Environmental Negotiations Research Articles

A policy model to initiate environmental negotiations: Three hydropower workshops

How do I get started in natural resource negotiations? Natural resource managers often face difficult negotiations when they implement laws and policies regulating such resources as water, wildlife, wetlands, endangered species, and recreation. As a result of these negotiations, managers must establish rules, grant permits, or create management plans. The Legal‐Institutional Analysis Model (LIAM) was designed to assist managers in systematically analyzing the parties in natural resource negotiations and using that analysis to prepare for bargaining. The LIAM relies on the theory that organizations consistently employ behavioral roles. The model uses those roles to predict likely negotiation behavior. One practical use of the LIAM is when all parties to a negotiation conduct a workshop as a way to open the bargaining on a note of trust and mutual understanding. The process and results of three LIAM workshops designed to guide hydroelectric power licensing negotiations are presented. Our experience with these workshops led us to conclude that the LIAM can be an effective tool to begin a negotiation and that trust built through the workshops can help create a successful result.

Coalition Formation in International Environmental Agreements and the Role of Institutions

The aim of this paper is to discuss the role played by international institutions in achieving effective International Environmental Agreements. We emphasise the strategic nature of environmental negotiations and use a game theoretic model of coalitional bargaining to illustrate the main issues. We argue that international institutions can intervene in the framing of the strategic interactions between countries (i.e. setting the rules of the negotiation game) and can influence the actual agreement reached when different outcomes of the negotiation game can be equilibria.

International Environmental Negotiations: The Current State of Empirical and Analytic Study

International Environmental Negotiations: The Current State of Empirical and Analytic Study

Power Distribution in Complex Environmental Negotiations: Does Balance Matter?

We studied six interagency negotiations covering Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hydroelectric power licenses. Negotiations occurred between state andfederal resource agencies and developers over project operations and natural resource mitigation. We postulated that a balance of power among parties was necessary for successful negotiations. We found a complex relationship between balanced power and success and conclude that a balance of power was associated with success in these negotiations. Power played a dynamic role in the bargaining and illuminates important considerations for regulatory design.

Book Review International Environmental Negotiations: The Current State of Empirical and Analytic Study

Negotiation JournalVolume 13, Issue 2 p. 161-183 International Environmental Negotiations: The Current State of Empirical and Analytic Study Edward A. Parson, Edward A. Parson Edward A. Parson is associate professor of public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge Mass. 02138. His recent publications include studies of the Montreal Protocol, of the role of scientific assessment in global environmental policy, and of joint implementation of international environmental commitments.Search for more papers by this author Edward A. Parson, Edward A. Parson Edward A. Parson is associate professor of public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge Mass. 02138. His recent publications include studies of the Montreal Protocol, of the role of scientific assessment in global environmental policy, and of joint implementation of international environmental commitments.Search for more papers by this author First published: 02 July 2007 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1571-9979.1997.tb00124.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume13, Issue2April 1997Pages 161-183 RelatedInformation

A Comparative Analysis of Multilateral Environmental Negotiations

Global environmental problems pose important diplomatic and legal challenges to the international community. The nature of these problems requires an unprecedented degree of international cooperation that is achieved through multilateral negotiation, which is often shaped by scientific uncertainty, the complexity of the issues, and the wide range of actors and interests. One way of analyzing and explaining this complicated process is through the use of comparative analysis. By breaking down the negotiating process into a series of phases and turning points, it becomes easier to analyze the roles of different actors, the management of issues, the formation of groups and coalitions, and the art of consensus building. This article uses comparative analysis to characterize, develop, and specify a model of the multilateral environmental negotiation process. The model is elaborated upon inductively through a comparative analysis of eleven cases of multilateral environmental negotiations. Statistical techniques are used to determine whether there is any relationship among attributes of the process (within the phases or at the turning points) and between these characteristics and outcomes.

Negotiating toxic risks: A case from the Nordic countries

The process and outcome of international environmental negotiation depends partly on participants’ perceptions of risks posed by the problem at hand. When parties disagree about risk, co‐operative institutions for environmental protection perform poorly [Keohane et al., 1993]. In the case of Baltic Sea regional efforts to control emissions of organochlorines from the pulp industry, diplomats from the two largest polluting states, Sweden and Finland, disagreed about the level of risk posed by chlorinated toxins. This divergence in risk perception formed a stubborn obstacle in the negotiation. As negative publicity grew about the stalemated talks, Finnish participants became concerned about another type of risk: risk to national economic security. Eventually, Finland redoubled its efforts to obtain an accord, anxious about prospective diminishing market share in the vital pulp and paper sector. Lessons learned from the contentious negotiation of the 1980s have not abetted co‐operative efforts in the 1990s: ...

