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Global Environmental Politics
The Rise of the Private Sector
Topics
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Current affairs
What is Global Environmental Politics (GEP)?
Theories of IR and the environment
Wednesday: Climate Change
Friday: UN budget simulation
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Global Environmental Politics (GEP)
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Global issues (climate change, ozone, global
commons, etc.) and
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Transnational issues transcending borders
(acid rain, biodiversity, rain forests, river pollution,
etc.).
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Fundamental conflict between the global
environment/ecosystems and the state system.
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Areas of GEP
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Global commons
(Examples: Atmosphere, Ozone layer, High
seas and sea bed, Antarctica)
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Shared natural resources
(Examples: Lakes, rivers, forests, desert)
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Transnational externalities
(Examples: Acid rain, nuclear contamination)
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Examples
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Atmosphere (a global common)
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Biodiversity (a shared natural resource)
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Issues: Climate Change and Ozone
Layer/Depletion
Issues: Animal and plant life/habitat protection
Pollution (a transnational externality)
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Issues: Acid rain and toxic waste exports
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Theories of IR
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Realism: Environment as a resource
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Institutionalism: Environment as a
collective action problem for state
cooperation
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Focus on conflict, scarcity, and competition
Focus on institutions
Idealism/Identity: Environment as a global
challenge to the nation state
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Focus on expertise (ideas) and NGOs
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Realism
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Environment as a resource (Nau, p. 356)
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Nation state is the most powerful actor and must be
central to any environmental issue.
Once environmental problems cause violent conflict,
military power will be central to defending the national
interest.
Nations follow their self-interests (see Kyoto).
Challenging realism
 Environmental problems privilege scientific
knowledge and cooperation, not military power.
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Neoliberal institutionalism
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Environment as a collective action
problem (Nau, p. 355)
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International institutions prevent “free riding”
(impose equal and lower burden; monitoring)
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International institutions facilitate exchange of
information and scientific knowledge
International institutions enable non-zero sum
solutions; i.e. they can promote more than one
objective (Kyoto: economic growth and
environmental protection).
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
“Tragedy of the commons”
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The environment as a collective good:
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Everyone has access (global commons).
No one has exclusive control.
 Example: Oceans’ fish reserves.
Collective action problem (Prisoner’s Dilemma):
 Collective goal: Sustainable use of fish.
 Individual goal/incentives: Every fisher/country
has an incentive to ‘free ride,’ i.e. to fish as
much as possible (leading to destruction of
resource).
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Idealism/Identity
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Environment as a challenge to the nation
state system and industrialization (Nau, p. 354)
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Global environment transcends the state system
Not just a question “interdependence”, but of
global governance.
International institutions (as “actors”) define
environmental problems.
Scientific experts (‘epistemic communities’),
IGOs, and NGOs dominate the solution of
environmental problems.
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Environmental NGO Activism
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Greenpeace
Rainforest Action Network (Citigroup campaign)
Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
Sierra Club
Friends of the Earth
PETA
Worldwatch Institute
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Chronology of GEP, I
1945: The environment is not mentioned in the
United Nations Charter
1962: Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring published
1972: The Year of the Environment
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Club of Rome publishes The Limits of Growth
First United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment (Stockholm)
Creation of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP: based in Nairobi/Kenya)
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Chronology of GEP, II
1986: International Whaling Commission adopts a
ban on whaling.
1987:
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Montreal protocol to protect the Ozone layer signed
Brundtland report Our Common Future
1988: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) established by WMO/UNEP
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Chronology of GEP, III
1992: Twenty years after Stockholm
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United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development in Rio de Janeiro, Adoption of
Agenda 21
Framework Convention on Climate Change signed
1997: Kyoto Protocol adopted
1999: First legal sale of ivory in a decade;
challenges against whaling ban from Norway,
Japan, Iceland, and Denmark.
2001: US ‘unsigns’ the Kyoto Protocol
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Principles of GEP, I
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Sovereignty and Responsibility for the Environment
 State sovereignty and a responsibility to protect
Good Neighborliness and International Cooperation
 Requires information sharing, consultation, participation
Precautionary Principle
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Lack of scientific certainty should not be a reason for not
doing anything (Principle 15, Rio Declaration)
Actions to protect the environment must be taken even without
full evidence
Polluter-pays Principle (Principle 16, Rio Declaration)
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Principles of GEP, II
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Common, but differentiated Responsibility
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Balancing equality and special needs of developing nations
Recognition of differing capabilities
Sustainable Development
 Preservation for the benefit of current and future
generations
 Rational and wise use of resources
 Equity among and within states
 Environmental concerns integrated in all global
agreements
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
IGOs and the Environment
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There is no single environmental organizations in the
field of global environmental politics.
United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
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Examples of environmental institutions:
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CITES (endangered species)
Basel Convention (hazardous wastes)
Convention to Combat Desertification
International Whaling Commission
Tufts List of Global/Regional Environmental
Agencies
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz
Global Public-Private Partnerships
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Beyond inter-state cooperation
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Growing role of NGOs and MNCs
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4/14/2008
World Commission on Dams (1998-2000)
Forest Stewardship Council (1993- )
Global Reporting Initiative (1997- )
Hans Peter Schmitz
Summary
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GEP emerges as the last major issue area
for global cooperation in the 1970s.
Mixed results of inter-state cooperation
Growing role of NGOs and MNCs in
regulating the environment
Wednesday: Climate change
4/14/2008
Hans Peter Schmitz