Chapter 31. Chapter 31: Environmental Policy

How are international policies established and enforced?

Why You Should Care

International policies are negotiated in much the same way as any other environmental legislation, just with more discussion and over a longer period of time. Issues that are large enough that there needs to be a global consensus about the problem and the means to solve it involve many different populations. Each population’s input is necessary to reach a consensus and this is where cultural norms, economic differences, and philosophically different worldviews must all be part of the discussion.

These challenges are most of the reason that there are far fewer international environmental policies compared to national or even state-level environmental policies. Notable international treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 and CITES in 1973 (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species) have both been actively enforced and revisited since their agreement. The biggest challenge in both was to continue attention on the problem and to monitor the effects of the policy tools. For instance, the Kyoto Protocol set CO₂ release goals for all signatory countries but didn’t specify how each country should monitor its emissions. CITES left the monitoring of endangered species up to the individual countries, but there hasn’t been a strong focus in the trade of less familiar species.

Like any national environmental regulation, international policies must be able to shift and refocus on emerging problems. The process is identical to national level regulations, but just as negotiation is slower at the international level, all policy changes are also slower. This is a necessary evil of combatting international environmental problems.