A UN Specialized Agency for the Environment

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Said Mahmoudi
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Institutional Arrangement ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Stockholm Conference

The issue, international organization for the protection of the environment perhaps more than those in any other area of international law, is characterized by the contestation of the policies and aspirations of developing and industrialized countries. The discussions which preceded the 1972 Stockholm Conference concerned partly the type of international institutional arrangement required for addressing the environmental problems. As regards the institutional reforms with respect to international environmental governance (IEG), the main question is whether to focus on the existing global institution, i.e. UNEP, or to create a new functional international organization. After almost five decades of existence, turning UNEP into a ‘specialized agency’ within the UN system is a reasonable move. It would meet the long-felt need to elevate its status and equip it with the necessary competence and financial stability for the demanding task it should have as an efficient global environmental organization.

A UN Specialized Agency for the Environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Said Mahmoudi
Keyword(s):  
Financial Stability ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Institutional Arrangement ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Environmental Organization ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Stockholm Conference

The issue, international organization for the protection of the environment perhaps more than those in any other area of international law, is characterized by the contestation of the policies and aspirations of developing and industrialized countries. The discussions which preceded the 1972 Stockholm Conference concerned partly the type of international institutional arrangement required for addressing the environmental problems. As regards the institutional reforms with respect to international environmental governance (IEG), the main question is whether to focus on the existing global institution, i.e. UNEP, or to create a new functional international organization. After almost five decades of existence, turning UNEP into a ‘specialized agency’ within the UN system is a reasonable move. It would meet the long-felt need to elevate its status and equip it with the necessary competence and financial stability for the demanding task it should have as an efficient global environmental organization.

State Sovereignty in the Planetary Management of Natural Resources

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico J. Schrijver
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
Progressive Development ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Global Values

Protagonists of global environmental governance often view the sovereign State as well as the principle of sovereignty as major stumbling blocks for effective environmental conservation and sustainable development. Some even herald the demise of the idea of the sovereign State. However, reality has it differently. Sovereignty is no longer an unqualified concept. Manifold new duties have been imposed upon the sovereign State as a result of the progressive development of international law. Much of the modern international law movement vests States with the responsibility to adopt regulations, to monitor and secure compliance and exercise justice in order to achieve its implementation, whereas supranational global environmental governance has remained notoriously weak. This article examines this proposition by reference to the environmental and developmental role of states in three landmark multilateral treaties: The United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (1982), the Convention on the Conservation of Biological Diversity (1992) and the Paris Agreement on climate change (2015). They demonstrate that sovereignty serves as a key organisational principle for the realization of global values, such as environmental conservation and sustainable development.

State Sovereignty in the Planetary Management of Natural Resources

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Nico J. Schrijver
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
Progressive Development ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Global Values

Protagonists of global environmental governance often view the sovereign State as well as the principle of sovereignty as major stumbling blocks for effective environmental conservation and sustainable development. Some even herald the demise of the idea of the sovereign State. However, reality has it differently. Sovereignty is no longer an unqualified concept. Manifold new duties have been imposed upon the sovereign State as a result of the progressive development of international law. Much of the modern international law movement vests States with the responsibility to adopt regulations, to monitor and secure compliance and exercise justice in order to achieve its implementation, whereas supranational global environmental governance has remained notoriously weak. This article examines this proposition by reference to the environmental and developmental role of states in three landmark multilateral treaties: The United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (1982), the Convention on the Conservation of Biological Diversity (1992) and the Paris Agreement on climate change (2015). They demonstrate that sovereignty serves as a key organisational principle for the realization of global values, such as environmental conservation and sustainable development.

Global Environmental Governance and Regional Centers

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Selin
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Multilevel Governance ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Regional Centers ◽  
Treaty Implementation

As global environmental governance evolves, the parties to the 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal and to the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants have established regional centers working on capacity building and technology transfer. This article empirically explores the following questions: Why did the parties to the Basel and Stockholm Conventions establish these regional centers? What roles do the regional centers play in treaty implementation and multilevel governance? The article argues that the parties have set up regional centers in response to three partially overlapping sets of developing- and industrialized-country interests: expanding regional cooperation (both developing and industrialized countries); attracting more resources for treaty implementation (mainly developing countries); and supporting implementation projects across smaller groups of countries (mainly industrialized countries). This article finds that the regional centers collectively operate in three broad areas important to treaty implementation: raising awareness, strengthening administrative ability, and diffusing scientific and technical assistance and information. However, the ability of the regional centers to function effectively depends on access to greater resources and stronger political support. There may also be benefits to expanding regional center mandates into areas of monitoring and compliance to improve multilevel governance. Furthermore, the regional level should be given more consideration in the study of global environmental politics.

scholarly journals From Stockholm to Rio: Critical Reading of Global Environmental Governance

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Verdinand Robertua ◽  
Arry Bainus
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
English School ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Driver ◽  
Rio Conference ◽  
Stockholm Conference

<p>Global environmental governance is deeply undermined due to the problem of overlapping function and lack of funding. It is then important to trace the history of the construction of global environmental governance as an institution. This article would like to understand the dynamics of global environmental governance from Stockholm Conference in 1972 to Rio Conference in 1992. The changes between Stockholm Conference and Rio Conference will be analyzed using English School theory. English School theory has the potential to critically engage with the taken-for-granted norms and institutions. Pluralism and solidarism as the normative wings of English School can elaborate the key driver of global environmental governance. It is expected that this article can contribute to development of environmental studies of English School theory and the formulation of global environmental governance.</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: <em>global environmental governance, English School theory, Rio Conference, Stockholm Conference, sustainable development</em></p>

scholarly journals INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE: SOUTHERN INFLUENCES.

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (32) ◽  
pp. 143-165
Author(s):  
Fernando Cardozo Fernandes Rei
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Sustainable Society ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Scientific Expertise

The purpose of this article when it discusses the southern approaches brought to global governance gets mixed with the addressing of the challenges facing the legal science in harmony with the others sciences to deal with the complex environmental issues of the 21st century. Thinking of a successful international environmental regulation is talking about an effort to understand the need for the instrumental law to comply with its role to solve complex issues that are typical of the construction of a sustainable society. The first part of the article consider that the international environmental law has been facing the emerging global environmental issues in an innovating way, incorporating a new form of global environmental governance based on which new players are brought to the discussion and implementation of measures to face environmental problems. After that, the article highlights the southern actions in the role of the scientific expertise and in the environmental paradiplomacy, and evaluates the influence and contributions in the decision making scenario and in the news perspectives of international law. The article concludes that the southern influences suggest a more pragmatic, finalistic international law that is concerned about the results, the achievement of the goals proposed

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