...Futility of International Environmental Governance The increased frequency of irregular climatic events, among which are violent hurricanes, whirling tornados and record-breaking temperatures has resulted in an amplified concern in the changing climate. “Certainly, this is no coincidence; extreme circumstances often serve to galvanize public attention.” These rising trends of environmental awareness have superseded individual societies. Resultantly, there have been countless efforts of working towards pragmatic solutions to environmental concerns by means of global governance as an international collective. “The distinct characteristics of global governance lies in the assumption that the effective handling of problems is no longer the exclusive responsibility of government but of joint activities by governments, international and supranational institutions.” This understanding of global interconnectedness has incited the creation of numerous organizations, institutions and international environmental initiatives, specifically the Kyoto Protocol. However, environmental impediments have not seen notable improvements and can be attributed to the flaws of global environmental governance. Firstly, contributing to the failure of environmental policies is the ineffective structure of the Kyoto Protocol. Furthermore, with the rise of globalization, neoliberal ideals have prioritized market successes at the detriment of the environment and international environmental initiatives. Lastly...
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... INTRODCTION Environmental management predates to 1972, where a conference regarding the Human Environment was held by the United Nations in Stockholm, Sweden. This conference won the attention of many countries and other international organizations who recognised the importance of environmental challenges faced, both nationally and internationally, on all levels (United Nations Environment Programme; International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2000). Since then environmental management has broadened its horizons to include important standards such as ISO 14001, ISO 15001 and ISO 500001 to name but a few (Anon., 2015). With such laws and standards in place, one can speculate the nature and purpose of environmental management in...
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...Barriers Paper Problem Concerns about water pollution are generally focused towards sources that are highly visible and chemically oriented. However, the greatest causes of water contamination and quantity abuse in the United States come from agricultural production (United States Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2012a), which is defined as a nonpoint source that pollutes with nutrients. In 2011, nine of the top ten corn and soybean producing states were located in the 2 Midwest (United States Census Bureau, 2012), making this region the largest agricultural region by volume produced in the U.S., and thus prone to environmental problems with alarming consequences. In order to meet production demands while bound by constrained budgets, farmers often turn to unsustainable practices to ensure a yield. These include irrigating their fields with groundwater (the water from natural basins underneath the ground), applying excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus as fertilizer, and plowing the land in a way that reduces quality of soil structure (United States EPA, 2012b). All of these factors directly result in the rapid depletion of water resources in the Midwest, and the toxic nutrient pollution of surface waters such as lakes, rivers, and streams (United States EPA, 2012c). Entire freshwater ecosystems are being literally suffocated by nutrients, such as Phosphorus, which support the growth of toxin emitting harmful cyanobacteria algae (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
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...Online Discussion 1: Environmental Policy under a Parliamentary System As we learned in last week’s lesson, the Canadian system of government can pose challenges to the setting of environmental policy. Let’s explore this issue in our discussion this week by considering the following questions as well as any ideas relevant to this issue that you think of as the discussion progresses. You do not need to address all of these questions in a single post - in fact, it is probably better to limit each post to one or two well argued points. Do you think our federal-provincial system of government makes it impossible to pass effective environmental legislation? Would you change anything about the division of powers between the federal and provincial/territorial governments in order to improve the design and implementation of environmental policy in Canada? Is environmental policy superior in the United States (can we learn any lessons from their approach including things to avoid)? Can you find any examples of successful provincial/federal cooperation on environmental policy implementation in Canada? Finally, do you think that we are in for a new era of environmental policy cooperation with the election of a new government this fall? Post 1: Hi Kristen, In addition to your extensive research on the comparison of both the US and Canada’s differences in environmental policy, I have done some research myself and have read an interesting article that discusses lessons from America...
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...‘The failures of environmental multilateralism demonstrate the need for a World Environment Organisation.’ Critically evaluate this claim. One of the main challenges that face environmental politics today is a significant lack of integration between the global governance structures that address ecological matters. The international trade system has some of the most powerful institutional actors, such as the World Trade Organisation, where legal rules are supported by a dispute resolution body, trade sanctions, as well as the power to authorise other retaliation tactics when a country does not comply with a ruling (Eckersley 2003.) In contrast, the existing multilateral framework for environmental politics provides a fragmented, and incoherent arrangement to govern some of the most important ecological issues. Organisations like the United Nations Environmental Programme, for example, are supported by voluntary member state contributions, and lack the financial foundation, as well as the legal mandate to express sound environmental policy-making. As quoted by Eckersley (2003), “judged in terms of size and teeth, we might regard the WTO as a large tiger and MEAs as a ragged collection of small cats” (pp. 2.) This paper makes the case for a reorganisation of environmental governance, with the specific transformation of UNEP into a World Environment Organisation (WEO.) A WEO is argued to be able to provide an authoritative voice and force to issues of the global commons...
