Trading on The Environment

In our globalised world environmental issues are now no longer restricted solely to individual states. With the increase of global warming and a decrease in biospheric equality every state is equally affected by the perils of environmental disasters.

Environmental diplomacy is based on controlling the use of natural resources and regulating pollution and this within itself is a great challenge that the world leaders have been unable to find a suitable resolution to combat the many environmental issues currently faced.

Trade has been beneficial to our localized world, however due to the large demands of contemporary society, no sustainable means have been developed. The lax response to healing our environment has not come without it troubles by having long lasting affects on our ecosystems, certainly you will find an argument for and against international trade.

Ecologist would have us believe international trade has put a great strain on our environment as it tirelessly requires great demands on our natural resources, whilst trade liberalist would argue that international trade will eventually cause higher income levels which will then cause a demand for better environmental policies to be put in place where there will be a greater will to purchase goods that have been produced in environmentally friendly manner.

The world has many environmental problems, these problems need to be dealt with as a collective, if not degradation will continue to spiral out of control. This is why there is an importance and significance for non-state actors when negotiating and making decisions related to forming a biospheric harmonious international society.

NGO’s have played a vital role in many global issues, one that comes to mind is illegal logging which has devastated many indigenous communities and developing countries by destroying the very essence of the way they coexist with the natural world. Illegal logging is not only an environmental problems, it in turn also cost the government billions of dollars in lost revenue and promotes high levels of corruption and has been know to finance war efforts of rebel groups. This is related to heavily to trade as large consumerist countries (mainly in the western world) have been know to import this illegal natural resource without carrying out the necessary checks to ensure the timber is legally sourced and imported. However, attitudes are now changing and greater attention and emphasis have been placed on this matter which has largely been bought to light from various NGO groups such as “Progressio” who have made it their business to try and put such illegal activities to an end.

The Timber Legality & Traceability Verification (TLTV) programme was set up to verify the supply of logs ensuring that they meet the legality requirements, however Greenpeace and other NGO’s have criticised their efforts as they believe there is a lack of transparency, auditing and governance procedures. However, it is important to note that illegal logging has fallen by a quarter since 2002 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science+environment-10642880) due to the media attention surrounding the issue.

Individual NGO’s are vital to their various causes as they have a greater knowledge within their specific areas and are therefore able to have a greater impact when negotiating, changing policies and educating the general members of public as well as the government. I think that there has been and always be a significance for NGO’s, without such organizations many people, communities and the environment would suffer in silence as NGO’s tend to be a voice for those who do not have one.

Please read the following articles, I think you will find them to be of great interest:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/23/india-environment-american-way-disaster

http://www.progressio.org.uk/search/node/logging

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science+environment-10642880