Design and development strategy for multi‐media GIS to support environmental negotiation, administration, and monitoring at the regional level

Environmental protection agencies must administer and monitor compliance with environmental legislation and regulations, provide information to educate the public on the importance of environmental issues, and support the negotiation of environmental conflicts between socio‐economic sectors. To perform these activities at the regional level requires the assembling, management, analysis, and presentation of large amounts of geo‐referenced information from different sources, formats, and scales. Multi‐media Geographic Information Systems (MM‐GIS) offer an alternative to deliver this functionality to support the daily activities of environmental professionals. In the dynamic context of the work carried out by environmental agencies, data and conditions must be updated frequently. The proposed design and development strategy for creating MM‐GIS is based on the premises that these agencies have scarce personnel, computer, financial, and time resources, and that there is a shortage of experienced developers. It expands the multi‐media handling capabilities of GIS and is aimed at facilitating the involvement of professional users in the maintenance and development of a system. It is expected that this involvement will reduce the risk of a MM‐GIS becoming obsolete shortly after its completion. A case study and the resulting MM‐GIS for a region on the west coast of central Mexico is presented.

Looking back to see ahead: UNCLOS III and lessons for global commons law

The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) provides valuable lessons for future formulation of law to govern global commons, areas that lie beyond the limits of national jurisdiction and to which all peoples have free and open access. Although endowed with the advantage of a certain degree of scientific certainty about the need for regulation of the ocean environment, UNCLOS III fell victim to a North‐South schism that impaired the search for consensus on important issues and undermined the final product of the negotiations. An examination of the UNCLOS III experience suggests that agreements that exclude specially affected states are unlikely to succeed, and points to a variety of advantages and disadvantages that come from linking several issues under one negotiating framework. The consensus approach to negotiation used at the Conference tends to expand the time and effort needed to reach a successful outcome, which can lead the negotiations themselves to be outstripped by technological or political developments. Finally, the UNCLOS III experience underscores the importance of global ideological and philosophical differences on the allocation of resources and environmental responsibility. Given these lessons, alternatives to the “parliamentary diplomacy”; strategy used at UNCLOS III are suggested, including a framework‐plus‐protocols approach, international coordination of national plans, regional arrangements, and strictly unilateral actions. While the comprehensive parliamentary diplomacy approach is useful because it recognizes the interconnectedness of ecosystems, in many situations one of the other approaches may increase the chance for a successful outcome. Whichever method is chosen, there is an emerging global recognition of the need for some action to be taken by the world community in combatting the destruction of the world's commons areas, which may be a positive sign for the future of environmental negotiations of this sort.

95/05322 Greening the GATT - trade, environment, and the future

There is growing consensus that new international rules and principles are needed to reconcile conflicts, and promote complementarities, between trade and environmental goals. The issue is especially acute for very poor countries striving for rapid economic growth. Esty, a former Environmental Protection Agency official with extensive experience in trade and environmental negotiations, examines the vital connections between trade, environment and development. He argues that current international trade rules and institutions must be significantly reformed to address environmental concerns while still promoting economic growth and development. Esty offers new international rules and principles to help make trade and environmental policies work together to better achieve sustainable economic progress. He concludes with recommendations for a Global Environmental Organization (GEO) to promote simultaneous achievement of trade environmental goals.

Introduction to the special issue on dynamic game modeling in bargaining and environmental negotiations

Introduction to the special issue on dynamic game modeling in bargaining and environmental negotiations

Tools for Discovery: Experimenting with Simulations

The methodology of experimental simulation is illustrated with examples of discoveries made during the course of a long research career The discoveries resulted from experiments performed in such simulated settings as collective bargaining, the Inter-Nation Simulation, political decision making, ecumenical councils, international environmental negotiations, and peace conferences. Some of these discoveries have been generated through the design process: for example, the way that values and interests interact during the political decision-making process. Other discoveries were findings that served to arbitrate among competing hypotheses, for example, the relative importance of alternative approaches to resolving conflicts of interest. The insights gained through the years demonstrate the value of simulation as a tool for experimentation. Whether these insights generalize widely to similar settings and populations remains an issue. Both the findings and the issues are summarized.

The South in International Environmental Negotiations

The South in International Environmental Negotiations

Books of Note

Abstract Toxic Nation: The Fight to Save Our Communities from Chemical Contamination by Fred Setterberg and Lonny Shavelson; John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1993; 302 pp., $22.95 cloth Reviewed by Phil Brown. Compass and Gyroscope: Integrating Science and Politics for the Environment by Kai N. Lee; Island Press, Washington, D.C., 1993; xii +244 pp., $24.95 cloth Reviewed by William C. Clark. Papers on International Environmental Negotiation, vol. 3 edited by Lawrence E. Susskind, William R. Moomaw, and Adil Najam; The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1993; 257pp., $15.00 paper Reviewed by Edith Brown Weiss. The Pesticide Question: Environment, Economics and Ethics edited by David Pimentel and Hugh Lehman; Routledge, Chapman and Hall, New York and London, 1993; 441 pp., $45.00 cloth Reviewed by Pierre Crosson.

