This work presents important papers which examine international environmental negotiations and agreements. Issues discussed include: the problems of interactions between environmental policies and trade and industrial policies; the role of issue linkage in securing stability in environmental agreements; the role of an arbitrator in environmental negtiations where no supra-national authority exists, the consequences for the existence of self-enforcing agreements; and the relationship between environmental negotiations on trade liberalization and R&D co-operation.
Earth Negotiations develops a phased-process model that can enable greater understanding of the process by which international environmental agreements are negotiated. By breaking down the negotiating process into a series of phases and turning points, it is easier to analyze the roles of the different actors, the management of issues, the formation of groups and coalitions, and the art of consensus building. Six discernible phases and five associated turning points within the process of multilateral environmental negotiation are identified and explained. The model is then used to see if there is anything that occurs in the earlier phases of negotiation that affects subsequent phases and if there is anything in the process that may have an effect on the outcome. The overall goal is to determine what lessons can be learned from past cases of multilateral environmental negotiation in order to help both practitioners and scholars strengthen the negotiating process and the quality of its results.
"International environmental agreements have increased exponentially within the last five decades. However, decisions on policies to address key issues such as biodiversity loss, climate change, ozone depletion, hazardous waste transport, and numerous other planetary challenges require individual countries to adhere to international norms. Environmental Diplomacy: Negotiating More Effective Global Agreements provides an accessible narrative on understanding the geopolitics of negotiating international environmental agreements and clear guidance on improving the current system. Authors Lawrence Susskind and Saleem Ali expertly observe international environmental negotiations to effectively inform the reader on the geopolitics of protecting our planet. This second edition offers an additional perspective from the Global South as well as providing a broader analysis of the role of science in environmental treaty-making. It provides a unique contribution as a panoramic analysis of the process of environmental treaty-making"--Unedited summary from book cover.
Delreux examines how the EU functions when it participates in international environmental negotiations. In particular, this book looks at the internal EU decision-making process with regard to international negotiations that lead to multilateral environmental agreements. By studying eight such decision-making processes, the book analyses how much negotiation autonomy (or 'discretion') the EU negotiator (the European Commission or the Council Presidency) enjoys vis-à-vis the member states it represents and how this particular degree of discretion can be explained. The book's empirical evidence is based on extensive literature review, primary and semi-confidential document research, as well as interviews with EU decision-makers. It is aimed at a readership interested in EU politics and decision-making, global/multilateral governance, environmental policy science and methodological development of Qualitative Comparative Analysis.
At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, popularly known as the Rio Earth Summit, the world’s leaders constructed a new "sustainable development" paradigm that promised to enhance environmentally sound economic and social development. Twenty years later, the proliferation of multilateral environmental agreements points to an unprecedented achievement, but is worth examining for its accomplishments and shortcomings. This book provides a review of twenty years of multilateral environmental negotiations (1992-2012). The authors have participated in most of these negotiating processes and use their first-hand knowledge as writers for the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin as they illustrate the changes that have taken place over the past twenty years. The chapters examine the proliferation of meetings, the changes in the actors and their roles (governments, nongovernmental organizations, secretariats), the interlinkages of issues, the impact of scientific advice, and the challenges of implementation across negotiating processes, including the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention to Combat Desertification, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Commission on Sustainable Development, the UN Forum on Forests, the chemicals conventions (Stockholm, Basel and Rotterdam), the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the Convention on Migratory Species and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
Provides an analytical framework for assessing the impact of NGOs on intergovernmental negotiations on the environment and identifying the factors that determine the degree of NGO influence, with case studies that apply the framework to negotiations on climate change, biosafety, desertification, whaling, and forests. Over the past thirty years nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have played an increasingly influential role in international negotiations, particularly on environmental issues. NGO diplomacy has become, in the words of one organizer, an “international experiment in democratizing intergovernmental decision making.” But there has been little attempt to determine the conditions under which NGOs make a difference in either the process or the outcome of international negotiations. This book presents an analytic framework for the systematic and comparative study of NGO diplomacy in international environmental negotiations. Chapters by experts on international environmental policy apply this framework to assess the effect of NGO diplomacy on specific negotiations on environmental and sustainability issues. The proposed analytical framework offers researchers the tools with which to assess whether and how NGO diplomats affect negotiation processes, outcomes, or both, and through comparative analysis the book identifies factors that explain variation in NGO influence, including coordination of strategy, degree of access, institutional overlap, and alliances with key states. The empirical chapters use the framework to evaluate the degree of NGO influence on the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol negotiations on global climate change, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, negotiations within the International Whaling Commission that resulted in new management procedures and a ban on commercial whaling, and international negotiations on forests involving the United Nations, the International Tropical Timber Organization, and the World Trade Organization. Contributors Steinar Andresen, Michele M. Betsill, Stanley W. Burgiel, Elisabeth Corell, David Humphreys, Tora Skodvin
This book develops a simple conceptual framework intended to clarify the distinctive attributes of international environmental negotiations. The framework is then applied by experts in the environmental field to a series of case analyses from a broad range of issues. Contributors discuss such issues as: climate change, ozone depletion, desertification, acid rain, sea pollution and biological diversity.
The Politics of Climate Change Negotiations describes the successes and failures of long international negotiations and most importantly, examines the lessons they hold for the future. Drawing on more than 100 interviews with climate change insiders in
Providing a detailed examination of climate negotiations records since the 1990s, this book shows that, in addition to agreeing on climate policy frameworks, the negotiations process is of crucial importance to success. Shedding light on the dynamics of international climate policymaking, its respective chapters explore key milestones such as the Kyoto Protocol, Marrakech Accords, Cancun Agreement and Doha Framework. The book identifies a minimum of three conditions that need to be fulfilled for successful climate negotiations: the negotiations need to reflect the fact that climate change calls for global solutions; the negotiation process must be flexible, including multiple trajectories and several small steps; and decisive tactical maneuvers need to be made, as much can depend on, for example, personalities and the negotiating atmosphere. With regard to the design of an international climate policy regime, the main challenge presented has been the inability to agree on globally supported greenhouse gas emission reduction measures. The book offers an excellent source of information for researchers, policymakers and advisors alike.
Civil society participants have voiced concerns that the environmental problems that were the subject of multilateral environmental agreements negotiated during the 1992 Rio processes are not serving to ameliorate global environmental problems. These concerns raise significant questions regarding the utility of negotiating agreements through the UN. This book elucidates the complexity of how participants engage in these negotiations through the various processes that take place under the auspices of the UN—primarily those related to climate and biological diversity. By taking an ethnographic approach and providing concrete examples of how it is that civil society participants engage in making policy, this book develops a robust sense of the implications of the current terrain of policy-making—both for the environment, and for the continued participation of non-state actors in multilateral environmental governance. Using data gathered at actual negotiations, the book develops concepts such as participation and governance beyond theory. The research uses participant observation ethnographic methods to tie the theoretical frameworks to people’s actual activities as policy is generated and contested. Whereas topics associated with global environmental governance are traditionally addressed in fields such as international relations and political science, this book contributes to developing a richer understanding of the theories using a sociological framework, tying individual activities into larger social relations and shedding light on critical questions associated with transnational civil society and global politics.