Cancun, MEXICO, December 7, 2010

Press Release: GEF and low-carbon cities of the future
The new town of Boughzoul AlgeriaThe Global Environment Facility (GEF), the leading public environment fund dedicated to developing countries, Tuesday unveiled a groundbreaking project in the planned city of Boughzoul, Algeria that will be built with an innovative clean energy focus designed to integrate climate change responses into urban development plans.
Under its new funding cycle the GEF will be working with Algeria and other countries to build “low-carbon cities”. Among these examples, the city of Boughzoul in Algeria is a landmark model of what is needed now in developing countries to address the challenge of meeting increasing energy needs without boosting harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
“Urbanization is a fact of life happening today in developing countries: right now about half of the world’s population lives in cities – and this share is projected to reach 60% by 2030, “said Monique Barbut, CEO and chairperson of the GEF. “ With this new migration come new environmental challenges and the GEF is ready to help. Looking at the global environmental benefits of this one project cumulative net greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 3.4 million tons when construction of Boughzoul is finished. There are also social and economic benefits that we hope will encourage smart growth practices elsewhere."
GEF has already a strong portfolio on cities, especially on sustainable urban transport with 75 cities worldwide part of its portfolio. Boughzoul is a new city being developed about 200 kilometers south of Algiers that when complete in 2025 will be an administrative and business center with a population of over 400,000 and its own airport.
“The design and development of the new town of Boughzoul is an opportunity to introduce best practices in architecture, building construction and urban planning, as well as to promote research and development and business opportunities in response to climate change through the development of conditions favorable to the transfer of clean technologies that will benefit Algeria,” said Bernard Jamet, head of the Technology Transfer Unit of the Energy Branch, Division of Technology, Industry and Economics for the United Nations Environment Programme.
For this specific project the GEF will be committing $8.2 million, with another $22 million added from other sources to help introduce best practices on renewable energy, clean transportation and energy efficiency during the design and construction of the new city of Boughzoul. This will include the construction of zero-carbon buildings, street lighting using LED and photovoltaic systems, solar water heating systems, and a Center of Excellence for Technology Transfer.
"Boughzoul is the first in what we hope will be a new blueprint for cities of the future in Algeria and the world“said Mr. Chérif Rahmani, Algerian Minister of Spatial Planning and Environment. “This ambitious development project is part of a larger holistic plan to develop new, green cities throughout our country and to better balance population centers and economic development. With this low-carbon city, we will bring sustainable development to the Highlands region and beyond.”
Efforts like these in Algeria are part of a trend among city and local authorities to address climate change by monitoring, reporting and verifying their emission reductions. If present trends continue, the growth of cities, urban transport and building sectors are expected to generate even higher carbon dioxide emissions so the need for low carbon cities to help reverse this trend is acute. Similarly more and more cities are looking to make action plans to help adapt to the impacts of climate change that are magnified by their density and exposure. Most mega-cities are in coastal areas ---exposing even more of the poorest and vulnerable to floods and other natural disasters such as hurricanes.
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About the Global Environment Facility
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) unites 182 member governments — in partnership with international institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector — to address global environmental issues. The GEF provides grants to developing countries and countries with economies in transition for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants. These projects benefit the global environment, linking local, national, and global environmental challenges and promoting sustainable livelihoods.
Established in 1991, the GEF is today the largest public funder of projects to improve the global environment. The GEF has allocated $9.2 billion, supplemented by more than $40 billion in cofinancing, for more than 2,700 projects in more than 165 developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Through its Small Grants Programme (SGP), the GEF has also made more than 12,000 small grants directly to nongovernmental and community organizations, totaling $495 million.
For more information: www.thegef.org: Maureen Lorenzetti, spokesperson (202) 352 3572; mlorenzetti@thegef.org

Environment and development

The world environment suffered dearly in the last fifty years or more from the fast growing industrial activities in the world. Industrial disasters as the ‘Chernobyl’ nuclear reactor meltdown which led to exposing thousands of people in Ukraine and its neighbouring states to the nuclear radiations as a result of malfunction of the machines. Also the scientific discovery of the thinning of the ozone layer and its fatal outcomes on people, animals, and plants from being exposed directly to harmful radiation from the sun in the southern sphere states like Australia and southern America. And many other disasters related to pollution led to the degradation of the world environment. The world pollution became an international issue because like wild life, the pollution travels across borders without restrictions. It could affect many countries at same time as the examples that I already mentioned. This situation became the concern of the international community with more scientific studies suggesting that we are going through a global warming of the planet with it an alarming rise in sea water levels. Most recently in Cancun climate summit, the negotiations were held to find solutions to world environmental issues and save the planet from global warming. The UN pushed hard to get an agreement from the world emerging economies like India, Brazil, and China to cut their emissions but failed, however, an agreement on the creation of green climate fund with more than $100 billion a year promised to be raised by 2020 from the Copenhagen summit a year ago. Another important agreement was produced in Cancun Summit, a deal for developing countries to receive an aid to stop them burning and logging forests and prevent the destruction of the rain forests in tropical states like Brazil. The failure of Copenhagen Summit nearly undermined the Cancun talks because of the tensions about the emissions cuts.

