New Structures for Global Environmental Policy by German Advisory Council On Global Change Wgbu

Author:German Advisory Council On Global Change Wgbu [German Advisory Council On Global Change Wgbu]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Developing & Emerging Countries, Social Science, Political Science, American Government, General
ISBN: 9781849776318
Google: eS8ZHQx1ASEC
Publisher: Earthscan
Published: 2010-09-23T11:38:08+00:00

Institutional interplay D

International trade regimes and the environment D 1

D 1.1

Globalization processes – the millennium challenge for international environmental policy

Images of street violence during the WTO Conference and the shattered window panes which marked the World Economic Forum in Davos are not the only clear signs that the terms ‘free trade’ and ‘globalization’ have gradually become embattled concepts, symbolic of an erosion of social standards, an increase in global differentials between ‘rich and poor’, a problematic readjustment of consumer lifestyles and for many, not least, contributory causes of worldwide environmental destruction. The two phenomena are also closely connected. Thus, along with the absolute and relative fall in the significance of transportation costs, the removal of trade barriers has been the other principal factor which has accelerated globalization, made it easier to gain access to natural resources worldwide and, by creating additional growth impulses, increased resource consumption and hence also raised emissions. So the processes of globalization also encroach into the field of tension between growth and the environment.

The Council is aware of the contentious nature of the issue, and would like to take a critical look at the field of tension between trade, globalization, economic growth and global environmental problems in a future report, should the occasion arise. The following sections serve primarily to make initial distinctions in the often ideologically-loaded debate on the possibility of disciplining global market forces and, more particularly, to consider the political options for action from the viewpoint of international environmental policy (on controversial assessments Daly and Goodland, 1994; Klemmer, 1999). In view of the theme of this report, the latter is of particular importance.

The globalization of capital, sales and procurement markets, the internationalization of decisions on company locations and the migration of skilled employees rank among the basic characteristics of economic and social development in the past decade which have had simultaneous repercussions on the conditions and options for international environmental policy action (on these developments, see among others Bender, 1998; UNCTAD, 1999; WTO, 1999). There is argument over the ambivalent consequences this has for environmental policy:

•On the one hand, a rise in global environmental problems due to the increase in transportation, growth-induced consumption of resources, increasing incursions into the natural world, expansion of the worldwide volume of production using materials and processes with the potential to harm the environment, along with diminished options for national controls and protective provisions against multinational enterprises and cross-border value-creation chains;

•On the other hand, an expansion of worldwide knowledge transfer, improved development opportunities for countries which are economically weak and therefore dependent on natural resource extraction, together with an export of standards for conservation of the natural environment in response to increasing global public attention.

Hence the Council warns against a blanket demonization of free trade, the globalization processes it has initiated, and its other consequences. With regard to research it advocates a differentiated investigation of the interplay between trade, globalization and the environment, while under the environmental policy aspect it favours the introduction of supplementary institutional incentives for identification and reduction of global environmental damage.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.