The Emergence of Global Environmental Politics

1
The Emergence of Global Environmental Politics

• How climate change became a
• central socioeconomic issue

2
Take away concepts

• What is the Tragedy of the Commons and how
  relevant is it to modern environmental issues?
• What factors led to the rise of the importance of
  environmental politics?
• Factors affecting global environmental policy
  development.
• Compare and contrast conventional vs. ecological
  views of economic activity.
• Compare and contrast scientific vs. political
  motivations.
• What is an environmental policy life cycle?

3
Biosphere2 - A lesson in humility

• 200 million facility designed to be a
  self-sustaining life-support system.
• 3.2 acre enclosed facility, many ecosystems,
  water and air recycling
• Experiment in sustainability and complex systems.
• Eight scientists sealed into Bio2 in 1991 - for 2
  years.
• What happened?

4
BIO2

• O2 levels dropped (due to unset concrete),
  additional O2 pumped in. CO2 levels dangerously
  high.
• Nutrient cycling didnt work effectively
• Tropical birds died after the first freeze.
• 19 of 25 small mammals became extinct.
• Facility overrun by Arizona ant which killed off
  introduced insects. Insect pollination stopped.
• Cost 200 million for eight people over 2 years
  
• 12.5 million per person annually failed to do
  what the earth does for free

5
Tragedy of the Commons metaphor

• Garrett Hardin (1968) seminal article
• Ruination of a limited resource when confronted
  by unlimited access by an expanding population.
• Modern reference to Medieval English farmers use
  of pasture commons

6
Premise(Common property resource management
CRM)

• All farmers have access to enclosed commons
• Farmers motivated () to maximize herd
• Increased herd --gt real unit profits
• No (apparent) cost for commons use
• Population growth coupled to increased resource
  use leads to overgrazing, erosion, eventual
  destruction of the commons.
• Conclusion Freedom in a commons brings ruin to
  all.

7
Common-Pool Resource Characteristics

• Common Pool Resources
• Exclusion is difficult and joint use involves
  subtractability
• Excludability
• Ability to control access to resource
• For many global problems it is impossible to
  control access
• Subtractability
• Each user is capable of subtracting from general
  welfare
• Inherent to all natural resource use.
• How do these apply to Hardins premise?

8
Hardins proposed solutions

• Socialism
• but natural ecosystems suffered most in
  communist countries
• Privatization, or free enterprise
• doesnt work efficiently either

9
Four property rights systems

• State Property
• Total control over (national) resources, but
  dangers of over-regulation (Ex Forests).
• Communal Property
• Self-regulation works at local levels (Ex Native
  American salmon)
• Private Property
• Rational exploitation of resource. Costs
  benefits accrue to the same owner (Ex Oil
  deposits).
• Open Access
• Open oceans, atmosphere, biota (ex whales -
  depletion occurred rapidly). Most global
  problems..

10
More...

• Pasture model very provocative but not
  complete
• Assumes open access and no excludability
• Demand was allowed to exceed supply, unchecked.
• Resource users were incapable of altering the
  rules.

11
Examples of Common-Pool Resources

• Global oceans and atmosphere
• Global Climate system
• Biodiversity
• Ocean Life
• Deep seabed minerals
• Stratospheric ozone layer
• Antarctica
• What are some others?

12
Common-Pool Resources of Earth
Costanza et al., 1997
13
Putting a Price on Nature
Costanza et al., 1997
14
Comparing Goods Services

• The planet provides many goods and services for
  free
• Annual cost were we to do it 33 Trillion
• Nearly all of this is outside the market system.
• Global GDP (1997) 18 Trillion

15
How is pollution a Commons problem?

• Inverse of pastureland problem (putting in, not
  taking away)
• Unit cost of polluting is much less than cost of
  proper disposal.
• Like other Commons, problem is compounded by
  population
• The propriety of actions must be evaluated within
  the context of current conditions

16
and Shared resources

• Extend across exclusion boundaries
• Non-renewable resources
• Migratory animals
• Complex ecosystems (rainforests)
• Global atmosphere and ocean quality
• Regional seas, lakes, rivers

17
Inexhaustible resources of the ocean(McVay,
1966)
Meyers and Worm, 2003
18
Challenges of the Global Commons

• Global scaled up problem
• Global culturally diverse
• Global interwoven resources
• New discovery - accelerating rates of change
• Requirement of unanimous agreement as collective
  choice rule
• Time is not our friend

