global governance - environmental

Question 1

What are facts that demonstrate the increasing severity of climate change?

Answer 1

• By 2017, scientists estimated that Antarctic sea ice had reached its smallest annual extent on record
• In decade, Arctic ice park has reduced by 10,000km
• In 2016, world average temperatures reached a record high, rising for third consecutive year
• Experts predict an increase in extreme weather events including drought, floods and heat waves

Question 2

What are ways in which climate change is perhaps unique as a
collective action problem?

Answer 2

• Every state contributes in
  some way to its causes
• Every state is affected in some
  way by its effects
• Every state can have an impact
  in solving the problem

Question 3

What are the difficulties of forcing states to take action in an essentially anarchical society?

Answer 3

• States need a framework within which they can agree there is problem and how serious it is
• States need forums to discuss
  solutions that could make a
  difference, reject/agree on solutions
• States need international laws and treaties to be agreed to ensure mutual compliance

Question 4

What are global commons?

Answer 4

parts of our environment available to everyone but for which no single individual has responsibility–the atmosphere, fresh water, forests, wildlife, and ocean fisheries

Question 5

What are features of the high seas as a global commons?

Answer 5

increasingly vulnerable to impact of waste and chemical pollution, e.g. BP oil
spill in 2010

Question 6

What are features of the atmosphere as a global commons?

Answer 6

the impact of greenhouse gases on accelerating climate change

Question 7

What are features of the polar regions as a global commons?

Answer 7

Arctic & Antarctic have huge potential - also key indicators for effects of climate change (ice melting)

Question 8

What are features of outer space as a global commons?

Answer 8

has been increasingly crowded. NASA: 500,000 pieces of human-generated space debris

Question 9

What are the main international laws designed to protect the global commons?

Answer 9

• The UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS)
• The Antarctic Treaty System
• The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Question 10

What is the UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS)?

Answer 10

laws that prevent pollution & sets out limits of states’ territorial waters

Question 11

What is the Antarctic Treaty System?

Answer 11

sets out various environmental protections for the region

Question 12

What is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)?

Answer 12

established process through which international treaties agreed to protect atmosphere

Question 13

What is the tragedy of the commons?

Answer 13

The challenge that, in a system of global politics dominated by selfish national interest and competition for economic power and natural resources, states will be motivated to use and even harm the global commons to advance their own interests, rather than working together to protect these shared resources and environments

Question 14

What are the arguments that the global commons is doomed to remain something that states harm and compete for through their own self-interest?

Answer 14

• States act with realist
  motivations in efforts to
  protect their own national
  interest
• States are competing for
  economic power and
  resources, and this extends to
  natural research

Question 15

What are the arguments that the global commons is not doomed to remain something that states harm and compete for through their own self-interest?

Answer 15

• Impacts of high levels of pollution are felt most significantly at local and national
  levels
• In recent climate change agreements, there has been recognition of developing
  states’ needs
• Increasing acceptance that climate change brings with it a risk of natural disasters

Question 16

What percentage of global
warming are carbon dioxide
and methane approximately
responsible for, respectively?

Answer 16

Carbon dioxide = 63%
Methane = 19%

Question 17

What are some of the harmful
effects of climate change?

Answer 17

• Human existence could be threatened if temperatures rise by more than 6°C
• Rising sea levels could see some nation-states disappear entirely
• Could be increase in global poverty and decrease in global food security
• Threat to international peace and security - increased and poverty and conflict over scarce
  resources

Question 18

What are the three related areas on which the solutions to climate change are focused?

Answer 18

• Reducing harmful emissions, mainly from fossil fuels
• Moving away from harmful emissions to clean energy
• Developing clean and economically efficient clean energy

Question 19

What are industry and corporations role in tackling climate change?

Answer 19

• Role of TNCs in particular important as both cause and potential solution
• Powerful TNCs can sometimes be obstacle to state action against climate change, particularly in poorer or developing states

Question 20

What are national laws in taxes role in tackling climate change?

Answer 20

they can punish companies or citizens to pollute through higher taxes, or encourage good behaviour or investment in cleaner technologies

Question 21

What are NGOs role in tackling climate change?

Answer 21

E.g. Greenpeace and The worldwide fund for nature, can be a vital source of pressure on governments

Question 22

What are IGOs role in tackling climate change?

Answer 22

Play vital role in providing states with forums in which joint action to tackle environmental challenges can be discussed negotiated and treated fairly

Question 23

What is the international science communities role in tackling climate change?

Answer 23

UN created IPCC to pool international expertise and ensure that the given scientific research was seen to be legitimate and neutral, rather than influenced by one state

Question 24

What are city administration’s role in tackling climate change?

Answer 24

many city administrators have taken decisions and implemented policy is to reduce emissions or adopt to clean energy

Question 25

What are the reasons why China might become a world leader on climate change?

Answer 25

• leaders statements increasingly recognise importance of protecting the environment
• seriousness of its own problems at home (1.8 million in China die each year from pollution related causes)
• signs that clean energy in China is becoming increasingly profitable
• Foreign investment abroad; its own climate change action isn’t just limited to China
• spent $32 billion on renewable energy projects in other countries in 2016

Question 26

What is ecologism?

Answer 26

ideology that places considerable importance on states and other actors in affect on natural environments

Question 27

What is deep ecology?

Answer 27

aim is to preserve the natural environment for the benefit of the natural environment itself, regardless of the positive impact on humans