Many NGO’s were invited into the climate change debate and confronted states like Japan, Norway, and Iceland for their continuo’s exploitation of the maritime resources, they still abusing the seas by over fishing. As the result of reckless industrial approach from some companies during last few years led to more disasters like what happened in Mexico Bay this year, oil spillage gone for months after the explosion of an off shore oil plant belonging to British Petroleum. It caused all kinds of damages, it was bad. The fear of a repeat of these disasters, made the international awareness of the ecological foot print of human on nature grew. However, not much has been done to tackle the environmental issues on large scale until the 1992 Rio conference on environment. It was the first world summit conference to discuss that matter led by the United Nation (UNCED). An international movement against the industrial polluting economies like the US, China, Japan, and many others. These countries agreed to make cuts on their Carbon Dioxide emissions and to move their economies towards more sustainable development. What it is meant by the concept of sustainable development stated by Bruntland Commission in 1987 is “the development that meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet there own needs” (Baylis & Smith, 2008: p. 355). However, lot of critics came to this concept or disagreement between developed and undeveloped countries. The reasons for this are the cuts of carbon emissions quotas. Another head of states meeting but this time it was held in Johannesburg South Africa, the world summit on sustainable development (WSSD) in 2002. The negotiations that took place between states were intense due to the huge pressure on this meeting to come out with good results. Groups negotiations, Diplomats, ministers, leaders, and NGO’s all participated in that meeting to find an equal solution to issue. However, that meeting did not live to its expectations, and leaders met again in Copenhagen in 2008 (Baylis & Smith, 2008: p.354).

However, single strong developed countries are doing better in their cuts of the CO2 emissions for example Germany. It launched an international project for the renewable energy. It’s called Desertec and will involve many countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MINA) region also the European partners. It will cost over 400 billion Euros and will generate 15% of the euro zone need of energy in the short term, going to 50% for long term. All that energy going to be clean energy produced from solar panels and Aeolian plants in the Sahara Desert. The most important about this project is the bilateral negotiation between Germany and the involved states, Algeria as a very important piece of this project from its strategic location in the middle of the North African states and its proximity to Europe have just agreed to be part of this project. By an invitation from the German chancellor Merkle, the Algerian president travelled to Germany last week to finalise the negotiations on the project after more than two years of long discussions and two opposite bilateral head of state visits, the two countries came to an agreement.

read more about the Desertec project and the Cancun Summit at:

http://www.desertec.org.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cancun-climate-change-conference-2010.

Environmental Diplomacy - Something Fishy?

Initially, my first instinct was to blog on trade diplomacy in general and then I stumbled upon an article about overfishing in Maine, USA.

I can't say I'm particularly keen on eating fish or seafood myself, however after some research it is evident that global fishing is a huge environmental issue. It is estimated by the UN SOFIA (State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture) report that over 50% of the world's fish population has been fully exploited and another 20% has been moderately exploited. If these extreme levels of exploitation continue then the world fishing population is in danger of collapse. There are several impacts to this overfishing crisis:

-not only are we at risk of eliminating entire species and ecosystems but the overall ecology of our oceans will be at risk

-as more and more of the most commercial fish are fished to the brink of extinction, fishermen are having to increase their efforts for a successful haul, this means catching (and killing) species like sharks and sea birds as a 'byproduct'. Therefore destroying species that they dont even want to catch in the first place.

The WWF explain that the global fishing fleet as it stands at the moment is 2.5 time larger than our oceans can sustainably support. Other factors causing overfishing are a distinct lack of efficient fisheries conservation and management, unfair fishery Partnership Agreements, pirate fisheries who blatantly disregard fishing regulations and in light of globalizationand increase in large commercial fleets whose haul's are huge and large amount of fish is disgarded. To add to this, coastal ond open water fisheries have been irreparably damaged meaning that the global fishing effort has had to shift to deep sea areas, hence endangering previously unexploited species.

