Multilateral Environmental Research Articles

The Future of Trade and Environment: A Roadmap for Reconciling Two Competing Goals

The global market has experienced an unprecedented increase in cross-border trading, culminating in substantial economic growth for numerous nations. However, this extensive process of economic integration has cast a shadow on various associated domains. Trading activities, intricately linked to the environment due to their reliance on natural resources for production, have indisputably left their mark on global environmental conditions. International trade and environmental preservation, as distinct disciplines, operate under separate sets of laws and regulations. Environmental laws encompass multilateral environmental agreements, and regional and national regulations, while trading activities are governed by the multilateral agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and bilateral agreements. The integration of international trade with environmental measures has become a contentious subject. Proponents of trade argue that it facilitates global access to environment-friendly goods and technologies, thereby facilitating the maintenance of high environmental standards. In contrast, environmentalists contend that international trade laws and practices often impede the governmental efforts to implement regulatory measures aimed at pollution prevention and environmental restoration. The WTO has faced criticism for its perceived inaction in addressing environmental concerns ensuing from trade, despite acknowledging environmental protection as an objective in the preamble of the Marrakesh Agreement. The global discourse on environmental protection has intensified, seeking to accord environmental issues the same weight as trade disputes. This article endeavours to delve into the multifaceted interactions between international trade and environmental protection, scrutinizing their regulatory mechanisms while highlighting the underlying grounds for the disputes that arise between these two realms. Agreement on Fisheries subsidies, Committee on Trade and Environment, Environmental Protection, Free Trade, GATT, Multilateral Environmental Agreements, WTO

The Paris Agreement on Climate Change: Efficiency of Mitigation Obligation

The ‘Paris Climate Treaty’ is the first MEA (Multilateral Environmental Agreement) which imposes mitigation obligations not only on developed countries but also on developing country Parties. The Agreement actually extended the mitigation obligations enshrined under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. It has created a universal binding obligation to take domestic actions to achieve the target of reducing emissions of GHG set out by the domestic (“bottom-up”) process. PA has recognized the best available science to carry on mitigation actions. It requires the Parties to undertake a continuous planning process to mitigate climate change impacts set out in NDC every five years. This Agreement requires a more ambitious NDC containing progression of mitigation commitment from the previous NDC. Though a ‘mandatory enforcement mechanism’ or ‘penalty for non-compliance with mitigation obligations is absent in the Agreement, the mandatory procedural obligation makes us optimistic that the target will be achieved. The information relating to mitigation actions is subject to technical expert review. For assessing the overall and collective progress towards achieving the PA’s long-term mitigation goals, the Agreement requires a “global stocktake” in 2023 and after that time in every five years. There is a “transparent, non-adversarial and non-punitive” expert-based measure to facilitate compliance with provisions containing mitigation obligations. Many Parties are committed to shifting to renewable energy and imposing a carbon tax in their NDCs to achieve their desired mitigation pledges. Many countries have started to invest in cheaper zero-carbon goods and services. When such cheaper zero-carbon goods and services capture the market, then the mitigation target will be fulfilled easily. PA is a universal consensual document. Though it is confronted with many challenges, its strong foundation and efficient mitigation obligation make us optimistic that the overall mitigation targets will be achieved and that mother earth will be safe from being “hell”. This paper shall discuss the mitigation goal and nature of the mitigation obligation under the PA and finally analyze the efficiency of the mitigation strategy. Dhaka University Law Journal, 2022, 33(1), 99-120

The Belt and Road Initiative in North Eurasia: Changing Geographies and the UNECE Multilateral Environmental Agreements

