Abstract
Coordination and cooperation are necessary topics to strengthen international environmental agreements that improve action against worldwide challenges towards sustainable development and environmental protection, such as invasive alien species (IAS). This study aims to assess to what extent national and transnational cooperation and coordination influences the implementation of a supranational regulation against IAS based on an example from the European Union (EU). Data is used from a broader study, including 47 responses to an online questionnaire and 22 interviews completed by experts from two countries (Austria and Romania), together with in depth literature. Additionally, the IAS-Regulation is analyzed from the perspective of cooperation and coordination. The terms “cooperation” and “coordination” were found within the text of the IAS-Regulation 11 and nine times respectively, whereas their context was transnational and national levels mainly, and transnational, respectively. It was further acknowledged from the majority of the answers from the survey respondents that the national coordination and cooperation is weaker than the transnational level due to the influence of the national competence distribution. Results from the interviews are separated into ‘transnational’ and ‘national’ cooperation and coordination. They show that the majority of the 47 responses indicate that the distribution of competence is one of the main influencing factors on the implementation. It is concluded that the current situation of cooperation and coordination in Austria and Romania renders it difficult for the European Commission to receive a realistic view about IAS and the implementation of the IAS Regulation in the two countries; hence, it is difficult to offer helpful support especially due to poor national cooperation. The current study can serve as a blueprint for further studies. Even in regional integration contexts beyond the EU, it can prove helpful to assess the impact of different kinds of competence distribution on the implementation of common norms. Thus, this research can path the way innovatively and serve as a comparative example for similar future studies.
Highlights
Global challenges and immanent transboundary environmental problems need mutual policies of cooperation and coordination around the globe [1,2]
The term “cooperation” appears in the Invasive Alien Species (IAS) Regulation 11 times and the term ‘coordination’ nine times. This aspect is important because it clearly shows the context in which cooperation and coordination was used in the IAS Regulation and the type at transnational and/or national levels (Table A2): (1) For both the transnational and national level, the context is mainly transnational, and national because the decisions must be
(2) For the transnational type only, regarding cooperation, on the one hand there is not necessarily the need for an official agreement, and the lists (Union, national and regional lists) play a very important role; on the other hand, the coordination in the transnational context relies on the IAS Regulation on other existing agreements and clear action plans
Summary
Global challenges and immanent transboundary environmental problems need mutual policies of cooperation and coordination around the globe [1,2]. Coordination and cooperation mutually depend upon each other [4]. Coordination and cooperation are vital topics to apply in a time where international environmental agreements become a more powerful legislative and administrative tool [1,6,7]. They help to improve action worldwide towards sustainable development, to address threats such as Invasive Alien Species (IAS) [8,9,10]. The problem is global, but the impacts on society, economic life, health, and natural heritage are distributed unevenly across nations and regions [15,16,17,18]
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