Transnational Environmental Problems Research Articles

Sovereignty as an environmental practice: the problem of territoriality and anthropocentrism

The article is a theoretical study of state sovereignty. By looking at the concept in a different way from traditional methods, it tries to discern whether sovereignty is necessarily antithetical to a sustainable world. Emphasis is put on its territoriality and anthropocentrism – both of which make it into a major obstacle when tackling global and transnational environmental problems. State sovereignty is analyzed as an environmental practice of the state, which allows for the control of resources to be used by capital. The analysis is conducted using theoretical and conceptual critique as the main method. It is based on various sources ranging from critical geopolitics and critical geography to political science and political ecology, including the concept of Capitalocene. As long as sovereignty remains utilized by the state in service to capital, it will be used to cement its ability to control space and extract resources. However, a different kind of sovereignty is imaginable and therefore the institution itself is neither friend nor enemy to environmental politics. This new understanding of sovereignty opens up new avenues for theoretical research in political ecology and International Relations, bridging the gap between traditional state-centric approaches and the transboundary nature of ecological problems.

Problems in Threatened Species Conservation: Differences in National Red Lists Assessments with Global Standards

The solution of transnational environmental problems in the field of the protection of threatened species and conservation biology directly depends on the level of international communication, which can significantly decrease due to differences in Red Lists and Red Data Books of different levels. In order to identify the similarities and differences in approaches to the assessment of national Red Lists and Books of the Baltic Sea region countries (Russia, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Finland, Poland and Sweden) with the IUCN Red List, a comparative analysis was carried out. It was determined that the level of discrepancy between Red Data Lists and Books varies considerably, with differences in the scales of species categories, species lists and categories. Most of the threatened species at the national level are not listed under the IUCN Red List, while species in a more stringent category at the national level prevail (37% and 3% on average, respectively). However, national Red Lists and Red Data Books do not take into account the global trend of the risk of extinction of species. The percentage of species with insufficient information to define a category at the national or global level ranges from 6% to 28%. These discrepancies make it difficult to exchange data on threatened species and create a unified database with information on protected species at different levels and, therefore, reduce the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation activities at regional and international levels. The results also demonstrate that countries have an international responsibility to conserve a species, and the cases identified can provide useful additional information to guide a national conservation strategy.

Sovereignty as an environmental practice: the problem of territoriality and anthropocentrism

The article is a theoretical study of state sovereignty. By looking at the concept in a different way from traditional methods, it tries to discern whether sovereignty is necessarily antithetical to a sustainable world. Emphasis is put on its territoriality and anthropocentrism – both of which make it into a major obstacle when tackling global and transnational environmental problems. State sovereignty is analyzed as an environmental practice of the state, which allows for the control of resources to be used by capital. The analysis is conducted using theoretical and conceptual critique as the main method. It is based on various sources ranging from critical geopolitics and critical geography to political science and political ecology, including the concept of Capitalocene. As long as sovereignty remains utilized by the state in service to capital, it will be used to cement its ability to control space and extract resources. However, a different kind of sovereignty is imaginable and therefore the institution itself is neither friend nor enemy to environmental politics. This new understanding of sovereignty opens up new avenues for theoretical research in political ecology and International Relations, bridging the gap between traditional state-centric approaches and the transboundary nature of ecological problems.

Information Exchange and Transnational Environmental Problems

This paper analyzes information exchange in a model of transnational pollution control in which countries use private information in independently determining their domestic environmental policies. We show that countries may not always have an incentive to exchange their private information. However, for a sufficiently high degree of predictability of domestic environmental policy processes, the expected welfare from sharing information is greater than the expected welfare from keeping it private. The minimum degree of policy predictability for which information sharing occurs increases with the level of environmental risk. Intuitively, information exchange can help mitigate the perception of global uncertainty (both political and scientific) that surrounds transnational environmental problems and potentially improve welfare if policymaking processes are sufficiently aligned with evidence-based approaches (predictable).

Environmental authorities and biofuel controversies

The current generation of crop-based biofuels is heavily contested for its negative consequences for the environment and the poor. Hence, the current biofuel system needs to be transformed in the direction of what can be labelled ‘fair fuels’: (bio)fuels that are environmentally and socially sustainable. Conventional state environmental authorities have limited power and legitimacy to effectively regulate the sustainability of current global biofuels. Hence, we witness the emergence of private market environmental authorities, moral environmental authorities and all kinds of hybrid authorities in biofuel regulation. These new forms of environmental authority should neither be condemned as ineffective and undemocratic nor celebrated as the modern answer to transnational environmental problems that face state failure. Further critical inquiry into the changing environmental authority structure under conditions of globalisation is needed.

Transnational environmental problems — The United States, Canada, Mexico

Transnational environmental problems — The United States, Canada, Mexico

Transnational environmental problems — the United States, Canada, Mexico

The paper examines the problems associated with transboundary environmental pollution. While briefly recording the efforts of international organizations in this area, the main content of the paper is concerned with an analysis of problems arising between the United States and Mexico, and between the United States and Canada. The paper also discusses new organizational forms that have been developed to bring transboundary issues to a higher policy-making level.