Asymmetric barriers in atmospheric politics of transboundary air pollution: a case of particulate matter (PM) cooperation between China and South Korea

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - Existing studies have argued that regional cooperation is urgent in order to tackle transboundary air pollution. However, few...     

Free trade agreements for the environment? Regional economic integration and environmental cooperation in East Asia

Traditionally, it has been argued that increased economic competition through free trade agreements would bring about environmental degradation. This study, however, argues that recent international free trade agreements have tended to enhance environmental cooperation among participating countries. This study has examined the process by which East Asian countries have developed mechanisms for the extant level of regional environmental cooperation, particularly highlighting the reasons for commonalities and differences in regional environmental cooperation between ASEAN and the dominant economies in the region. It finds that three factors particularly matter for developing regional environmental cooperative mechanisms: networks of intergovernmental organizations, the strong willingness of political leaders which is often embodied in national strategies for regionalism and the establishment, and the institutionalized linkage—particularly through FTAs—between trade and the environment. Tracing the process of policy evolution within three groups of countries sheds light on the political conditions under which the four entities involved (the ASEAN, Japan, China, and the Republic of Korea) have produced and strengthened cooperative environmental mechanisms among them along with free trade agreements. Focusing especially on the environmental policy changes in Japan, China, and the ROK associated with the creation of its FTAs with ASEAN, the study concludes that each of free trade agreements has incrementally developed environmental cooperation, especially when integrated into a vision for regional integration.     

中国参与东北亚地区经济合作问题探析

目前,区域经济一体化的影响逐渐显现出来,加强东北亚区域经济合作,促进地区经济更好、更快发展已成为相关各国的一项基本共识.本文分析了东北亚地区各国经济发展的现状和制约区域经济合作发展的因素,并对中国应在东北亚地区经济合作中扮演什么样的角色提出了一些建议.     

Local causes,regional co-operation and global financing for environmental problems: the case of Southeast Asian Haze pollution

Lack of action on cross-border environmental problems in developing countries is often ascribed to gaps in local capacity and resources, failure of regional cooperation and lack of financial support from rich countries. Using the case of the Southeast Asian Haze pollution from forest and peat fires in Indonesia, we explore the challenges posed by environmental problems whose causes are closely linked to local development and livelihood strategies, and whose impacts are local, regional (haze) as well as global (carbon emissions). We assess whether there are real opportunities to implement effectively the recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. To address the deep determinants behind haze pollution, we propose signatories to the Agreement refocus their efforts to controlling peat fires rather than to strive for a zero-burning regime. We also recommend a new approach to financing sustainable development based on rules and incentives, with a regional pool of funds, contributed by rich countries through the Global Environment Facility and countries in Southeast Asia.

Environmental regime effectiveness and the North American Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

Scholars and practitioners around the globe are grappling with how to improve the effectiveness of complex, transboundary, and multilevel environmental regimes. International environmental agreements (IEAs) have been around for decades yet achievements and outcomes have not met expectations. While international relations scholars have primarily focused on the effectiveness of agreements between states, public policy scholars have been interested in outcomes at a variety of scales including international, national, sub-national, and local across various environmental policy domains and at the instrument and program levels. This article presents findings from a case study of environmental regime effectiveness that uses a modified version of the Oslo-Postdam solution to assess the effectiveness of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, a long-standing, bilateral international environmental agreement between Canada and the USA. The findings indicate that there is a need to more broadly define international environmental agreements in complex transboundary systems to include both formal and informal regime features and multilevel governance efforts and to focus on specific policy goals and ecological outcomes associated with IEAs. This case also illustrates the potential to modify the Oslo-Postdam approach by combining expert assessment and data collection methods with traditional policy analysis and program evaluation methods in assessments of environmental regime effectiveness.     

Global dollar standard: challenges for Asian financial integration

Current international financial system is characterized by the global dollar standard where the US dollar plays an essential role in many aspects of international usages. This is particularly the case in Asia where the dollar remains as a major reserve, vehicle and anchor currency. The paper deals with the challenges of dollar over-reliance in the world in general and in Asia in particular, with emphasis on the fact that Asia being a creditor to the US has to cope with the problems and instability that the dollar standard brings about. Asia needs to have further regional financial integration and to strengthen regional financial cooperation supported by a strong institutional arrangement, a sound regional financial market and a collective regional monetary regime.

