Chapter 13 - International Relations

Externalities

The benefits and costs not reflected in a good's price, such as ideas on how to improve a product in the future (positive) or pollution (negative).

Tragedy of the commons

A situation in which individual actors acting in their own rational self-interest combine to create a situation catastrophic to all of the individuals.

Deforestation

The clearing or overharvesting of forests, an especially acute problem in the tropics.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

A panel established by the UN in 1988 that studies climate change and informs the world of its effects.

Environmental determinism

The view that changes in the environment like climate change necessarily and automatically will cause human beings and human communities to react in a particular manner.

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

A chemical formerly used in aerosol cans, fire extinguishers, and air conditioners, a cause of ozone depletion, and now outlawed by international agreements.

Biodiversity

Variety of forms of life on earth, including plants, animals, marine life, insects, and microorganisms, and variability within species, such as different types of corn, cattle, or bees.

Convention on Biological Diversity

An international agreement aiming to protect and preserve biodiversity, passed in 1992.

Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer

An international agreement passed in 1987 that has successfully combated the depletion of the ozone layer by banning CFCs. Ozone layers are expected to return to normal by 2050.

Global Environmental Facility (GEF)

A program managed by the World Bank and the UN that provides grants to developing countries to help them meet international environment obligations regarding climate change, desertification, international water pollution, and biodiversity.

Kyoto Protocol

A multilateral agreement negotiated in 1997 to reduce the total emissions of signing states. It came into effect in 2005 but was ultimately unsuccessful in curbing emissions.

Paris Agreement

An international environment agreement reached in 2015 in which parties committed on a non-binding basis to act individually and collectively to prevent global warming.