Globalization And Environmental Reform

A balanced look at globalization and its potential environmental effects, both destructive and beneficial.

The Globalization and Environment Reader features a collection of classic and cutting-edge readings that explore whether and how globalization can be made compatible with sustainable development. Offers a comprehensive collection of nearly 30 classic and cutting-edge readings spanning a broad range of perspectives within this increasingly important field Addresses the question of whether economic globalization is the prime cause of the destruction of the global environment – or if some forms of globalization could help to address global environmental problems Features carefully edited extracts selected both for their importance and their accessibility Covers a variety of topics such as the ‘marketization’ of nature, debates about managing and governing the relationship between globalization and the environment, and discussions about whether or not globalization should be ‘greened’ Systematically captures the breadth and diversity of the field without assuming prior knowledge Offers a timely and necessary insight into the future of our fragile planet in the 21st century

Proponents of globalization argue that it protects the global environment from degradation and promotes worldwide sustainable economic growth while opponents argue the exact opposite. Examining the local, national, and international impacts of globalization, the Handbook of Globalization and the Environment explores strategies and solutions that support healthy economic growth, protect the environment, and create a more equitable world. The book sets the stage with coverage of global environmental issues and policies. It explores international sustainable development, the evolution of global warming policy, transborder air pollution, desertification, space and the global environment, and human right to water. Building on this foundation, the editors discuss global environmental organizations and institutions with coverage of the UN's role in globalization, the trade-environment nexus, the emergence of NGOs, and an analysis of the state of global environmental knowledge and awareness from an international and comparative perspective. Emphasizing the effects of increasingly integrated global economy on the environment and society, the book examines environmental management and accountability. It addresses green procurement, provides an overview of U.S. environmental regulation and the current range of voluntary and mandatory pollution prevention mechanisms in use, explores a two-pronged approach to establishing a sustainable procurement model, and examines a collaborative community-based approach to environmental regulatory compliance. The book concludes with an analysis of controversial issues, such as eco-terrorism, North-South disputes, environmental justice, the promotion of economic growth through globalization in less developed countries, and the ability of scientists to communicate ideas so that policy makers can use science in decision making.

Acclaim for the first edition: ÔThis is undoubtedly a useful collection of essays for environmental policy-makers and anyone interested in the relationship between national government and transnational forces. . . the collection brings together some interesting perspectives and should prove a useful complement to the existing political sociology of the environment.Õ Ð International Sociology Ð Review of Books ÔThe Handbook of Globalisation and Environmental Policy is a very important book. More than 40 experienced authors, including some of the most important international thought leaders of our time, have confronted a crucial question: How can and should national governments come to grips with the need for global action on a wide range of increasingly urgent environmental challenges that exceed their authority and capability? Through close examination of numerous case studies, a balanced perspective that takes government, business and civil society into account, and fresh interdisciplinary thinking about a range of policy tools, the Handbook offers a treasure-trove of new concepts and new perspectives. The authors conclude that by acknowledging the ongoing erosion of national sovereignty and accepting the growing need to work together in supranational forums, national governments can, in fact, increase their capacity to shape their own destiny.Õ Ð Lawrence Susskind, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US ÔIn an increasingly interdependent world, global forces affect both the design and effectiveness of environmental policy. This Handbook provides an unusually creative and comprehensive guide, not only to the nature of these forces and their impacts, but also to how a better understanding of these forces can provide a foundation for improving the effectiveness of environmental policy.Õ Ð Tom Tietenberg, Colby College, US In the current era of globalisation, national governments are increasingly exposed to international influences that present new constraints and opportunities for domestic environmental policies. This comprehensive, revised Handbook pushes the frontiers of theoretical and empirical knowledge, and provides a state-of-the-art examination of the multifaceted effects of globalisation on environmental governance. Including substantially revised as well as new contributions from leading authorities, the Handbook offers an insightful overview of recent developments at the intersection of globalisation and national environmental policy. It covers themes including national regimes, trade rules, types of goods, federalism, innovation, standards, citizen-consumers, developing countries, policy networks, partnerships, and carbon trading. The HandbookÕs depth and scope will appeal to a broad and varied readership, across academics, students, and policy-makers interested in public and private governance, environmental economics, international relations, environmental politics and law, sociology, and political science.

This book by two leading scholars offers the first systematic analysis of the relationship between globalization and the environment from the early Modern period to the present. Peter Christoff and Robyn Eckersley develop a broad conceptual framework for understanding the globalization of environmental problems and the highly uneven, often faltering, international political response. The authors develop linkages between economic globalization and environmental degradation and explore a range of key global environmental problems—focusing on the two most challenging of all: climate change and biodiversity loss. Finally, they critically explore the challenges of environmental governance in a world defined by global capitalism and sovereign states. Providing a normative framework for evaluating global environmental governance, they suggest alternative institutional and policy responses. Through a rich set of case studies, this powerful book will help readers grasp the systemic causes of global environmental degradation as well as the myriad opportunities for reform of global environmental governance.

This book argues in favor of using cost-benefit analysis globally and examines the positive impact it can have in developing countries using relevant case studies. The book discusses the potential for cost-benefit analysis to provoke a global shift toward stronger and more effective economic policies.

This volume examines the impact of globalization on international environmental law and the implementation of sustainable development in the Global South. Comprising contributions from lawyers from the Global South or who have experience in the Global South, this volume is organized into three parts, with a thematic inquiry woven through every chapter to ask how law can enable economies that can be sustained, given the limited carrying capacity of the earth. Part I describes and characterizes the status quo of environmental and economic problems in the Global South during the process of globalization. Some of those problems include redistribution of environmental burden on the public through over-reliance on the state in emerging economies and the transition to public-private partnerships, as well as extreme uncontrolled economic expansion. Building on Part I, Part II takes an international perspective by presenting some tools that are in place during the process of globalization that lead to friction and interfaces between developed and developing economies in environmental law. Recognizing the impossibility of a globalized Northern economy, the authors in Part III present some alternatives through framework ideas of human and civil rights, environmental rights, and indigenous persons’ rights, as well as concrete and specific legal tools to strengthen justice and rule of law institutions. The book gives new perspectives to familiar approaches through concrete examples by professional practitioners and theoretical discourse by academic researchers, and can thereby form the basis for changes in practices, as well as further discussions and comparisons. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental law, sustainable development, and globalization and international relations, as well as legal professionals and practitioners.

Globalization and the Environment critically explores the actors, politics and processes that govern the relationship between globalization and the environment. Taking key aspects of globalisation in turn - trade, production and finance - the book highlights the relations of power at work that determine whether globalization is managed in a sustainable way and on whose behalf. Each chapter looks in turn at the political ecology of these central pillars of the global economy, reviewing evidence of its impact on diverse ecologies and societies, its governance - the political structures, institutions and policy making processes in place to manage this relationship - and finally efforts to contest and challenge these prevailing approaches. The book makes sense of the relationship between globalisation and the environment using a range of theoretical tools from different disciplines. This helps to place the debate about the compatibility between globalisation and sustainability in an explicitly political and historical context in which it is possible to appreciate the ‘nature’ of interests and power relations that privilege some ways of responding to environmental problems over others in a context of globalisation.