What is perhaps more shocking however, is that despite all this research and claims by experts such as Dr Daniel Pauly (Director and Professor of University of British Columbia's Fisheries Centre) that the damage we have already caused is TOTALLY reversible if we act now, there has been no real push to address the overfishing issue in the global political agenda. Granted, some states have enforced local protectionist policies such as in Sri Lanka for example, but nothing much has been done to steadily decrease the amount of fish being caught. Sustainable fishing is instead being pushed by non-governmental actors such as the WWF and The Nature Conservancy.

The WWF aim to tackle the overfishing issue by working towards healthy and well-managed (and hence regualted,) fisheries through something called EBM - Ecosystem Based Management.

EBM aims to balance the social and economic needs of human communities with the maintenance of healthy ecosystems (http://wwf.panda.org/). One aspect for which the WWF deserve credit is that they acknowledge the human need for fish both in terms of a food source and for the economy 'EBM...recognizes the economic, social, and cultural interests of all stakeholders in a fishery and how these interests affect resource management. By managing human issues and imapcts, the EBM approach...is more likely to succeed where other initiatives have failed'. The EBM framework has also been praised by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation alongside their own fishery programmes.

The Nature Conservancy of Maine also has their own approach to the overfishing issue. They are developing a fishing net that has larger holes in it to catch less fish. This would mean that smaller species that are not commercial would be able to slip through the nets, but those that do meet commercial requirement will remain in the nets. As acknowledged by fisherman on the project, promoting a net that catches fewer fish to commercial fishers is no easy task, but as fisherman Gary Libby argues, its about promoting a net which affers the fisherman quality (fish) over quantity and he believes this can be done (http://www.nature.org/).

It is incredible that issues such as this are not particularly high on state agenda, particularly if we consider the long term effects. If overfishing continues, it is argued that in approximately 50 years the whole ocean ecology system may collapse and this will inevitably cause the complete collapse of the global fishing industry impacting on trade and economy as well as the social and environmental implications. The promotion of sustainable fishing programmes by non-governamental actors help to force the issues into the political arena and provide much needed publicity of the dangers of overfishing.

If the EBM programme, established by the WWF is effective, there is no reason for each state not to adopt their own similar systems and help protect our global fish population.

Full articles:

http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/maine/news/news3627.html

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/how_we_work/conservation/marine/sustainable_fishing/

http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/problems/problems_fishing/

Picture:

http://see-the-sea.org/topics/commerce/overfishing.htm

Influencing Trade and Enviromental Diplomacy

Non state actors have become key proponents of regulated policies throughout the world. Government and non state actors have realized the importance of interacting with each other in all areas including trade and environmental issues.

There are so many issues of environmental of enviromental concern which constantly affects boundaries and core states. Key points of environmental diplomacy includes: conventions regulating the use of natural resources and conventions regulating pollution. In each case, the central problem is that, political boundaries rarely reflect biological boundaries, so that as national economies consume resources and produce pollution, they spread environmental problems far beyond their national boundaries. These are the key reason why non state actors are crucial in the solving of issues outside government terrain.

The power of non state actors become quiet relevant when Remington Kellogg single handedly excising his influence in the regulation of whaling. ‘The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling was created in 1946 in Washington to "provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry’. This convention was strategically influenced by non state actors. http://www.iwcoffice.org/commission/convention.htm

Non state actors and conservationist groups worked towards the treaty on the Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife Preservation in the Western Hemisphere (CNP). Scientists and conservationists in the US created the CNP in the 1930s as an instrument to spread what they considered remarkable key analysis towards conservationism. In 1972, the United Nations organized a multilateral meeting on the conservation of nature. It was formulated as the: United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) and took place in Sweden. Delegates from 114 countries and surprisingly 500 strong nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) converged in 1972. 1979 played a critical role and has since been instrumental in nature conservation across borders. The convention to combat desertification recommended the setup of desertification fund a plan orchestrated and influenced by non – state actors. ‘ Chief executive officer of Gerber’s parent company who, after 2 weeks internal debate announced that it would drop suppliers using genetically modified crops’. http://www.polisci.colostate.edu/fac/mb/NGO%20Influence.pdf

The debate in the board room was triggered by Green Peace who had involved themselves in the quest of excluding genetically modified ingredients from baby food products. The influence exhibited illustrates that non – state actors are influential and significant in the negotiation process of corporatism or politics.