Global Politics of Mercury Pollution: The Need for Multi-Scale Governance

This article analyses international legal and policy developments on mercury from the 1970s to the present time, and examines options for continued abatement. Multiple scientific assessments have demonstrated that mercury is an environmental pollutant that can pose a serious threat to human health and development. Currently, the international community is engaged in extensive debate about options for improved mercury governance. This article will critically examine three major policy options under discussion: the creation of a global mercury convention; the regulation of mercury under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants; and the development of voluntary partnerships. It is concluded that expanded and better integrated policy efforts are needed across global, regional and local governance scales to address mercury pollution and contamination effectively.     

影响东北亚国际经济合作的国际政治因素

主导东北亚国际经济合作进程的不是经济方面的因素。而是国际政治方面的原因,国际政治对该地区经济合作的决定性影响主要表现在负效应上。朝鲜岛安全局势是影响东北亚地区国际经济合作的核心因素,大国关系是影响该地区经济合作的根本因素,领土争端、历史问题都通过对国家关系的影响而成为东北亚地区国际经济合作的障碍国素,美国是该地区安全局势及经济合作的最大的破坏性因素,为促进东北亚地区国际经济合作,该地区各参与国应精诚合作、平等互利,建立有效的政治合作机制。     

中国和平发展与东北亚地区安全的理性思考

求和平、促发展、谋合作,是不可阻挡的历史潮流,为此,要努力建设一个持久和平、共同繁荣的和谐世界。东北亚地区构成中国生存与发展的基本环境,东北亚稳定与否,是影响中国国家安全与社会发展的直接外部条件。和平发展对实现中国的全面发展和维护东北亚地区安全与世界和平意义重大。中国在东北亚的安全战略是：发展睦邻友好关系,稳定周边安全环境;和平解决朝核危机,稳定朝鲜半岛局势;提倡新安全观,探索建立新的安全合作机制。     

Science and Policy in International Environmental Agreements: Lessons from the European experience on Transboundary Air Pollution

Science and policy come together in the use of computer models for International Environmental Agreements (IEAs). We study a successful case in using Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) in defining the long-range transboundary air pollution policies in Europe. In the light of the history of the LRTAP Convention of the UN-ECE, we consider the special circumstances which led to the success of the RAINS model that was employed. We find that the collaborative, self-aware and evolutionary character of the institutional framework built among the LRTAP Convention, IIASA and the EU facilitated the successful adoption of RAINS. We also show how the limits of computer models, fully recognised in this case by producers and users, leave issues of uncertainty, distribution and ethics unresolved. When facing international negotiations, several coalitions might emerge. An analysis of the situtation is done in terms of First-Comers and Late-Comers in Environmental policy, the first group undertaking the initiative to formulate international policies on issues that are of concern to themselves and for which they have acquired technologies, models and know-how, while the second group is just following international policy and most often viewing it as a constraint. This is discussed in the example of the Spanish participation in the negotiations about sulphur emissions in the buildup to the Oslo Protocol. The adoption of the precautionary principle is often being used as a way to handle uncertainty when facing urgent policy responsibilities for environmental issues.     

International environmental agreements between developing countries only: learning from the Brazil–Uruguay case over the suspicion of acid rain

This article is about the process of negotiation and implementation of a bilateral environmental agreement between two developing countries. It analyzes the case of the Act of Jaguarão between Brazil and Uruguay on assessing the risk of transboundary air pollution by the President Medici (UTPM) coal-powered thermo-electrical facility in the Candiota region of southern Brazil. The article adds to the scarce literature on international environmental conflict resolution and negotiations between developing countries, especially in Latin America. First, it explains that even with the asymmetry of power between Brazil and Uruguay, negotiation was possible due to a series of factors, such as the interest of Brazilian environmental agencies in improving the monitoring of emissions from UTPM and the international scrutiny of Brazil prior to the upcoming Rio-92 Earth Summit. Both states obtained mutual gains from the agreement by developing ‘joint fact finding’ research and monitoring. Second, different from most of the mainstream literature, the research reveals that weaknesses in institutional agreements, such as a lack of sanctions or deadlines, were not an implementation impediment. In fact, the very weaknesses of the agreement actually enabled authorities in both countries to cooperate in the development of an acid rain monitoring program in the Candiota region, and as a result, to improve air monitoring capacities in both countries. Third, this research shows that the implementation process (1991–2003) produced different results and impacts: it helped to develop technical capacities of environmental agencies in both countries, increased the political power of Brazilian environmental agencies to control UTPM, and pushed for behavioral changes to enable UTPM to respond to the demands of both governments.     