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched by China in 2013 to increase economic and transport connectivity along the Eurasian continent and beyond, has posed unprecedented environmental and social risks, many of which are transboundary in nature. International legal tools contained in Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) can play an important role in mitigating such transboundary risks across space and time, as well as reduce the negative impacts of large infrastructure projects, such as are being developed under the auspices of the BRI. However, the adoption of MEA policy tools has been very uneven across the continent. Three conventions in particular, the 1991 Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment, the 1998 Aarhus Convention, and the 1992 Helsinki Water Convention (the UNECE MEAs) - have the least amount of ratifications by BRI countries. In this paper we discuss these three conventions and demonstrate their relevance in addressing the transboundary risks of large infrastructure projects which require complex coordination and long-term planning.Extended ratification of these UNECE MEAs by nations along the BRI corridors should significantly assist in positively changing geographies by minimizing BRI environmental risks and threats on a transboundary and national dimension, but simultaneously (i) create a more unified approach towards sustainability across the BRI, (ii) raise involvement (and likely subsequent) support within communities for BRI projects, (iii) help to reduce related economic risks throughout Eurasia.

World trade of environmentally-sensitive commodities: legal and institutional aspects

Trade liberalization does not mean that the role of Customs authorities is diminishing. Instead, the modern customs should expedite cross-border trade to promote economic development and preventing illicit trade. Certain sub-stances and commodities that cross borders are considered to be “environ-mentally sensitive” for human health and ecosystems. The environmental illicit trade causes serious damage to the environment. It is considered as a threat for national environmental security. In many countries, customs plays an important role in protecting of the environment. It enforces the provisions of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements (henceforth MEA). The present study is a systematic review of customs – related environmental issues at different levels. Particular attention is paid to examples of customs escort of MEA from the experience of the Russian Federation, the EAEU and the BRICS. The results of the study can serve as a basis for developing measures for the ensuring environmental security with the help of customs management practices, tools, and techniques.

Raising the Cost of Doing Business in Lower Income Countries: Trade Agreements with Stringent Multilateral Environmental Regulations

Raising the Cost of Doing Business in Lower Income Countries: Trade Agreements with Stringent Multilateral Environmental Regulations

Towards the implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement 2015: Opportunities and Challenges for the Network of Universities Legal Aid Institutions (NULAI) Nigeria

The Paris Climate Change Agreement 2015 represents a vindication of environmental multilateralism given that for the first time in the history of international climate change law, over 196 sovereign states voluntarily subscribed to be bound by a treaty for the mitigation of climate change. The Nigerian government has ratified the Paris Agreement, and subsequently undertakes in its National Determined Contributions (NDCs) to adopt some measures for the mitigation of climate change. The usefulness of the Paris Agreement 2015 in mitigating climate change in Nigeria is contingent on the actual implementation of the Agreement, including the Nigerian NDCs. The Paris Climate Change Decision 2015 recognises and, emphasises that non-party stakeholders including civil societies have some vital roles to play in the successful implementation of the Agreement. This paper examines the role that the Network of Legal Aid Institutions (NULAI) Nigeria can play in the successful implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement 2015 in Nigeria, in the light of the recognised role of civil societies in this context. It argues that NULAI can use the instruments of litigation, street lawyering and advocacy to catalyse the successful implementation of the Agreement in Nigeria. On the one hand, it argues that there are possible limitations to the role of NULAI. One such defect is the absence of any justiciable right emanating solely from the Paris Agreement 2015 and, Nigerian NDCs. Another limitation is the low level of awareness of the international climate change law among student law clinicians and staff within the Nigerian universities. The paper concludes by making recommendations on how to surmount the identified problems. A key recommendation is the use of human-right based approached litigation to secure the enforcement of the provisions of the Nigerian NDCs and, the establishment of climate change focused law clinics.

Multilateral Environmental Agreements and EU Integration of Western Balkan States (Status of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Croatia in Multilateral Environmental Agreements)

The objective of the article is to perceive relationships between the statuses of Western Balkan states (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Croatia) in multilateral environmental agreements and EU integration. It points to the significance of multilateral agreements and certain theoretical aspects of debates on factors which stipulate how states act when dealing with multilateral agreements. The article compares the statuses of the states within this region in terms of the most important multilateral environmental agreements (global and regional). In its conclusions, it is recognized that Croatia (which is the first country to start the EU integration process and which is currently a member of the EU) much more quickly gained the status of a contracting party to multilateral treaties, both globally and regionally. Nevertheless, it is necessary to bear in mind other circumstances of transition, and above all, differences in the level of economic development.

