a website – provides, in the words of the personalities leading these efforts, the concrete stories of alliances between organizations, partnerships between organizations and the private sector and initiatives that contribute to give Geneva its unique position as a crossroads for sustainable development and an interface between environment, economy and social issues. This website also includes stories that could not be featured at full length in the booklet and invites institutions to post new stories of Geneva's partnerships for generating truly shared action to promote partnerships for the planet."

"Partenariats pour la Planète : expériences de Genève – un projet combinant une brochure et un site Internet – présente, dans les propres mots des personnalités menant ces efforts, les expériences concrètes d'alliances entre organisations, de partenariats entre organisations et le secteur privé et d'initiatives qui contribuent à donner à Genève sa place unique de carrefour du développement durable et d’interface entre les questions environnementales, économiques et sociales. Ce site inclut également une série d'expériences qui n'ont pas pu être exposées dans leur totalité au sein de la brochure et invite les institutions à afficher de nouvelles histoires de partenariats de Genève pour contribuer, ensemble, à une véritable action commune en faveur d'alliances « vertes » pour le développement durable."

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This section can be seen primarily as a guide to those Geneva-based organizations which are involved in multilateral trade and environment discussions and negotiations. They include UN organizations, the WTO, specialized NGOs, and academic research groups.

In the context of the particular focus of this Web site, it is not exaggerated to call Geneva The world's Trade & Environment capital. The city is undoubtedly the most important city with regard to trade and environment discussions and negotiations. Trade issues are decided primarily in Washington DC and in Brussels. Environmental negotiations are more spread out, they take place primarily in Nairobi, the venue of the UN Environment's Secretariat, at the venues of the most important multilateral environmental agreements, and also in New York and in Geneva. Trade & Environment discussions and negotiations, however, take place primarily in Geneva thanks to the combined presence of the WTO, certain UN organizations, and their respective Permanent Missions. This has attracted a number of NGOs which are specialized in these issues (see the link bar on the left).