Institutional Failures of the Global Environmental Governance

Résumé du document

Despite a great awareness of environmental questions from developed and developing countries, there is a degradation of environmental issues and an appearance of new environmental problems. This aggravation of environmental matters is due to the inefficient state of the global environmental governance. This situation where the actual global environmental governance is unable to address environmental issues is due to many factors. The fragmented governance within the United Nations, the lack of involvement from financial institutions, the proliferation of environmental agreements often in conflict with trade measures are various problems troubling the good functioning of the global environmental governance. Moreover, divisions among Northern countries and the persistent gap between developed and developing countries are also to take into account to comprehend the institutional failures of the current global environmental governance.The management of our planet and its resources relies on combined efforts and collective action. The increase of environmental issues worldwide has made this necessity even more urgent. Unfortunately for our planet, collective efforts are either weak or uncoordinated. It is what we call ineffective global environmental governance.
According to Adil Najam, "global environmental governance (GEG) is understood as the sum of organizations, policy instruments, financing mechanisms, rules, procedures and norms that regulate the processes of global environmental protection" (Najam 2006).

Extraits

[...] (1999) Global Public Goods: International Cooperation in the 21st Century, New York, Oxford University Press International Monetary Fund (2007) Available at: http://www.imf.org/ Ivanova, M. (2005) Can the Anchor Hold? Rethinking the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for the 21st Century, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Kaul, I. and Grunberg, I. (2003) Global public goods: international cooperation in the 21st century, New York Le Prestre, P. (2005) Protection de l'environnement et relations internationales, les défis de l'éco politique mondiale, Armand Colin Mathews, J. T. (1989) Redefining Security, Foreign Affairs, (68)2 Matz, N. [...]

[...] Consequently, environmental problems cannot be confined within the borders of a state because they are, rather, defined within the atmosphere, ecosystems or water systems. As a result, there is a need for environmental problems to be addressed by regional and local solutions. These regional solutions are embodied by MEAs, “which encroach upon what we now think of as the prerogatives of national governments” (Mathews 1989). A famous example of MEA is the Kyoto protocol, which is an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that is dedicated to the stabilization and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to its signatory nations. [...]

[...] At this point, there is high uncertainty about what is an environmental good or service; it is only possible to make assumptions. If emissions credits are considered as goods, then the article 17 of the Kyoto protocol and its “emissions trading” mechanism could seriously enter into conflict with the WTO because of the GATT Article 1 principle. However, if emissions credits are considered as services, Article 17 would violate the same most-favoured nation principle but under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) that would apply. [...]

[...] The paper will then critically analyse in chapters and some of the existing institutions of the current global environmental governance and some of their failures. Interference between the United Nations organizations, lack of involvement within financial institutions, and conflict between trade and environment will be judged as a few of the reasons for inefficient global environmental governance. This analysis should be effective in identifying and explaining the challenges these institutions are facing in order to further explain the crisis the environmental governance is currently experiencing. [...]

[...] Is the possibility to influence the global environmental governance, really given to them? 1. Divisions among Northern countries, the case of the US ‘Political will' regarding the field of the environment can be regarded and understood as a country's desire to drive some environmental change and implement some agreements and measures likely to improve the management of our planet. Unfortunately, this desire to address environmental questions is sometimes weak as is illustrated in the case of the United States, a country lacking the will to achieve effective and favourable change for the environment. [...]