A Worthy Heir: Donald Trump, the Republican Party and Climate Change

The aim of this article is to demonstrate that Donald Trump’s commitment to climate skepticism and his hostility toward the very idea of a proactive federal apparatus of environmental regulation do not mark a departure from Republican and conservative orthodoxy but, rather, signal his adherence to positions developed and refined by the libertarian and free-market conservative think tanks that have been supplying the Republican Party with ideas and policy proposals since the 1970s. The article underscores the high degree of continuity between President Trump’s approach to climate change and the environmental policies implemented by his Republican predecessors since Ronald Reagan, which have revolved around a preference for market solutions over government regulations, deep mistrust of environmental multilateralism, efforts to increase fossil fuel production on public lands, and attempts to restrict access to environmental and climate data.

Substantive but inconsistent: Canada’s role in global environmental governance, 1968–2017

ABSTRACTCanada has played a key leadership role in global environmental governance during specific periods since 1968, but has frequently faded from view or reversed direction as economic competiveness remained the central pillar of Canadian foreign policy. Canadian leadership on climate change and other environmental issues has proven inconsistent, torn between pressures for maximal resource extraction and the green agenda first advanced in the 1970s. Three international contextual dimensions have shaped Canadian foreign policy on environmental issues since Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was first elected in 1968. Each of these in turn is further shaped by the domestic policy context, including the party in power, federal–provincial relations, and the state of the economy. The contextual dimensions include the Canadian–American relationship (or, more broadly, the continental dimension); the global ecopolitical context defined primarily by environmental multilateralism and Canada–United Nations collaboration; and the advent of climate change as the predominant environmental issue in the post-1992 period. This paper discusses these three dimensions and offers a panoramic viewpoint on Canada’s contribution to global environmental governance in the age of globalization.

Integrated approaches to natural resources management—Theory and practice

AbstractTo meet multiple environmental objectives, integrated programming is becoming increasingly important for the Global Environmental Facility, the financial mechanism of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements, including the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. However, integration is often not well defined. We therefore focus on identifying key aspects of integration and assessing their implementation in natural resources management projects. To that end, we draw on systems thinking literature and carry out an analysis of a random sample of Global Environmental Facility integrated projects and in‐depth case studies demonstrating lessons learned and good practice. We highlight the need for projects to identify clearer system boundaries and main feedback mechanisms within those boundaries, in order to effectively address drivers of environmental change. We propose a theory of change for integrated natural resources management projects, where short‐term environmental and socioeconomic benefits will first accrue at the local level. Implementation of improved integrated natural resources management technologies and practices at the local level can then be extended through spatial planning and strengthening of innovation systems. Financing and incentive mechanisms at the watershed and/or landscape/seascape level coupled with supporting policies could sustain and enhance ecosystem services at even larger scales and longer time spans. The evolving scientific understanding of factors influencing social, technical, and institutional innovations and transitions towards sustainable management of natural resources should be harnessed and integrated into influencing models and theory of change for complex social‐environmental problems, such as land degradation, and be coupled with up‐to‐date approaches for learning, adaptive management, and scaling up.

Anna Huggins, Multilateral Environmental Agreements and Compliance: The Benefits of Administrative Procedures

Much ink has been spilled over compliance mechanisms and their merits in the context of international environmental governance (IEG). At the same time, much scholarly attention has been given to administrative procedures as a means of securing compliance with multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). Against this backdrop, Anna Huggins proposes an elaborate framework that provides the benchmark against which the benefits of administrative procedures within three areas of international environmental law (IEL)—namely, ozone layer depletion, climate change, and trade in endangered species of fauna and flora—can be gauged. By aptly navigating and drawing insights from global administrative law (GAL), regulation theory, international relations, and third world approaches to international law, the author skilfully articulates her proposed framework. The framework presents a useful tool to evaluate the extent to which administrative action in the compliance mechanisms of MEAs are circumscribed by administrative procedures and mechanisms (at 16). In this regard, the author’s main argument is twofold: first, the adoption of administrative procedures in the compliance systems of MEAs ensures that compliance decision-making occurs in procedurally constrained spaces; second, proceduralization brings with it the potential for affected states’ interests to be heard and taken into consideration in compliance decision-making processes (at 5).

