The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. It was agreed on 16th September 1987,and entered into force on 1st January 1989. Since then,it has undergone nine revisions,in 1990 (London),1991 (Nairobi),1992 (Copenhagen),1993 (Bangkok),1995 (Vienna),1997 (Montreal),1998 (Australia),1999 (Beijing) and 2016 (Kigali) As a result of the international agreement,the ozone hole in Antarctica is slowly recovering. Climate projections indicate that the ozone layer will return to 1980 levels between 2050 and 2070. Due to its widespread adoption and implementation it has been hailed as an example of exceptional international co-operation,with Kofi Annan quoted as saying that "perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date has been the Montreal Protocol". In comparison,effective burden sharing and solution proposals mitigating regional conflicts of interest have been among the success factors for the ozone depletion challenge,where global regulation based on the Kyoto Protocol has failed to do so. In this case of the ozone depletion challenge,there was global regulation already being installed before a scientific consensus was established. Also,overall public opinion was convinced of possible imminent risks.
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international environmental treaty,signed on 22 May 2001 in Stockholm and effective from 17 May 2004,that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) is an intergovernmental organization of low-lying coastal and small island countries. AOSIS was established in 1990,ahead of the Second World Climate Conference. The main purpose of the alliance is to consolidate the voices of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to address global warming.
An international environmental agreement or sometimes environmental protocol,is a type of treaty binding in international law,allowing them to reach an environmental goal. In other words,it is "an intergovernmental document intended as legally binding with a primary stated purpose of preventing or managing human impacts on natural resources."
The Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) was a draft agreement negotiated in secret between members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) between 1995 and 1998. It sought to establish a new body of universal investment laws that would grant corporations unconditional rights to engage in financial operations around the world,without any regard to national laws and citizens' rights. The draft gave corporations a right to sue governments if national health,labor or environment legislation threatened their interests. When its draft became public in 1997,it drew widespread criticism from civil society groups and developing countries,particularly over the possibility that the agreement would make it difficult to regulate foreign investors. After an intense global campaign was waged against the MAI by the treaty's critics,the host nation France announced in October 1998 that it would not support the agreement,effectively preventing its adoption due to the OECD's consensus procedures.
Mikoto Usui is a Japanese born,US educated development economist and international scholar whose life work has centered on multilateral environmental diplomacy,sustainable development governance and science &technology for economic and social development. His recent research and writings have concentrated on the role of the private business sector in sustainable development governance and corporate social responsibility.
An ENGO is a non-governmental organization (NGO) in the field of environmentalism. These organizations operate both locally and internationally which makes them play an important role in dealing with different kinds of environmental issues that are happening in the contemporary world. One of the most distinguishable things between environmental NGOs and environmental movements is that environmental NGOs have constitutions that state the rules of how power gets distributed among the people who are part of them.
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm,Sweden,from June 5–16 in 1972.
David Leonard Downie is an American scholar focusing on international environmental politics and policy. He currently writes and teaches at Fairfield University.
Richard Elliot Benedick is President Emeritus of the National Council for Science and the Environment. He is a former ambassador and was chief United States negotiator to the Montreal Protocol on protection of the ozone layer.
Environmental governance is a concept in political ecology and environmental policy that advocates sustainability as the supreme consideration for managing all human activities—political,social and economic. Governance includes government,business and civil society,and emphasizes whole system management. To capture this diverse range of elements,environmental governance often employs alternative systems of governance,for example watershed-based management.
Lawrence E. Susskind is a teacher,trainer,mediator,and urban planner. He is one of the founders of the field of public dispute mediation and is a practicing international mediator through the Consensus Building institute. He has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1971.
Eileen B. Claussen is an American climate and energy policy administrator,diplomat,and lobbyist. She held senior posts at the U.S. Department of State,National Security Council,and Environmental Protection Agency before founding the Pew Center on Global Climate Change in 1998. She then launched the center's successor organization,the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES),in 2011,and retired as president of C2ES in 2014.
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD),also known as Rio 2012,Rio+20,or Earth Summit 2012 was the third international conference on sustainable development aimed at reconciling the economic and environmental goals of the global community. Hosted by Brazil in Rio de Janeiro from 13 to 22 June 2012,Rio+20 was a 20-year follow-up to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in the same city,and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.
The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) is a reporting service providing daily coverage on a variety of global environmental and sustainable development negotiations.
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is an independent think tank founded in 1990. The institute has offices in Winnipeg,Ottawa,Toronto,and Geneva. It has over 100 staff and associates working in over 30 countries.
Fen Osler Hampson is Chancellor's Professor at Carleton University and President of the World Refugee &Migration Council. He was a Distinguished Fellow and Director of Global Security Research at The Centre for International Governance Innovation. He is Co-Director of the Global Commission on Internet Governance. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Bradnee Chambers was an expert on international environmental governance,law and politics. In March 2013 he was appointed as the Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS),a main United Nations multilateral conservation treaty He was also the acting Executive Secretary of the Gorilla Agreement and the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans in the Baltic,North East Atlantic,Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS) both administered under the UN Environment Programme. These agreements form the global framework for conservation of wild animals migrating between countries. The agreements cover an immense scope of wildlife including whales,dolphins,sharks,elephants,big cats,bats,monarch butterflies,saiga antelope,waterbirds,and migratory fish.
The history of climate change policy and politics refers to the continuing history of political actions,policies,trends,controversies and activist efforts as they pertain to the issue of global warming and other environmental anomalies. Dryzek,Norgaard,and Schlosberg suggest that critical reflection on the history of climate policy is necessary because it provides 'ways to think about one of the most difficult issues we human beings have brought upon ourselves in our short life on the planet’.
Michele Betsill is an American political scientist. She is a professor of political science at Colorado State University,where she has also been the chair of the department. She studies climate change and sustainability policies,with a particular focus on how non-governmental actors and sub-national governments respond to climate change. She is a co-founder of the Earth System Governance Project.