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...survival of a society or a habitat but with the growing or developing economy, at some point of time one has to compromise with the environmental development. Developing nations like India, China, Brazil etc, which are developing economies are ranked in the list of top 10 Green House Gases (GHGs) emitters. It is, by this example, clear that the developing countries in the scale of economy are bigger polluters than the under-developed countries. The trend of development at the expense of environment is being strictly checked by the judiciary, municipal laws and international treaties and customs. Recently, the honourable Supreme Court of India has quoted that development is a trait of progressive society but shall not be made at the cost of environment. It does not take an environmental expert to realize that the world is changing. The global average surface temperature is rising and the rate of temperature increase has nearly doubled in the last 50 years. Many species are experiencing changes in their patterns of growth and migration due to the changing conditions of the environment. Such changes often result in population reduction. The scientists who monitor the environment have discovered that many places around the world have broken their high temperature records for average annual surface temperature. Scientists have also discovered other global changes: glaciers are retreating, wildfires are increasing and coral reefs are...
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...The Environmental Policy of the United States The environmental policy of the United States is federal governmental action to regulate activities that have an environmental impact in the United States. The goal of environmental policy is to protect the environment for future generations while interfering as little as possible with the efficiency of commerce or the liberty of the people and to limit inequity in who is burdened with environmental costs. This policy grew mainly out of the environmental movement in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s during which several environmental laws were passed, regulating air and water pollution and forming the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Partially due to the high costs associated with these regulations, there has been a backlash from business and politically conservative interests, limiting increases to environmental regulatory budgets and slowing efforts to protect the environment. Since the 1970s, despite frequent legislative gridlock, there have been significant achievements in environmental regulation, including increases in air and water quality and, to a lesser degree, control of hazardous waste. Due to increasing scientific consensus on global warming and political pressure from environmental groups, modifications to the United States energy policy and limits on greenhouse gas emission have been proposed, but such efforts have made limited progress. Power delegation and policy jurisdiction[edit] Executive branch[edit] ...
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...climate change disrupt Pax Americana and subsequently challenge national security, by escalating the tensions of mass migration, increasing the likelihood for failed states and the growth of terrorism, and destroying of United States extraterritorial interests, assets needed to maintain stability. Future climate changes will affect the organization, training, equipping, and planning of U.S. national security forces. For example, military installations like “Diego Garcia, an atoll in the southern Indian Ocean that serves as a major logistics hub for U.S. and British forces in the Middle East, is only a few feet above sea level.” Making it extremely vulnerable to any sea rise. If important U.S. military bases needed to provide...
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...after 1950s world politics, including cold war was filled up by many variants to ensure each states security as arms race, nuclearization as well as security against global climate change. Like all other things, global climate change also got a strong basis of global agenda in international relations specificly in 1972. Since then international relations and global climate change have become very intimate to one another to be discussed. By 1972 and having a remarkable benchmark in 1992, global environment as well as global climate change is being practiced almost with every aspect of international relations which include state, non-state actors, domestic international relationship, various political approach, several global accord, security and world trade as well. In this paper, we will try to find out the intensity of the intimacy between international relations and global climate change through several different approaches. In the beginning of the paper we will survey on the theories of international relations through which both international relations and global climate change can be explained then the discussion will be shifted to the role of state and non state actors on climate change, which will be pursued to the effect of climate change on human activities and the history of global climate change co-operation. Then we will move to an analysis of the global climate change regime through the several grand theories of international relations. Having theoretical analysis...
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...as beneficial due to its great economic potential and has consequently provided the Arctic with strong regional significance. This global issue of climate change is presenting numerous challenges to Canada and the United States. The Yukon Territory and Alaska, both located in the northwest, are directly experiencing the consequences of this meltdown. The neighboring allies will definitely witness a change in their special relationship while combating this issue of climate change. The three fronts which affect the Canada and U.S. relationship are environmental degradation in Alaska and Yukon, sovereignty and border disputes, and lastly the battle for the natural resources in the Arctic. The two approaches which will facilitate in comprehending and further analyzing these issues are realism and complex interdependence. Realism describes international politics as a struggle for power dominated by organized violence in an anarchic international system. Complex interdependence challenges the realist assumption while synthesizing elements of realism and liberalism. Complex interdependence rejects the realist notion of an anarchic international system, and instead works towards a system of cooperative security, instead of just a balance in power. To deal with the rising concerns in the Arctic, Canada and the United States will most likely resort to cooperation which will then bring forth compromises. This paper argues that the Canada and U.S. relationship in the Arctic is best...
