THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT:Environmental Concerns and IR, Some Other Issues

<< THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT:Global Concern for the Environment

HOW IR DIFFER FROM DOMESTIC POLITICS?:Strategies for altering state behavior >>

International Relations-PSC 201

LESSON 43

THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

Current Scope of Environmental Cooperation

Since 1970, hundreds of international environmental instruments have been concluded. Including bilateral

and multilateral instruments (binding & non-binding), there are almost 1,000 international legal instruments

with one or more environmental provisions. Most countries are signatories to some or many of these

agreements.

Relevant stakeholders concerning environmental laws include not only states but corporations,

intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. At the 'Earth Summit' in Rio in 1992, the

international community affirmed that current patterns of economic and social development are not

sustainable.

The subject-matter of international environmental agreements has expanded significantly from the focus in

the first half of this century on facilitating navigation, guaranteeing fishing rights, and protecting particularly

valued animal species. The duties have also become more comprehensive: from a focus on research and

monitoring to provisions for reductions in pollutants.

The scope of international agreements has expanded greatly from transboundary to global pollution

agreements; from preservation of designated species to that of ecosystems; from control of direct emissions

into lakes to comprehensive river-basin-system regimes; from agreements taking effect

beyond

national borders to ones that constrain activities within national borders, such as those for world heritages

and wetlands.

Individual countries have also negotiated many global agreements. For e.g., the Vienna Convention on the

Protection of the Ozone Layer provides a framework for ozone protection but also calls for research,

monitoring, and exchange of information between countries.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer; and Kyoto Protocol on Climate

Change are other significant global climate protection agreements.

Then there is the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their

Disposal and the London Guidelines for the Exchange of Information on Chemicals in International Trade.

In Asia, ASEAN has concluded the Convention on the Conservation of Nature, which provides ecosystem

protection and controls on trade in endangered species.

Environmental Concerns and IR

The relationship between economic development and environmental protection complicates the situation.

National interest has traditionally meant the identification of interests of one country that are distinct from

or even contrary to those of another.

Increasingly we recognize that the global environment has interests that are common to all countries. In the

case of ozone depletion, for instance, at the most basic level the US interest is not contrary to that of

England or Germany rather there is a common interest in controlling ozone depletion. For controlling

marine pollution, the transport of hazardous waste, or the concentrations of greenhouse gases, global

cooperation is vital.

Some Other Issues

There is ample evidence to suggest that it is more effective to prevent pollution and natural-resource

degradation, such as eroded watersheds, than to compensate for damages caused. Often the damages are

irreversible, or if reversible, they have high costs.

International Relations-PSC 201

There is no way to calculate accurately damages to the natural environment to provide compensation. More

recent international environmental instruments recognize the importance of including all relevant parties in

the agreements.

Developing countries need economic incentives, such as technical assistance and financial support, and

differentiated implementation schemes for developing countries.

It is well known that poverty is a primary form of ecological degradation. Thus, meeting the basic needs of

peoples is essential to environmental conservation.

Thus, sustainable environmental protection requires cooperation between states and between different

groups within states. The reconciliation and integration of environmental protection with economic growth,

including environmental measures and trading practices is crucial.

Relevant Vocabulary

Provisions supplies or necessities

Endangered in fear of extinction

Compensation - payment for damages, or a reward for doing something

Degradation dilapidation or ruin

Suggested Readings

Students are advised to visit the following websites to develop a better understanding of the various

principals highlighted in this hand-out:

Centre for Health and Global Environment

www.med.harvard.edu/chge/

Beyond Kyoto

John Browne, "Beyond Kyoto," Foreign Affairs, July/August 2004

Table of Contents: