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
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES VALUE
(trillion US)
Soil formation 17.1
Recreation 3.0
Nutrient cycling 2.3
Water regulation and supply 2.3
Climate regulation (temperature and precipitation) 1.8
All other services 1.6
Habitat 1.4
Flood and storm protection 1.1
Food and raw materials production 0.8
Genetic resources 0.8
Atmospheric gas balance 0.7
Pollination 0.4
Total value of ecosystem services 33.3
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