Global environmental problems
Climate change (global warming)
* Atmospheric damage (ozone depletion)
* Ocean pollution (chemicals, micro-plastics)
* Desertification (loss of fertile lands)
* Loss of biodiversity (species & habitats)
… are ‘wicked problems’
Multiple stakeholders,
with diverse values & interests
All large-scale human activity affects the environment, so many
‘stakeholders’ are affected, positively and negatively, by any action
to protect the environment.
* Many types of stakeholders:
– Governments, Voters / Consumers, Corporations, NGO’s, Agriculturalists, Natural resource extractors, Transporters, Indigenous peoples
* Each stakeholder has its own values and interests.
Issue linkages and value complexity
Environmental issues involve complex issue-linkages:
* Different actors, institutions, cultures place different values on
issues… and thus on tradeoffs between issues.
Multi level
- Environmental problems and solutions involve actions at local,
national, regional and global levels. - Each level involves different political actors, institutions,
cultures, and interests.
Interdependencies
- Interdependence of jurisdictions
– Actions taken (or not taken) in A affect conditions in B, and viceversa… but actors in A and B may not have influence over each
other’s decisions. - Interdependence of levels
– Actions taken (or not taken) at one level affect conditions at
other levels… but decision-making may be uncoordinated.
Causal complexity
On the problems
* What’s causing what?
* How?
* How quickly?
On potential solutions
* Will they be effective?
* With what unintended effects?
* With what unforeseen effects?
* made worse by poor education, misinformation, anti-science
Invisibilty
Many types of environmental damage are not clearly visible, or
not yet visible, or not visible to many people.
Causal complexity + invisibility =
Imperfect information
Scientific information is often incomplete, contradictory, and/or
controversial.
So it’s difficult to reach consensus on…
* … the need for action (what problem?)
* … responsibility (who caused this mess?)
* … solutions (what should be done?)
II. Obstacles to international cooperation
on environmental problems
Why is it so difficult to achieve international solutions to
environmental problems?
Short term interests
- Environmental protection may reduce general economic growth
and/or certain actors’ income, at least in the short-term. - Various incentives lead actors to prioritise short-term gains over
sustainable, long-term solutions.
– Corporations: maximise quarterly profits
– Governments: win the next election
– Voters: insecurity -> protect current income
Shortage of state capacity
Some governments lack the capacities needed to address
environmental problems:
* Administrative control
* Financial resources
* Technical know-how
Rational choices
Even if the science is clear and key actors are capable, which
often is not the case…
… the absence of world government creates incentives for
rational, self-interested actors to damage the environment!
Why?
Commons
Commons: resources that nobody owns but everybody uses
Common Pool Resources: natural or man-made resources that
are zero-sum (use by A reduces use by B) and non-excludable
(difficult or impossible to prevent use by others)
Examples of CPRs:
* Oceans, Air, Atmosphere, Broadcast spectrum, Space (satellite orbits)
Tragedy of the commons (form of pd)
Individual rationality -> over-use of common resources -> collectively
irrational outcome.
* Multiple farmers share a common space for grazing their sheep.
* If too many sheep on the commons, all farmers lose income.
* But each farmer gets full profit from each extra sheep.
* Each farmer faces a choice:
* Q: Should I bring more sheep to the commons?
Gain = 1 per extra sheep
Loss = 1/5 per extra sheep
Profit = 4/5 per extra sheep
* A: Yes, bring extra sheep
* Result: over-use of commons!
In summary, the challenge of global environmentalism
- Overcoming the resistance of powerful interests.
- Improving scientific understanding, supporting consensus.
- Improving the capacity of states.
- Avoiding the ‘tragedy of the commons’.
Epistemic communities
Epistemic community: Transnational network of scientists with
shared knowledge and methods of problem-solving.
* Build knowledge via research
* Raise public awareness of problems
* Propose solutions
* Pressure governments and int’l organizations to make
commitments & to implement their commitments
Social movements
Social movements & mass mobilisation help convert scientific
consensus into political pressure… change the ‘two-level game,’
creating domestic incentives for governments to cooperate.
Protection of endangered species
- Human population growth, urbanization, modern agriculture,
destruction of forests -> loss of biodiversity. - Global network of scientists & environmental NGOs,
International Union for the Conservation of Nature, raises
public awareness, pressures governments for action. - 1974: govts sign Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
Significant limits on trade in endangered species… but
inconsistent implementation at national level.
Pollution mediterranean - chemical pollution phase 1
- 1970s: Major chemical pollution of Mediterranean
- 17 coastal states had different levels of understanding &
commitment (ES, FR, IT, MA, YU, AL, GR, CY, TK, SY, LB, IS, EG, LI,
TU, AL, MO) - But… a transnational network of marine biologists
reached agreement on the problem, then
convinced all 17 governments to accept
rules to cut pollution.
successful ‘Mediterranean Action Plan’
Phase 2 (plastics pollution) is unresolved.
Privatizing commons
- Having exclusive access to a piece of the global commons
gives individual states a strong incentive to manage it
responsibly. - Some global commons can be (partly) divided this way, but
not all. - Yes: oceans, fisheries, radio spectrum
- No: space
Exploitation ocean resources
- Problems:
– How to stop over-fishing?
– How to control the search for oil, gas, seabed minerals? - 1982 UN conference (UNCLOS III) gave each country an
‘Exclusive Economic Zone’ of 200 nm: no other state may
extract economic resources in the EEZ.
It works!
But EEZs only protect coastal seas, not the ‘high seas’!
International institutions
International institutions help states overcome cooperation
problems (including tragedy of the commons):
* Expectation of repeated interaction more incentive to
compromise & cooperate.
* Negotiations rules that everybody can accept.
* Technical & financial assistance increase state capacity
to comply with rules.
Depletion of atmospheric ozone
- Ozone in upper-atmosphere protects Earth from solar radiation
- 1970s: early evidence that human use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
thinner ozone layer… but industry resists change - 1985: scientists find a growing “hole” in ozone layer
- 1986: govts sign Vienna Convention to cut CFCs
- 1987: govts sign Montreal Protocol (today 197 parties)
– with aid to help developing countries make transition
CFCs levels have dropped, ozone layer is recovering
Loss of biodiversity
- CITES focus on trade in endangered species wasn’t enough to stop loss of
species & habitats. - 1988: UN Environment Programme -> Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts
on Biological Diversity - 1992: Convention on Biological Diversity
– biodiversity is “a common concern of humankind”
– links conservation to sustainable use
– Today: 196 states-party - 2022: COP 15 Montreal
– New targets to stop biodiversity loss – 30% of earth by 2030
Questions remain about treaty enforcement.
