11: The Environment
- Page ID
- 289837
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Introduction
The environment plays a central role in international relations, where complex challenges like climate change, pollution, and resource scarcity demand cooperation across borders. This chapter explores the key environmental issues in international relations, including public goods, collective action problems, and the role of international agreements and theories like Green Theory. Through these concepts, we examine how global governance structures attempt to address environmental challenges that transcend national borders.
- Assess the broad range of impacts posed by environmental issues.
- Evaluate collective action problems associated with addressing environmental issues.
- Introduce green theory, political ecology, and sustainable development.
- Describe approaches to climate change and responsibility.
- Explore the evolution and challenges facing global environmental governance.
- 11.1: International Environmental Issues
- Explores the relationship between international relations and environmental issues, focusing on carbon emissions, resource scarcity, pollution, food security, and biodiversity loss. It highlights how industrialized nations contribute to climate change, while resource scarcity and pollution can provoke conflicts.
- 11.2: Public Goods and the Collective Action Problem
- Addresses environmental public goods like clean air and stable climate, emphasizing their non-rivalrous and non-excludable nature. It explores the collective action problem, particularly the "free-rider" behavior among states in the context of global issues such as climate change. The negative impact of emissions from major industrial nations on less contributing countries is highlighted, illustrating the challenges of collaborative efforts in addressing these environmental concerns.
- 11.3: Tragedy of the Commons and Common Pool Resources
- Explores the "tragedy of the commons," highlighting how individual self-interest can degrade shared resources, as discussed by Garrett Hardin. It contrasts this idea with Elinor Ostrom's work, which demonstrates that communities can sustainably manage these resources through cooperative governance.
- 11.4: Key Theories in Environmental Politics
- Covers important theories in environmental politics, including Green Theory, which promotes ecocentrism and holistic approaches; Political Ecology, which connects environmental issues with social inequalities and critiques political systems; and Sustainable Development, which seeks to fulfill current needs without jeopardizing the future, despite facing criticism for possible "greenwashing.
- 11.5: Approaches to Addressing Climate Change
- Outlines three approaches to climate change: mitigation, which aims to reduce emissions; adaptation, which seeks to enhance resilience; and geo-engineering, involving technological climate alteration with associated ethical risks. It highlights the need to weigh geo-engineering's benefits against potential ecological impacts and moral concerns while considering its integration with mitigation and adaptation strategies.
- 11.6: Principles of Payment Responsibility
- Outlines Darrel Moellendorf's principles for the fair distribution of climate change costs among nations. He emphasizes the Ability-to-Pay Principle, advocating for higher contributions from wealthier nations. The Polluter-Pays Principle attempts to hold high emitters accountable but faces enforcement issues, while the Beneficiary-Pays Principle, which assigns costs based on benefits from harmful activities, is difficult to measure.
- 11.7: Global Environmental Governance and Major Agreements
- Outlines the evolution of global environmental governance through key international events and agreements. It highlights milestones like the 1972 Stockholm Conference, the 1987 Brundtland Report, and the 1992 Earth Summit, which led to the UNFCCC. Subsequent agreements, including the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and the 2015 Paris Agreement, mark progress in climate action amid challenges like participation limits and economic resistance.
- 11.8: Challenges in Environmental Policy and Cooperation
- Outlines key challenges in environmental policy, such as state sovereignty, short-termism, and power imbalances that hinder cooperation. It illustrates the tension between national interests and the necessity for international collaboration, referencing agreements like the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement.
- 11.9: Conclusion
- Concludes that environmental issues require global cooperation beyond national borders to tackle pollution, climate change, and resource depletion. It stresses balancing national interests with global responsibilities, supported by Green Theory and international agreements.
- 11.10: Deeper Dive- The Environment
- Global environmental governance addresses critical threats to the planet’s capacity to sustain life by coordinating international cooperation through megaconferences and frameworks centered on sustainable development. While managing the global commons is complicated by the "tragedy of the commons" and conflicting national interests, milestones like the Paris Agreement show a rising trend in collective action aimed at protecting the human right to a healthy environment.
- 11.11: Glossary
- Covers essential concepts in environmental policy and climate change, including ethical principles like Ability-to-Pay and Polluter-Pays, and strategies like adaptation and mitigation. It highlights important treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement, and incorporates theories like Political Ecology and Green Theory to frame environmental issues within broader social and economic contexts.
- 11.13: Discussion Questions
- Discusses how environmental issues impact international relations, highlighting challenges like carbon emissions and resource scarcity. It examines cooperative governance as a solution to collective action problems and explores frameworks such as green theory and political ecology. Various climate change approaches are mentioned, including mitigation and adaptation, while payment responsibility emphasizes equity among nations.
Thumbnail: Why Climate Change Is a Matter of Justice by Fred Murphy is licensed CC BY-ND-NC 1.0