ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Table 9.1 Some major multilateral environmental treaties1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling
1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES);
Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL)
1979 Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP)
1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
1985 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer
1989 Basle Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and
Their Disposal
1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
UN Convention on Biological Diversity
1994 UN Convention to Combat Desertification
2000 Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety
local in cause and effect, such as deforestation, desertification and water
scarcity, now have international dimensions. A ‘new’ range of issues, includ-
ing climate change, ozone depletion and biodiversity loss, are trulyglobal
in that they affect everyone. All states contribute to problems of the global
commons and all suffer the consequences, although the extent to which
each country is culpable for causing a particular problem and vulnerable to
its effects varies enormously.
Global environmental problems require international solutions; they can-
not be solved by nation states acting alone. Only if individual nation states
co-operate with each other can environmental problems be resolved. As gov-
ernments have grown increasingly aware of their mutual vulnerability, envi-
ronmental issues have become firmly established on the international pol-
icy agenda. The UN conferences at Stockholm in 1972 and Rio de Janeiro in
1992 were important milestones in this transition. Multilateral environmen-
tal agreements (MEAs) did exist before 1972, covering issues such as wildlife
conservation and maritime pollution, but the Stockholm Conference marked
thestart of a wide-ranging debate about the environment in international
politics. Twenty years later the Rio Earth Summit pushed the environment
centre-stage; it was then the largest ever gathering of world leaders and was
attended by a host of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and interest
groups. Two conventions on climate change and biodiversity were agreed
and Agenda 21 was launched, committing the international community to
the principles of sustainable development. Today the rising tide of interna-
tional co-operation has produced around 200 MEAs and spawned a plethora
of institutional structures to monitor, enforce and strengthen them (see
Table9.1).
Yetthe mere existence of these agreements, which are undoubtedly a real
achievement of environmental diplomacy, is something of a puzzle because
theyrepresent a degree of international co-operation that seems to fly in the