Ostrom et al., 1999
19
Science and Policy Communities

• Scientific enterprise
• Inquisitorial system
• Data collection, interpretation, revision
• Data --gt hypothesis --gt theory --gt law
• Search for truth, following physical laws
• Truth through data collection, estimates of
  certainty
• Medium Published papers
• Motivation Recognition and advancement
• Accountability Peer review
• Time-frame Open-ended

20
Science and Policy, cont

• Policy-makers
• Adversarial system
• Search for compromise, not truth
• Compromise through negotiation
• Medium Instruments Convention, Protocol,
  Frameworks, MOUs
• Motivation Legal compliance, achieving
  settlement
• Accountability Legal and public opinion
• Time-frame Usually fixed, rigid

21
So

• Scientists and policy-makers have very different
  motivations, time-frames, accountabilities, and
  languages.
• Differing motivations Inquisitive vs.
  Adversarial -
• a dominant source of misinformation.
• Successful resolution of global environmental
  problems needs the input from both communities.
• The problem needs people who can speak with/to
  both communities.
• This is where you come in...

22
What factors led to the the rise of environmental
politics?

• Confluence of
• Global public opinion
• Degraded urban (and natural) environments
• economic pressures
• scientific observations and monitoring
• well-timed natural climate anomalies
• International political leadership

23
Environmentalism emerges

• Social movement in the 1960s
• 1963 Silent Spring (R. Carson)
• 1967Stockholm Conference (114 countries)
• 1967 Apollo photographs of Earth
• 1970 first Earth Day
• The pollution paradigm
• Local/regional (not global as many issue are
  today)
• Air, water, food, diversity
• Concerns poisons, litter, population,
  overexploitation
• Cleanup the zero standard

Source Dr. Paul N. Edwards (Univ. Mich)
24
1970s Pivotal Decade

• Earth Day (1970)
• EPA was established
• Beginnings of sustained climate science and
  policy interaction
• Limits to Growth (Donella Meadows, 1972)
• long-term global trends in population, economics,
  and the environment.
• Supersonic Transport controversy (1970s)
• Front page news on Ozone depletion

25
Toward a Global Vision (by way of a national
one)

• UN Conference on Human Environment (1972)Studies
  on
• Critical Environmental problems (1971)
• Mans Impact on Climate (1972)
• Global monitoring networks for CO2, pollutants
• 1973 Natural climate anomalies
• Sahel Drought, Peruvian anchovy failure
• Soviet Wheat crop failure
• 1974 Oil Crisis
• Dept. Energy Formed
• 1977 Carbon Dioxide Impact Assessment
• First sustained anthropogenic climate change
  research effort

26
Events leading to enhanced awareness of Climate
Change

• Human modification of the atmosphere
• Radioactive fallout, (since 1940s, 1960s)
• Supersonic Transport and strat. clouds (1970s)
• Ozone depletion (EPA bans aerosol can CFCs,
  1976)
• Nuclear Winter debates (1982-1985)
• Chernobyl (1986) - impacts W. Europe
• Antarctic Ozone hole (1985)
• Summer, 1988 Heat, drought, water shortages
• Sea ice and ice sheet melting

27
The USGCRP

• US Global Change Research Program
• Proposed by Reagan in 1989 (Bush, 1990)
• 2 billion annual budget
• About half of the total world research effort
• Predominantly satellite-based programs
• Allows administrations to learn more about the
  problem, potential impacts, and mitigation
  strategies (but significant US policy action has
  been deferred)

28
Taking Action IPCC

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• Established in 1988
• UN Environmental program
• World Environmental Program
• Assess the State of the Art in climate science
• Represents all interested parties
• Scientists, Governments, NGOs
• The role of the IPCC is to assess on a
  comprehensive, objective, open and transparent
  basis the scientific, technical and
  socio-economic information relevant to
  understanding the scientific basis of risk of
  human-induced climate change, its potential
  impacts and options for adaptation and
  mitigation.

http//www.ipcc.ch
29
IPCC (cont)

• 2500 of the worlds leading climate scientists
  and technical experts contribute reports.
• Produce comprehensive and balanced assessments of
  climate change science, impacts, and adaptation
  and mitigation options.
• Extensive peer-review and governmental review
  ensures scientific credibility and policy
  relevance.