Trade diplomacy has also influenced globalization, spreading to the most isolated places on earth. Trade engagement is a focus area with non – state actors operating from the grass root level directing vital information articulated by local governments. I once gave an important point regarding how non – state actors have become instrumental in local and national governance in third world countries. My grandmother who has acres of cocoa plantation relied on government education and assistance. She could sometimes wait 3 – 4 months to receive word on how the prices changed regularly. With help from some NGO’s, she received vital information and valuable links through her mobile phone and internet access to determine her price according to International standards on the International market. She doesn’t rely anymore on government and this is a good indication that non state actors are crucial and plays significant role in this area. GATT and WTO policies were for example, heavily influenced by non state actors. Preferential trade, equitable growth, poverty reduction and etc have all been influenced by non –state actors to help developing countries in the global system.

Trade and environmental diplomacy

A new facaced has been added to the epistimology of diplomacy. Environment and its implications have formed a new and complex issue inmodern diplomacy.
Environment and its policies must be regarded as a urgent matter that cannot be postponned nor can it be ignored.
It has been estimated that "Every year, there is a net loss of 22 million acres of forest area worldwide. Every year, toxic chemicals, some capable of traveling thousands of miles from their source and lasting decades in the environment, are released into the earth's atmosphere." (//www.state.gov/g/oes/env/).
The ever interconected world of business and trade, the huge progress that has been made in the new and traditional technologies are all a major influence on the environment.
The creation of armament, nuclear weapens, the leading of wars have all great consequences on the environment.(www.envirosecurity.org).
Economy explains the concept that is behaind the scarcity and its resources and how this can create divergences among countries, limitations of products, inequalities that in our modern age when the population has increased considerably is very difficult to avoid. There fore goverments, NGO's and private representatives must reach a mutual understanding to provide and to promote the safe use of the environment.(www.state.gov/g/oes/env).
Trade has an impact on every aspect and mostly on the environment, there is a contradiction that is created by the concept of trade and environment, it is very difficult to find a middle line that can marry the two, for economy must disregard many aspects that ultimately affects environment.

Trade and environmental diplomacy

In a interconnected political, cultural, business, economic world it is difficult not to include environmental concerns that ultimately have a great impact globally with greater consequences then any other modern problem.

Due to the ever growing population around the world and the decrease in natural resources the governments are faced with a problem that must be solved immediately in order to avoid graver consequences.(Susskind,L.E.1994).
It has been estimated that every year a total of" 22 million acres of forest are lost world wide".(www.state.gov/g/oes/env)
In order to tackle this serious problem all the countries must take active part in the protection of the environment and must create and respect laws about the management of natural resources world wide.(www.state.gov/g/oes/env/).
Trade is an aspect of the economy that many times is over exploiting the natural resources in all areas, there fore it creates a conflict of interests in correlation with the environment.
The ever interconnected world of business and trade, the huge progress that has been made in the new and traditional technologies are all a major influence on the environment.
The year of 1989 has marked the beginning and the recognition of the environmental problems when it has been brought to an official level in the conference in Rio. However, the issues addressed then have been many, unfortunately only two treaties have been sign: a convention on climate change and a convention on biological diversity. (Susskind,L.E.1994).
The creation of armament, nuclear weapons, the leading of wars have all great consequences on the environment.("www.envirosecurity.org/ges/inventory").
Economy explains the concept that is behind the scarcity and its resources and how this can create divergences among countries, limitations of products, inequalities that in our modern age when the population has increased considerably is very difficult to avoid. There fore governments, NGO's and private representatives must reach a mutual understanding to provide and to promote the safe use of the environment.(www.state.gov/g/oes/env/").
Trade has an impact on every aspect and mostly on the environment. There is a contradiction that is created by the concept of trade and environment, it is very difficult to find a middle line that can marry the two, for economy must disregard many aspects that ultimately affects the environment.(/www.envirosecurity.org).

