Case Study
- Amazon River Basin: deforestation
- Deforestation => SEA (Indonesia) => export (Malaysia and Singapore)
- Mahogony Trees (green gold) (Brazil) => export US, Europe, and Asia
- Greenpeace Initiatives
- 1982 ITTO
- 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
- 1993 World Wide Fund for Nature
- Forest Stewardship Council
Relating environmental problems to security, economics and human rights
- Poverty => demand of food and shelter => deforestation, pollution, exploitation of natural resources => environmental problems (economics)
- Environment => concern of sustainable use of natural resources => social movements => human rights
- Economic development => use of natural resources => shortage of resources => human security => competition of resources => violence or inter state wars
The emergence of the environment as an issue area
- In the 19th century (international commission for Rhine Danube River)
- First environmental organization: Society for the protection of birds (1889) and Sierra Club (1892)
- First international environmental NGO: society for the preservation of Wild Fauna of the empire
Pieces of global environmental governance
a. International ad hoc conferences and the articulation of norms: from Stockholm to Johannesburg
- The Stockholm conference:
o 1972: Stockholm conference or UN conference on the human environment (UNCHE)
o To bridge the divergent interest of the North and South by forging the conceptual links between development and environment:
§ North: preservation of species and transnational pollution
§ South: hamper economic growth and keep them underdeveloped
o 26 principles
o UNEP
- Moving to sustainable development
o 1983 World commission on Environment and development (WCED)
o Report of WCED: Our common future
o Sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
- Rio conference:
o 1992 UN conference on the environmental and development (UNCED)
o Largest UN sponsored global conference both in number of participants and in the scope of agenda
o Agenda 21 (800 pages blueprint)
o North and South accept that deforestation, degradation of water supplies, atmospheric pollution, and desertification are international threat to global environment
o North acknowledge that major responsibility of environmental problems rested on developed countries => increase foreign assistance for specific environmental institutions
o Commission on sustainable development and restructuring of the global environmental facility
o 1995 social summit in Copenhagen, 1995 fourth women’s conference in Beijing & 1996 habitat II conference in Istanbul => sustainable development
- Rio plus 10: Johannesburg summit (2002):
o To build on the ambitious, but ineffective agenda of Rio
o Disagreements:
§ South: more aid for economic growth
§ European: targets and timetables
§ US: target is useless
o Plan of implementation:
§ Access to clean water and proper sanitation and restoration of fisheries (2015)
§ Reduction of biodiversity loss (2010)
§ Better use of chemical (2020)
§ More use of renewable energy
b. NGO roles in environmental governance
- Play important role in environmental issues
- World Directory of environmental organizations
- Key functions of environmental NGOs:
o Serve as generalized international critics
o Function as epistemic communities
o Function through IGOs, try to alter the structure of the IGOs, offer mechanisms for dispute settlement, and work in tandem with IGOs
o Perform on site inspection functions
o Attempt to influence states’ environmental policy directly
c. Role of epistemic communities
- The dominant epistemic community in 1970s concerned with resources managers and liberal economists
- Include ecologist and environmental scientists => provide more scientific research to states in order to improve the environmental condition and law domestically
- Need to be nurtured, new research opportunities presented, and new networks developed
Global environment regimes and institutions
a. Principles of an environmental regime
- No significant harm principle (Principle 21 of Stockholm Declaration)
- Good neighbor principle (Principle 27 of Stockholm Declaration)
- Polluter pays principle
- Precautionary principle ( take action on basis of scientific warning)
- Preventive action principle
- Non-discrimination principle
- Sustainable development and intergenerational equity principle
b. Global environmental agreement
- 140 multilateral environmental agreements
- Before 1970s, agreement apply only to certain species or local or regional problems
- After 1970s, wide range economic activities and global problems
c. International environmental institutions
- Key roles of environmental institutions:
o Set standards and participate in the negotiation of the treaties
o Monitor state behavior
o Aid state members, NGOs, and IGOs in promotion of environmental standards
o Enforce environmental norms
- UNEP:
o Created in 1972
o Key roles:
§ Promote international cooperation in the field of the environment
§ Serve as an early warning system to alert the international community to environmental dangers
§ Provide guidance for the direction of environmental programs in the UN system
§ Review implementation of these programs
o Challenges:
§ Limited specialized agencies and national government
§ Small budget
§ Location outside UN centers
- Global environmental facility (GEF)
o Created 1991 by WB
o To fund environmental projects with global benefits in low and middle income countries
o Four priorities:
§ Ozone
§ International waters
§ Biodiversity
§ Climate change
o GEF ó WB, UNEP, UNDP, and NGOs
o Challenges:
§ Political problems
§ Overrepresented the interest of the North
§ Double majorities decision making process
- Commission on sustainable development (CSD)
o Created after Rio conference
o Key roles:
§ Encourage and monitor implementation of Agenda 21
§ Review reports from states
§ Coordinate sustainable development activities with the UN system
- WB:
o Largest multilateral donor for economic development
o Fund environmental projects
- GATT:
o Promotion of international trade were initially supportive of environmental initiatives
o Address conflicts between trade, development and environment
Global governance in action
a. Ozone depletion: anatomy of success
- Became important in 1975 after the publication of new data confirming a widening ozone hole over Antarctica
- Key factor to success is critical role of key nations (US, Canada, and Norway) that provide leadership in this issues
- Phases of operation:
o 1st phase: 1985 Vienna Convention
o 2nd phase: 1987 Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete ozone layer and 1990 London agreement
b. Global warming: the pitfalls of global governance
- Caused by greenhouse emission from burning of fossil fuels and deforestation
- 1992 UN framework convention on climate change
- Kyoto Protocol
o Stabilizing concentration of greenhouse gases and delineated international goals for reducing emission by 2010 (5% reduction)
o Exclude developing countries
- Montreal Protocol
o Carbon credit
o Include both developed and developing countries
Regional environmental governance
a. EU
- Strongest and most innovative environmental policies; Single European Act; Treaty of Amsterda; over 200 regulation covering air, water, soil, and waste disposal
b. NAFTA
- Promote sustainable development as well as strengthen and enforce environmental laws and regulations
c. ASEAN
- Incorporate NGOs in its activity; haze problems
- Normatively: do not share ecological identity
Materially: lack of capacity for monitoring and implementation