30
IPCC Reports

• four IPCC Reports
• 1st 1990
• 2nd 1995
• 3rd 2001
• 4th AR 2007
• Each Report has 3 Working Groups
• Scientific Aspects of Climate Change
• Socioeconomic impacts and Adaptability
• Mitigation measures

31
Economics and Environmental Policy Old

• Economics and resource availability/quality are
  linked fundamentally, but how?
• But most economic systems do not reflect resource
  use or ecological degradation
• Frontier Economics Nature consists of a set
  of effectively unlimited resources humans are
  separate from ecology.
• Based on Neoclassical economics, which assumes
• Free market will always maximize social welfare
• There is an infinite supply of resources (as
  sinks for waste)
• (Provided the free market is operating and
  healthy)
• This view has been under attack since the 1960s

32
GNP/GDP are misleading measures

• GNP/GDP poor measures of economic and societal
  health
• They hide (do not include) the environmental
  effects of producing and distributing goods.
• They dont include the depletion of natural
  resources/assets, environmental services upon
  which all economies depend.
• Actually including these (and related) costs
  would fundamentally alter economies

33
Economics and Environmental Policy New

• Paradigm shift (1970s-present) Neoclassic
  Economics --gt Sustainable Development
• Economic growth cannot proceed at the expense of
  earths natural capital and life-support systems.
  
• The world economy must live off earths
  interest
• Economic systems should include costs of
  resource use.
• Means
• Reduce consumption
• Improved efficiency
• Reduced population
• Alternative energy sources
• Renewable resource management

34
Economic Solutions (to accommodate environ.
costs)

• Mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon
• Regulation
• Subsidies
• Withdrawing harmful subsidies
• Tradable rights
• Green taxes
• User fees
• All have Innovation, Competitiveness, Govt cost
  and revenue implications

35
Global Environmental Politics

• Not a level playing field, yet states must strive
  for concensus
• Main determinants of policy
• Veto Power and Coalitions
• Trade and Self-interest
• Economic power
• Public opinion
• Negotiation (bargaining) among stake-holders

36
Environmental Policy Life Cycle

• Recognition
• Identifying and quantifying the problem
• Formulation
• Finding solutions
• Implementation
• Implement solutions to mitigate problem
• Control Monitoring
• Assess impact of policy, revise as necessary

37
International Regimes

• Set of norms, rules, or decision-making
  procedures which lead to convergence of opinion.
• Convention Legal instrument containing binding
  obligations
• Framework Convention Establishes the groundrules
  for cooperation without binding obligations.
• Protocols Establishes more formal, specific
  obligations.
• Non-binding agreement Soft law, varying degrees
  of effectiveness (Marine Pollution)

38
1992 Earth Summit on Sustainability

• UNCED - AGENDA21. UN Conference on the
  Environment And Development
• Held in Rio, 1992 (150 nations, 10,000
  delegates).
• Preceded by two years of discussions on domestic
  and global issues, inequities, and
  responsibilities.
• Final negotiating session at Rio - AGENDA21
• Global plan of action for more sustainable
  societies.
• Non-binding agreement
• Industrialized countries asked to accept
  responsibility to change their unsustainable
  lifestyles - met with resistance.

39
Preamble to AGENDA21

• Humanity stands at a defining moment in history.
  We are confronted with a perpetuation of
  disparities between and within nations, a
  worsening of poverty, hunger, ill health and
  illiteracy, and the continuing deterioration of
  the ecosystems on which we depend for our
  well-being. However, integration of environment
  and development concerns and greater attention to
  them will lead to the fulfillment of basic needs,
  improved living standards for all, better
  protected and managed ecosystems and a safer,
  more prosperous future. No nation can achieve
  this on its own but together we can - in a
  global partnership for sustainable development.

40
AGENDA21 as example of how environmental policy
rapidly becomes complicated

• US and other developed nations failed to commit
  resources to support sustainable development.
  Blocked proposals to change consumption patterns.
• Developing countries blocked establishment of
  norms for forest management.
• Many issues had split responses from developed
  and developing states (e.g. climate change and
  oil producing (inland vs. coastal) states).
• AGENDA21 set into motion progress toward
  sustainability - first transparent conference.
• Environmental issues are now becoming dominant
  factors in global politics

41
What is Columbia doing about this?

• Prof. Jeff Sachs, Director of Columbias Earth
  Institute
• CEI Mission
• Mobilizing the sciences and public policy to
  build a prosperous and sustainable future.

42
Columbia Earth Institute

• Some CEI Initiatives
• UN Millennium Development Goals
• Millennium Villages
• 21st Century Cities
• El Nino Climate and Society
• Abrupt Climate Change
• CO2 sequestration
• Global Roundtable of Climate Change
• Masters and Ph.D. programs
• Ph.D. and PoS in Sustainable Development