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Chapter 6 – Global Governance: Environmental NotesWhy is there a need for environmental global governance?
Global governance - process by which nation states cooperate with each other and with non-
state actors in order to try to resolve collective dilemmas
Climate change is unique as a collective action problem as:
- Every state contributes in some way, small or large, to its causes
- Every state is affected in some way, small or large by its effects
- Every state can have an impact, small or large in solving the problem
This is different to other collective action problems, such as global terrorism, which may pose a
large threat to some states but little or no threat to others
All states are affected by environmental challenges
To tackle environmental challenges effectively, states need to agree to international standards
and laws that govern how they develop and limit their impact on the environment
Just as universal human rights are of little value internationally if states do not agree to
international law, international efforts to protect the environment are likely to be fruitless
without effective global governance
What do states need
States need a framework within which they can agree that there is a problem and how serious
that problem is
- With respect to the environment, this has been especially important in terms of agreeing
that climate change does exist
- Requires independent scientific advice, which provides a collective view that all states can
equally trust
States need forums to discuss the solutions that could make a difference, to reject some
solutions and to seek agreement on areas of common ground
- States will not accept the higher authority forcing decisions or loss upon them, so discussion
and negotiation is essential
- Example: 2015 Paris summit
States need international laws and treaties to be agreed so that they can be confident that
other states, and non-state actors, are taking action and are being held accountable
- This enables states to legitimise their actions
Protecting the Global Commons
Global Commons - the global resources an environment that are shared among nation states, as
no government or sovereign state owns them
Include the atmosphere, oceans, polar regions and outer space
If one state chooses to pollute the environment, this will have an impact both within and
beyond its borders
1
, Politicians will mostly affect a state’s immediate neighbours, but they also may have a global
impact
Example: China and USA combined account for 40% of the world’s carbon emissions
What does the global Commons include?
1. The high seas
The world’s oceans are increasingly vulnerable to the impact of waste and chemical pollution
from both state and non-state actors
British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon Oil spill in 2010 was the world's worst oil disaster and
caused widespread environmental damage to the Gulf of Mexico
Estimated 8 million tonnes of plastic waste reached the world's oceans
2. The atmosphere
Environmental global governance has focused on the atmosphere since the early 1990s
UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon called climate change the ‘major, over-riding environmental
issue of all time’
Industrial pollution from the burning of fossil fuels remains a major cause of air pollution, but
emissions from car exhausts and cooking also make a significant contribution
The UNEP highlights the short-term impact (3.5 million deaths each year) and the long-term
impact (changing weather patterns threatening food production)
3. Polar regions
Both the Arctic and the Antarctic have huge economic potential in terms of minerals and gas
resources
Both are key indicators for scientists of the effects of climate change
In 1959, 12 states signed the Antarctic treaty
- This treaty protects Antarctica as a region for scientific research only, and bans military
activity or resource extraction
4. Outer space
With many international actors now owning active space stations and satellites, outer space has
become increasingly crowded
International laws protecting the global Commons
1. The UN convention on the laws of the sea (UNCLOS)
Include laws that prevent the pollution of seas
Set out the limits of state territorial waters
UNCLOS makes it clear that States have a responsibility to prevent pollution of the own
territorial what is there would in turn the international Waters
2. The Antarctic Treaty System
2
, Sets various environmental protections for the region, including dedicating Antarctica solely to
scientific research
3. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The process through which international treaties have been agreed to protect the atmosphere
The tragedy of the commons
It's hard for states to avoid competing over shared resources, and to prevent states from
harming the shared resources and the pursuit of their own national interest
The global Commons is doomed to remain something that states harm and compete for,
through their own self-interests, rather than protect and nurture as shared goals
The tragedy suggests that states national interests and international environmental interests
rarely align with each other
Factors in the tragedy of the Commons
States act with realist motivations in efforts to seek to protect their own national interests
- This might mean that a state will refuse to sign up to international emissions targets if it
believes that doing so will be expensive or make its national economic output uncompetitive
States are competing for economic power and resources and this extends to natural resources
- States are not acting in isolation with from each other
- A realist state will not want to slow its economic development by switching from easily
exploited fossil fuels to more complicated renewable energy
Signs that things are changing
The impacts of high levels of pollution affect more significantly at the local and national level
- Extremely high levels of pollution in Chinese cities were a key factor in the country agreeing
to international climate change agreements, such as the Paris agreement
- Air pollution in China accounts for around 500,000 deaths per year
In recent climate change agreements, there have been efforts to ensure that states at different
levels of development take equal steps on the route to change
- Example: the 2015 Paris climate change agreement agreed that poorer states would receive
financial assistance to help them move towards using cleaner sources of energy
There is increasing acceptance that climate change brings with it a risk of natural disasters such
as flooding or drought, which can have an immediate impact on human security and food
production
- India is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and in 2016 it agreed to
ratify the Paris agreement
What is climate change
3
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