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...Environmental Justice Issues This is a global issue, rather than just something that people suffer in the United States. The topic I chose to connect to science was environmental justice issues. Environmental justice has been defined “as fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, ethnicity, income, national origin, or educational level in the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies”( ). Specifically focusing on the inadequate access to healthy food. This is a disadvantage that compromises the health of a community and or its residents. Certain communities; particularly lower-income or minority communities. These residents often lack supermarkets or other...
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...inevitable because international competition requires it. The anti-globalization movement blames globalization for increased world poverty and income inequalities, child labor, environmental pollution and many other problems. 2. Nations usually impose restrictions on the free international flow of goods, services and factors. Differences in language, customs and laws also hamper these international flows. In addition, international flows of goods, services and resources may involve receipts and payments in different currencies, which may change in value in relation to one another through time. International relations are to be contrasted with the interregional relations, which face no such restrictions as tariffs and are conducted in terms of the same currency, usually in the same language, and under basically the same set of customs and laws. 3. A rough measure of the degree of economic interdependence of a nation with the rest of the world is given by the ratio or percentage of its exports to its gross domestic product (GDP). For small, developed nations, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, the ratio can reach as high as 60 to 90. For large nations, such as Germany, England, France and Italy, the ratio ranges from 25 to 35. For the United States it is between 12 and 17 and growing. 4. The United States relies less on international trade for its high standard of living than most other developed nations because it is continental in size with immense natural and human resources...
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...politically in 2010, when the Village of Kivalina was affected by the Gulf Oil Spill accident, and became uninhabitable. According to Saundra Brown Armstrong, a senior United States federal judge, human activity is the major factor increasing global warming. Factors such as greenhouse gas emission, pollution from factory smokestacks, landfills, and oil spills are the main causes that contribute to a potential catastrophe. Even after it was demonstrated that global warming was caused by human activity, the United States remains the only developed country that has not signed the Kyoto Protocol contesting that it would have a ruinous effect on its weak economy. Instead of signing the Kyoto Protocol, the United States Congress opted to create their own Environmental Protection Statues of global warming policy on climate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and it had impacted to ethics in business environment and political issue. However, the public opinion has asked for more effective actions and this may soon push the U.S. into a global leadership position on global warming. In conclusion, all of those issues obligated the Environmental Justice to stand in order to protect human being and the environment integrity considering the climate responsibility overall. Global Climate Change Responsibility and Survival Many Inupiat Eskimos living in the Village of Kivalina brought the case that the greenhouse gas emissions of 24 energy companies were significantly...
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...Risk Management Environmental risk assessment and environmental risk management may sound similar, but they are two vastly different terms. Environmental risk management is far more political and involves policy makers. On the other hand, environmental risk assessment is scientific, and relies on data recorded by scientists and their research. There is an established tension between the two, and this tension can vary, depending where you are. Historically, the United States and Europe have adopted different models of regulation. Americans have a reputation for being self-assertive and having a complex series of checks and balances, which calls for more “adversarial trial procedures”, than European countries, when it comes to environmental regulations. (Kelman). The United States formally believed that risk assessment and risk management should be separate processes, in their respected fields. This was until the National Research Council published a report that argued to combine the two processes, stating that this would generate continuous feedback from all actors involved. This report received considerable attention on the academic and non-governmental risk community. In Europe however, quite the opposite happened. They originally the two were considered the same area, with a focus on determining the criteria for the process, while accounting for social values. In 1998 the Royal Commission for Environmental Pollution pushed for separating risk assessment from risk management...
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...fieldwork near El Geneina, Western Darfur. Intense competition over declining natural resources is one of the underlying causes of the ongoing conflict. SUDAN POST-CONFLICT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT Conflict and the Environment 4.1 Introduction and assessment activities 2. an overview of the role of natural resources in the instigation and continuation of historical and current conflicts, listing the major resources of concern and focusing specifically on conflicts involving rangelands and rain-fed agricultural land; and 3. a brief environmental impact assessment of the various conflicts, evaluating the direct and indirect impacts of conflict on Sudan’s environment. Chronic environmental problems are covered in other chapters, though it should be noted that at the local level, the boundary between chronic and conflict-related environmental issues is often unclear. Assessment activities The assessment of conflict-related issues was an integral part of fieldwork throughout the country. In addition, UNEP carried out a number of specific activities, including: Introduction Sudan has been wracked by civil war and regional strife for most of the past fifty years, and at the time of finalizing this report, in June 2007, a major conflict rages on in Darfur. At the same time, Sudan suffers from a number of severe environmental problems, both within and outside current and historical conflict-affected areas. UNEP’s assessment has found that the connections between conflict and environment in Sudan...
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