Global Environmental Politics Author:Gareth Porter, Janet Welsh Brown, Pamela S. Chasek, Janet Brown, Pamela Chasek In the past two decades, scientific understanding of global environmental issues has increased enormously. The realization that environmental threats can have serious socioeconomic and human costs and that they cannot be solved by the unilateral decisions of states has given impetus to increased international cooperation to halt or reverse envir... more »onmental degradation. But in each case some states-and certain economic interests-have opposed strong international actions to reduce or eliminate activities that threaten the global environment. The result is an intensifying struggle over global environmental issues. As global negotiations multiply on issues affecting a wide range of interests around the globe, the stakes for all the participants in the struggle will continue to grow. This book provides a good introduction to global environmental politics, the actors and the issues involved and the socioeconomic factors that have an impact on both the actors and the issues. The book opens with an introduction to the concept of global environmental politics a summary of the role of international regimes in environmental politics and a review of the importance of the 1992 Earth Summit. The second chapter examines the wide variety of actors in the environmental arena, including states, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and the business community. Chapter Three examines the development of international environmental regimes through the use of ten case studies: acid rain, ozone depletion, whaling, endangered species, toxic waste, the Antarctic environment, global warming, biodiversity loss, desertification and fisheries. Once regimes are developed, they have to be effectively implemented to be successful. This is the topic of Chapter Four, which specifically looks at improving compliance with environmental conventions, financing global environmental regimes and strengthening existing regimes. Chapter Five focuses on economics and development. After a review of North-South economic relations and the environment, two examples of environment vs. economic development are examined in more detail: international forest policy and trade. The book concludes with a look at the future of global environmental politics.« less