institutionalizing environmental protections

soft law

• soft law: “laws” which may be implemented through actions which are optional but encouraged for people to undertake; not legally binding

  • eg. conferences, delegations, resolutions

  • holds the potential to become legally binding in the future

  • often mutually beneficial for parties involved

• the five principles of soft law relating to environmental protection

  • no significant harm principle: a state cannot initiate policies that cause significant environmental damages to another state

  • good neighbor principle: states should take care to avoid acts or omissions that could reasonably be foreseen to cause harm to neighboring states

  • polluter pays principle: those causing the pollution should be responsible for cleaning and/or curtailing it

  • precautionary principle: action should be taken based on scientific warning before irreversible harm occurs (as opposed to trying to deal with effects of harm after it’s taken place)

  • preventative action principle: states should take action in their own jurisdictions to avoid harm to the environment

epistemic communities

• epistemic community: a transnational community of experts and technical specialists from international organizations, NGOs, and state and substrate agencies that share a set of beliefs

  • share knowledge, research, and opinions with one another with the centralized goal of resolving or making progress towards resolving a certain issue

• individuals and NGOs also often pursue direct involvement in influencing states’ environmental policy through lobbying efforts

climate change

• arguably the most pressing issue, environmental or otherwise, facing today’s world

  • specifically pertinent to international politics as all countries will be disadvantaged by it (to varying degrees) and most countries contribute to it (also to various degrees)

• caused by the greenhouse effect, specifically through increased carbon dioxide emissions

mitigation tactics

• mitigation policy: a policy that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and enhances carbon sinks

  • carbon sink: a natural element or environment that absorbs more carbon than it releases

• many diplomatic and technological solutions posed

  • geoengineering: a field of engineering which involves large-scale manipulations of physical, chemical, or biological systems to reduce levels of atmospheric gas

adapting to climate change

• as climate change does and is projected to continue affecting the natural environment and human inhabitants of it regardless of what is done, adaptive measures must be taken in addition to responsive and preventative measures

• adaptation: shifting resources into preparing for and remediating the effects of climate change