Comment on “Multi-level Governance and Global Climate Change in East Asia”

Abstract

aepr_1152 108..109 As has been indicated in the title of Schreurs' (2010) paper, "multi-level governance" has become a popular notion to express the current status of climate change policy. Climate governance is observed across all levels, starting from multilateral, regional, national, and down to sub-national levels. One of the major reasons behind such comprehensiveness could be due to the problem's unique characteristics. Many other environmental prob- lems, such as local air pollution and ozone depletion, are caused by pollutants that are emitted from a limited number of point sources. For other types of environmental issues such as the loss of species or of resources, it is crucial to deal with people who are legally or illegally directly involved in the depletion. In either case, policies are directed at those who have stakes in the problem, and the number of the stakeholders could be quite small. On the other hand, climate change involves almost all the people and all types of indus- tries around the globe. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are emitted while people light up and heat their houses and drive their cars. Emissions also come from deforestation and other land-use changes. Each individual could be designated as a "stake- holder of climate change." The climate change problem requires a global solution because it involves everybody around the globe. The involvement of all nations is a strength of the United Nations (UN) system. Agreements achieved under the UN arena affect all nations simultaneously. It is also one of the most reliable and authoritative places to discuss global issues. Nevertheless, the weakness of involving all national governments is that agreements are likely to be the least common denominator of countries' positions. Assuming that countries' positions are more or less the least common denominator of the assertions of stakeholders at domestic levels, the consequence could be international agreements that are far from solving the problem. A variety of channels are established to complement the limitations of the UN system. Even at the multilateral level, non-UN processes such as the G8 and Major Economies Forum (initially the Major Economies Meeting led by the US government), have been taking important roles in facilitating dialogue among high-level politicians and govern- ment officials over the past few years. Furthermore, numerous cooperative agreements are concluded on a bilateral basis. Actions to combat climate change are observed at the local level, not only in East Asia, but also in many other countries. In those countries, it is actually movements of local