The rational design of regional regimes: contrasting Amazonian,Central African and Pan-European Forest Governance

Forests have been an important issue in world politics at least since the UNCED conference in Rio in 1992. Since then the focus of academic attention has been on global forest governance by an international forest regime complex consisting of several forest-related regimes. This strong focus leaves a research gap regarding regional regimes addressing forests as an issue area, which recently greatly gained in empirical and academic relevance. It is particularly important to understand the institutional structures on the one hand, and the policies developed within such regimes on the other. In order to obtain a better understanding of this in the forest case, the aim of this article is to analyse the institutional design of three regional forest regimes and to develop fields and hypotheses for future research. We built upon the rational design of international institutions framework developed by Koremenos et al. (Int Organ 55(4):761–799, 2001), and based our findings on content analysis of key documents as well as participant observations and expert interviews in selected occasions. The regional regimes chosen for this study were Amazonian, the Central African and pan-European forest cooperation. The results indicate that the designs of the three regimes greatly differ regarding membership, scope, control, centralisation, and flexibility. This seems to be mainly due to differing degrees of formality of the regimes (from treaty to non-treaty to hybrid regimes) as well as different power structures amongst members and regional hegemons involved. Based on our findings, future research fields for the study of regional forest-related environmental, trade, commodity, and management regime structures as well as regime policies are identified. Such insights advance our understanding of international forest governance not only by global, but by regional forest regimes as well. This is particularly true for our understanding that similar issue-specific problems, such as sustainable forest management, in terms of regime structures and regime policies may be addressed quite differently, largely depending on the preferences of regional powers and hegemons and other potential region-specific factors. We conclude by questioning a hypothesised diffusion of international institutions and propose the more precise concept of institutional osmosis instead.     

Tributary-level transboundary water law in the Syr Darya: overlooked stories of practical water cooperation

Conventional emphasis on basin-wide water management has often resulted in the formation of transboundary water law on the basin or near basin scale. In Central Asia, however, the Syr Darya Basin possesses an abundance of tributary-level cooperative agreements that guide and codify water sharing and management on the sub-basin scale. To understand the volume and nature of this cooperation, this paper compiled and analyzed a set of agreements that apply to small transboundary tributaries (STTs) in the Syr Darya Basin. The paper assembled the largest collection of STT water agreements—123 in total—and classified such documents according to a range of criteria including: purpose and objectives, water management issues, and operational mechanisms. Results of this work highlight a rise in sub-basin-scale cooperation in the first decade of the twenty-first century, a time when large-scale cooperation appeared tenuous; a practical orientation to transboundary water management at a small scale; and an abundance of treaties of short time duration. These findings present options related to scale, time duration and focus of transboundary water law that can help inform future treaty development.     

Technology investment, bargaining, and international environmental agreements

If countries are to engage in international environmental cooperation, they must bargain over the distribution of gains. When future bargaining over pollution abatement is expected, how should a country decide on public technology investments to reduce the domestic cost of pollution abatement? I find that while countries tend to underinvest because they fail to internalize the global benefits of new technology, the magnitude of the problem depends on a country’s bargaining power. Powerful countries underinvest less frequently, because they expect to reap most of the global benefits from new technology in the international negotiations. I also investigate the effectiveness of a simple reciprocal technology agreement. I find that it can help solve the underinvestment problem, and this beneficial effect is particularly pronounced in the case of powerful countries. These findings imply that changing the bargaining protocol on climate change to the benefit of powerful countries may help secure the necessary technology investments.     