40 years of global environmental assessments: A retrospective analysis

This paper provides a retrospective analysis of global environmental assessment (GEA) processes and their changing character, focus and political context over the past 40 years. We examine how and why elements of organizational design, objectives, and the evolving political landscape have interacted and changed, with a view of informing the design and conduct of future processes. We find that the historical genesis of GEAs is closely connected to the emergence of environmental multilateralism. However, the prevailing conditions and assumptions which originally gave rise to the GEA concept have changed significantly over time, giving rise to an increasing demand for a focus on response options and policies. We also find that the epistemic and process complexity of GEAs has increased substantially, without a corresponding expansion in the magnitude and composition of GEA management teams. We suggest that developing analytical capacities for policy assessment as well as ensuring sufficient resources and tools to manage increasingly complex GEAs is essential to ensure their future relevance and success. This article is part of a special issue on solution-oriented GEAs.

Environmental Multilateralism: Climate Change and American Decline

Environmental Multilateralism: Climate Change and American Decline

The Participation of the EU and its Member States in Multilateral Environmental Negotiations post Lisbon

The Participation of the EU and its Member States in Multilateral Environmental Negotiations post Lisbon

Japan and the Kyoto Protocol: reconstructing ‘proactive’ identity through environmental multilateralism

ABSTRACTThe aim of this article is to interpret Tokyo's pivotal role in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations as a practice of reconstructing Japan's identity of an ‘international’ and ‘independent’ country. The text bases this argument in poststructural national identity scholarship, which believes that discursive differentiation to international forces (‘others’) plays a decisive role in formulating state's identity. For most parts of the post-war history, United States served as the most significant other for Japan's self construction. Japan narrated itself as a ‘weak’ and ‘subservient’ country dominated by the ‘dominant’ West. This narrative, however, has been significantly altered after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Japan's identity entrepreneurs began describing Japan as an ‘independent’ or ‘normal’ country, one that proactively contributes to world affairs. Tokyo's legitimization of the Kyoto Protocol was in line with this identity reconstruction. The image of a proactive environmental leader created a symbol of Kyoto that overshadowed the opponents of the Protocol, and lead Japan to ratify it albeit the United States chose to withdraw from it. Once the ratification was over, however, the practical implementation failed to comply with Japan's symbolic commitment.

A Climate Treaty Without the US Congress: Using Executive Powers to Overcome the Ratification Straitjackett

The issue of US ratification of international environmental treaties is a recurring obstacle for environmental multilateralism, including the climate regime. Despite the perceived importance of the role of the US to the success of any future international climate agreement, there has been little direct coverage in terms of how an effective agreement can specifically address US legal participation. This paper explores potential ways of allowing for US legal participation in an effective climate treaty. Possible routes forward include the use of domestic legislation such as section 115 (S115) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), and the use of sole-executive agreements, instead of Senate ratification. Legal participation from the US through sole-executive agreements is possible if the international architecture is designed to allow for their use. Architectural elements such as varying legality and participation across an agreement (variable geometry) could allow for the use of sole-executive agreements. Two broader models for a 2015 agreement with legal participation through sole-executive agreements are constructed based upon these options: a modified pledge and review system and a form of variable geometry composed of number of opt-out, voting based protocols on specific issues accompanied with bilateral agreements on mitigation commitments with other major emitters through the use of S115 and sole-executive agreements under the Montreal Protocol and Chicago Convention (Critical Mass Governance). While there is no single solution, Critical Mass Governance appears to provide the optimum combination of tools to effectively allow for US legal participation whilst ensuring an effective treaty.

Much Can Be Learned about Addressing Antibiotic Resistance from Multilateral Environmental Agreements.

