GLCb2020
Environmental
threats and security
Agenda
• Environmental problems…
• …and why it is difficult to solve
them
• (and perhaps how they could
get solved)
Palm oil production
Conservation of
natural resources
The Love Canal
Main global enviro problems and associated
international treaties
•Climate change
• UNFCCC (1992); Kyoto Protocol (1997)
•Stratospheric ozone layer
• Vienna Convention (1985); Montreal Protocol (1987)
•Transboundary air pollution
• Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (1979);
subsequent protocols
•Biodiversity loss
• Convention on Biological Diversity (1992), Cartagena Protocol (2000),
CITES (1973), Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International
Importance (1971)
Main global enviro problems and associated
international treaties (cont.)
•Deforestation
• No international treaty; informal coordination through the UN
•Desertification
• UN Convention to Combat Desertification (1994)
•Persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001)
•Toxic waste
• The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (1989)
The Tragedy of the Commons
• Garrett Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons”
• Shared resources + individuals acting in selfinterest
= resource depletion
Solution?
1. Clearly defined boundaries;
2. Rules for the use of common resources;
3. Channels for community decision-making;
4. Effective monitoring;
5. Increasing scale of punishment for those
who repeatedly break the rules;
6. Cheap and easy mechanisms for conflict
resolution;
7. Self-determination of the community
https://wcw2021.iasc-
commons.org/teaching-the-
commons-video-contest-finalists/
Questions?