The New Diplomat

The new diplomacy plays an integral role in our global society, it is a clear reflection of our modern world and how we have attempted to integrate, develop and forge new relationships.

The new diplomacy creates a place for non-state actors and the public to get involved in various issues whether they be economical, humanitarian, environmental or social. These wide spread global issues need to be challenged multilaterally by a collective of states, as NGO’s and other private organisations tend to have raw knowledge concerning many of these problems. They are able to bring about strategic plans to combat various issues and in doing so have reformed international policy making.

To be frank…the role of theses non-state actors is vital to the work and the progression of the political leaders, however, Just as most things in life the very nature of the NGO does have it cons as well as it pros.

NGO leaders are not accountable to anyone and are not selected by its members, this is a grey area within the NGO “could” lead to bad practice that may go unnoticed.
In addition another matter facing the NGO is the lack of transparency in regards to their finances, as charitable organisations they do rely on donations from members and other external individuals or organisations so it is important to be assured that the funds are being used for good.

NGO’s are very single minded and passionate about the cause they are fighting for, so I believe that finances raised are usually used for good. But it is this single mindedness that Brown refers to as “undemocratic, unrepresentative, unaccountable, and irresponsible”.

Brown raises an interesting argument. He believes that NGO’s do play an integral role, within the same breath, he also believes that they are too “diverse, particularistic, and chaotic, to formulate, adopt, and implement policy on their own”.

This maybe one of the few issues with NGO’s, there is no official form of managing such organisatons and this could be a major problem, I think for the most part, NGO’s generally fulfill their roles very well. If institutions such as the United Nations were in total control of all NGO’s I think a power struggle would manifest, yes guidelines should be and have been set for all NGO’s to adhere to in order to promote an all round good practice.

“Many NGO’s…. previously welcomed into the UN system have criticized the accord as threatening the integrity and mission of the UN”.

Brown. E. Bernard, 2001, pg: 17

This is to me is a fundamental feature of the new diplomacy, smaller individuals coming together to organise a non governmental group in order to resolve problematic issues faced by society. Its about being able to take a stand and having the freedom of choice to do so whilst attempting to make the world a better place….very utopian I know, but this is the way I see the NGO, a replacement for traditional power politics.

“The increased importance of the private organizations and interest groups is also a normal feature of modern political systems”

Brown. E. Bernard, 2001, pg: 10

There are different variations of the new diplomacy, which have reformed the negotiation process totally, however the old diplomacy is still very much so relevant in today’s politics. The old diplomacy was in many respects rather ridged where as the new diplomacy (even though it has its own misdemeanors) is open to suggestion and willing to experiment with new ideas on how to develop and sustain international relationships and tackle international problems such as debt relief, crime and environmental issues amongst many others, anyone and everyone can be a game player, but of course there are always certain limitations.

To conclude, NGO’s and private organisations are a very important part of the new diplomacy. However, I believe that it goes beyond this. The new diplomacy is about new age thinking where everyone to some degree, can participate in the shaping of our world, with old diplomacy this was not possible. Causes that are for the people, by the people have a stronger hold in assisting the government to sustain the needs of the people it is representing. The work of NGO’s shed a bright light for political leaders of what the real problems are and challenge those in power to develop better channels to aid communities and combat conflict. The world just would not be the same without them.

New diplomacy is creative in pulling out all the stops, it even uses celebrities as ambassadors to bring particular causes to the forefront in order to gain strong public support and following.

(This link is a interesting read, it talks of our modern day diplomats in the celebrity form)

http://www.cigionline.org/articles/2008/03/stars-shine-diplomatic-circuit

Bad Practice of NGO's:

http://www.friends-partners.org/CCSI/resource/sins.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3502733.stm