Antibiotic resistance (ABR) is a common-pool resource challenge. This means that efforts to address ABR can learn from similar collective action problems faced within the environmental sector. Multilateral environmental agreements are the backbone of global environmental governance. Their ability to effectively solve environmental problems depends on the problem structure and the regime's problem-solving capacity. The success or failure of environmental agreements is mainly determined by the problem structure, including the degree of political consensus and scientific certainty. But agreements' institutional design also matter because they can change the problem structure and problem-solving capacity. Based on experiences with environmental agreements, an international ABR agreement should contain robust reporting/verification procedures, sanctions for non-compliance, assistance for implementation, majority vote decision-making rules, a strong secretariat, an independent scientific panel, and specific commitments. More research on global strategies for achieving collective action is needed to help inform future institutional designs that are both effective and politically feasible.

Bypassing the ‘ratification straitjacket’: reviewing US legal participation in a climate agreement

The issue of US ratification of international environmental treaties is a recurring obstacle for environmental multilateralism, including the climate regime. Despite the perceived importance of the role of the US to the success of any future international climate agreement, there has been little direct coverage in terms of how an effective agreement can specifically address US legal participation. This article explores potential ways of allowing for US legal participation in an effective climate treaty. Possible routes forward include the use of domestic legislation such as section 115 (S115) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the use of sole–executive agreements, instead of Senate ratification. Legal participation from the US through sole–executive agreements is possible if the international architecture is designed to allow for their use. Architectural elements such as varying legality and participation across an agreement (variable geometry) could allow for the use of sole–executive agreements. Two broader models for a 2015 agreement with legal participation through sole–executive agreements are constructed based upon these options: a modified pledge and review system and a form of variable geometry composed of number of opt-out, voting-based protocols on specific issues accompanied by bilateral agreements on mitigation commitments with other major emitters through the use of S115 and sole–executive agreements under the Montreal Protocol and Chicago Convention (‘Critical Mass Governance'). While there is no single solution, Critical Mass Governance appears to provide the optimum combination of tools to effectively allow for US legal participation whilst ensuring an effective treaty.Policy relevanceThis article provides some recommendations on how to create an effective, legally binding treaty that allow for US legal participation without Senate approval. Given the recent election of a Republican majority in the US Senate and Congress, increasing willingness of the President to utilize his executive powers, as well as a strong shift in negotiations to appease US interests, the insights of this research are timely and relevant to delegations and other United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) actors. It will also be of use to domestic US actors involved with climate policy by illustrating how to allow for effective and sustainable US multilateral engagement that bypasses domestic political gridlock.

The EU and Environmental Multilateralism: The Case of Access and Benefit-Sharing and the Need for a Good-Faith Test

AbstractThis chapter discusses the need for a good-faith test for assessing the legitimacy of ongoing and future EU initiatives aimed at contributing to the development and implementation of international environmental law. A test that is based on the international legal principle of good faith may serve to better understand when the EU is effectively supporting environmental multilateralism to the benefit of the international community, rather than seeking to unduly influence it purely for its own advantage. The test is developed mostly on the basis of EU efforts of contributing to climate change multilateralism, and is applied to a much less studied case: the adoption and implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-sharing under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Inter-Play Between Multilateral Environmental and Fisheries Law: A Struggle to Sustainably Regulate an Economic Activity – Including a Case Study on the North Sea

This essay focuses on the impact of multilateral environmental policy and law on multilateral fisheries policy and law, however, en route it will also point to the limited impact that developments in these fields of law have had on multilateral law concerned with the economics of the fishing industry. First, by way of an illustrative case study, this essay will explore the inter-play between environmental policy and law and fisheries policy and law in the North Sea, as it is with in this region that the precautionary principle first emerged and that environmental bodies started to address fishing activities. Thereafter, the impact of multilateral environmental policy and law on multilateral fisheries policy and law will be assessed. First, the recognition of fishing activities as impacting on the environment will be discussed. Subsequently, the manner in which the environmental impact of fishing activities has been conceptualized will be analyzed. In these last two parts of the essay the analysis focuses mainly on multilateral fisheries instruments that address high seas fishing activities, including fishing for straddling and highly migratory stocks. Finally, by way of conclusion, the factors that have limited the contribution of multilateral law to the introduction of sustainable fishing activities as well as an alternative approach to fisheries management will be revisited.