Governing illicit finance in transnational security spaces: the FATF and anti-money laundering

This article analyzes the global anti-money laundering (AML) regime from the perspective of security governance, examining the creation of a transnational security space by the FATF. Security is often mentioned as relevant context for AML measures, and the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) as its central institution. Yet, most analyses – implicitly or explicitly – present the FATF as an important banking regulator. Arguing that this perspective on the FATF is too limited, the article outlines the changing security context in which AML emerged as an important tool for governance. Unlike traditional ideas of international security, the idea of security governance emphasizes new forms of cooperation to ensure safety and security across multiple levels. Based on International Relations (IR) and criminological research, the article develops a framework with five dimensions of security governance: a comprehensive security concept, multi-purpose rationalization, public-private cooperation, multi-nodal governance, and transnational security spaces as a result. Unlike other efforts of global crime governance, the global AML regime provides a prime example of security governance in all of these dimensions. At the same time, the link to security also explains why the global AML regime expanded in some areas more than in others: AML is still a weak governance instrument for regulating financial crimes such as tax evasion or corruption, but it is a strong one for security-related crimes. While the FATF remains a special case in global governance, the creation of transnational security spaces in AML – caused by FATF activities – is likely to be a model for future security governance in other fields.     

人权法语境下的气候变化损害责任:虚幻或现实

由人类活动导致的气候变化不仅影响全球生态系统,而且对包括生命权、健康权、财产权在内的各项基本人权的享有和实现构成了严重威胁.在现行多边气候变化体制缺乏损害责任承担机制的情况下,人权法语境下的气候变化损害责任开始进入国际社会的视野.尽管环境损害的人权法救济在实践中已获得了各人权机构的广泛支持,但由于气候变化损害的跨界性和累积性特点,与之相关的人权法责任之构建仍将面临难以逾越的障碍.不过,即便气候变化损害的人权法责任在目前不具有现实可行性,气候变化与人权的挂钩对于多边气候变化体制的发展仍具有积极意义.     

Good Climate Governance: Only a Fragmented System of International Law Away?

Fragmentation is the hallmark of international environmental law—it is both the key to its success and the pathway to its unraveling. Recognizing that law is an essential component of systems of supranational climate governance, addressing gaps between international legal systems is fundamentally important to the legitimacy of international law and to on‐going attempts to use international law as a central component in efforts to address climate change. This article analyzes developments in international environmental law with a view towards suggesting how efforts to develop an international climate change legal regime—and a broader system of global climate governance—highlight the pressing need to look more closely at the linkages between climate change and other areas of international law and to begin thinking about ways to minimize gaps and maximize cooperation among international environmental institutions and between international environmental law and other spheres of international law.     

Preventing Transboundary Harm From Invasive Alien Species

The problem of invasive alien species (IAS) is the second biggest threat to biodiversity after loss of habitat. Although customary international law obliges States to prevent transboundary environmental harm such as IAS, international law does not clearly articulate these obligations in this context. A potentially helpful mechanism lies in the use of transboundary environmental impact assessment and risk analysis. However, the operation of these processes, within international environmental law, international quarantine law and international trade law has generated obligations that largely remain soft, ill-defined and inconsistent. This situation is counter-productive to preventing or minimizing transboundary harm caused by IAS.     

Transboundary river basin agreements in the Mekong and Zambezi basins: Enhancing environmental security or securitizing the environment?

Multilateral agreements are emerging as important mechanisms for structuring cooperation in politically and ecologically complex transboundary river basins around the world. While such agreements are offered and legitimized as a means to advance ecological and human security, they instead often promote state-centric environmental securitization. As a result, seemingly progressive agreements grounded in international law are likely to precipitate and mask environmental degradation until it becomes serious or even irreversible, creating both ecological and human security crises at a variety of scales. Case studies of wetland ecosystems in both the Zambezi and Mekong basins reveal the material and discursive linkages between international agreements and security. By drawing on critical approaches that acknowledge both the socially constructed and the multi-dimensional nature of sovereignty, this paper exposes significant institutional barriers to ecologically sustainable transboundary cooperation in the two basins.