International Environmental Agreements Since Rio

This book will provide a comprehensive view of the twenty years of environmental negotiations that have evolved since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro. The authors of the book will demonstrate their unique perspective, having worked for the International Institute for Sustainable Development's Earth Negotiations Bulletin as well as in a wide range of academic settings. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin provides real-time reporting on United Nations environment and development negotiations and has covered every major negotiating session in over 25 different processes since 1992. Not only has it brought transparency into multilateral environmental negotiations, it has become the de facto reporting service of these meetings and most delegates consider it a 'must read' every morning. The authors' work is unique - it transcends multiple multilateral environmental agreements and processes over many years, enabling the authors to recognize trends and innovations. No current publication offers an insider's guide to multiple environmental processes covering trends during a 20-year period. Some of the issues that this book will elaborate on include: the impact of the proliferation of meetings (more than 200 days of environmental meetings each year), the major changes in actors (new states, new post-Cold War alignments, etc.), the changes in the access and role of NGOs in the negotiations, and the economization of environmental issues.

At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, popularly known as the Rio Earth Summit, the world’s leaders constructed a new "sustainable development" paradigm that promised to enhance environmentally sound economic and social development. Twenty years later, the proliferation of multilateral environmental agreements points to an unprecedented achievement, but is worth examining for its accomplishments and shortcomings. This book provides a review of twenty years of multilateral environmental negotiations (1992-2012). The authors have participated in most of these negotiating processes and use their first-hand knowledge as writers for the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin as they illustrate the changes that have taken place over the past twenty years. The chapters examine the proliferation of meetings, the changes in the actors and their roles (governments, nongovernmental organizations, secretariats), the interlinkages of issues, the impact of scientific advice, and the challenges of implementation across negotiating processes, including the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention to Combat Desertification, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Commission on Sustainable Development, the UN Forum on Forests, the chemicals conventions (Stockholm, Basel and Rotterdam), the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the Convention on Migratory Species and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

Comprises 19 papers which are revised versions of papers presented to the Congress on the environment after Rio, held at Courmayeur, Italy in 1993. The papers are grouped under four themes: the Rio Conference between policy and law; declarations and conventions adopted at Rio; prospects for the future in light of Agenda 21 and evolving international environmental; and environment, development and interdependence.

Bringing together contributions from diplomats, UN agency officials, lawyers and academics, this book provides insight into the evolution of international environmental law, diplomacy and negotiating techniques. Based on first-hand experiences and extensive research, the chapters offer a blend of practice and theory, history and analysis, presenting a range of historical episodes and nuances and drawing lessons for future improvements to the processes of law-making and diplomacy. The book represents a synthesis of the most important messages to emerge from the annual course on Multilateral Environmental Agreements, delivered to diplomats and negotiators from around the world for the last decade by the University of Eastern Finland and the United Nations Environment Programme. The book will be of interest as a guide for negotiators and as a supplementary textbook and a reference volume for a wide range of students of law and environmental issues.

This book provides an examination of the principles of equality and equity in international environmental law. It focuses on analyzing what has been done on the international plane to promote the participation of developing countries in international environmental agreements.

It demonstrates that a great deal has been achieved in the field of environmental law since the 1990s. However, the extraordinary environmental crises facing humanity in the 21st century indicate a continuing urgent need for the generation of robus

Climate change is one of the major environmental concern of many countries in the world. Negotiations to control potential climate changes have been taking place, from Rio to Kyoto, for the last five years. There is a widespread consciousness that the risk of incurring in relevant economic and environmental losses due to climate change is high. Scientific analyses have become more and more precise on the likely impacts of climate change. According to the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, current trends in greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions may indeed cause the average global temperature to increase by 1-3. 5 °C over the next 100 years. As a result, sea levels are expected to rise by 15 to 95 em and climate zones to shift towards the poles by 150 to 550 km in mid latitudes. In order to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, the IPCC report concludes that a stabilization of atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide - one of the major GHGs - at 550 parts per million by volume (ppmv) is recommended. This would imply a reduction of global emissions of about 50 per cent with respect to current levels. In this context, countries are negotiating to achieve a world-wide agreement on GHGs emissions control in order to stabilize climate changes. Despite the agreement on targets achieved in Kyoto, many issues still remain unresolved.