Environmental diplomacy: negotiating more effective global agreements

Solutions to environmental problems require international cooperation, but global environmental treaty-making efforts, including the 1992 U.N.-sponsored Earth Summit in Brazil, have not accomplished much. International cooperation has been hampered by the conflicts between the developed nations of the North and the developing nations of the South; by the fact that science cannot accurately predict when or how environmental threats will materialize; and by the problem that the United Nations treaty-making system was never meant to handle threats to the environment. Lawrence Susskind looks at the weaknesses of the existing system of environmental treaty-making and the increasing role of non-governmental interests in environmental diplomacy. Environmental Diplomacy argues for nearly self-enforcing agreements that ensure compliance without threatening sovereignty and maintains that new institutional arrangements are within reach. Susskind builds on the work of the Program on Negotiation at the Harvard Law School and the International Environmental Negotiation Network to offer guidelines for more effective global agreements that provide for sustainable development.

Developing countries and international environmental negotiations: The risks of poorly informed choices

Almost all basic research and economic and policy analysis on global environmental issues is done in the North. Dissemination of findings is not widespread and their relevance to developing countries is not assessed. A good example of this discontinuity can be found in the arguments surrounding the global warming debate. Several studies from the South have indicated that most Northern studies overestimate Southern emissions and responsibilities. The central points of this article are that the North understates the potential costs of reducing energy consumption in the South, and the economic policy usually advocated in the North to curb carbon emissions—a carbon tax—is among the most costly alternatives for the South.

Book Review: International Environmental Negotiation

Book Review: International Environmental Negotiation

Preference adjustment and opportunities for agreement: Decision modeling to assess negotiating flexibility at UNCED

This paper develops a conceptual framework and applies it to analyze the dynamics of national interests in prenegotiation. The study's goals are to develop a systematic approach for analyzing prenegotiation processes and provide results that will have practical utility for negotiators. Specifically, the approach is applied to the prenegotiation process of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), examining the financial resources issue, in particular. Decision analytic models were built to account for three key negotiation actors, and sensitivity analyses were performed to evaluate the incremental modifications to issue preferences required to achieve mutually acceptable compromises. Conclusions are drawn that indicate the extent of flexibility required of key negotiation actors to take advantage of the opportunities for agreement in the financial resources issue area. The conceptual framework and methodological approach explored in this paper can provide practical assistance as a planning tool for negotiators, helping them to diagnose the situation and plan strategies for future environmental and other multilateral negotiations. The approach can suggest specific opportunities for compromise and the degree and type of flexibility needed to achieve a convergence of interests on the issue.

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Takeovers, Mergers and the Regional Economy. B. ASHCROFT & J.H. LOVE, Scottish Industrial Policy Series 5. The Rural‐Urban Interface in Africa: Expansion and Adaptation. JONATHAN BAKER & POUL OVE PEDERSEN, Uppsala 1992 A World Perspective on Pacific Islander Migration. Australia, New Zealand and the USA. GRANT McCALL & JOHN CONNELL An Introduction to Political Geography. JOHN RENNIE SHORT Hovels to High Rise: State Housing in Europe Since 1850 ANNE POWER The Political Culture of Planning: American Land Use Planning in Comparative Perspective. J. BARRY CULLINGWORTH Markets, States and Housing Provision: Four European Growth Regions Compared. J. BARLOW & S. DUNCAN. Progress in Planning Tropical Hardwood from the Brazilian Amazon. A Study of the Timber Industry in Western Pará. M.A.F. ROS‐TONEN Endogenous Development and Southern Europe. GIOACCHINO GAROFOLI Tourism and the Environment: Regional, Economic and Policy Issues. HELEN BRIASSOULIS & JAN VAN DER STRAATEN The Changing Function and Position of Rural Areas in Europe. PAULUS HUIGEN, LEO PAUL & KEES VOLKERS AIDS in the Industrialized Democracies: Passions, Politics and Policies. D.L. KIRP & R. BAYER Geographic Perspectives on Soviet Central Asia. R.A. LEWIS European Port Cities in Transition. BRIAN S. HOYLE & DAVID A. PINDER Cities and Regions in the New Europe: The Global‐Local Interplay and Spatial Development Strategies. MICK DUNFORD & GRIGORIS KAFKALAS International Environmental Negotiation. G. SJØSTEDT

Rainforest Policies and United States NGOs: Targets and Tactics of Influence

NGOs have started to feature prominently in the political landscape of many industrialized as well as developing nations, and their roles in global environmental governance are being increasingly recognized by governmental policymakers. The 1993 gathering at the Earth Summit in Rio, where NGOs were accorded a seat at the negotiating tables alongside of government representatives, bears testimony to this fact. Besides involving themselves in environmental policy negotiations, however, NGOs have used other strategies and tactics to influence global environmental policy decision-making.