Environmental Diplomacy: Negotiating More Effective Global Agreements (Revised)

By Lawrence E. Susskind

Book Overview

International environmental agreements have increased exponentially within the last five decades. However, decisions on policies to address key issues such as biodiversity loss, climate change, ozone depletion, hazardous waste transport and numerous other planetary challenges require individual countries to adhere to international norms. What have been the successes and failures in the environmental treaty-making arena? How has the role of civil society and scientific consensus contributed to this maturing process? Why have some treaties been more enforceable than others and which theories of international relations can further inform efforts in this regard? Addressing these questions with renewed emphasis on close case analysis makes this volume a timely and thorough postscript to the Rio-Plus 20 summit's celebrated invocation document, The Future We Want, towards sustainable development.

Environmental Diplomacy: Negotiating More Effective Global Agreements provides an accessible narrative on understanding the geopolitics of negotiating international environmental agreements and clear guidance on improving the current system. In this book, authors Lawrence Susskind and Saleem Ali expertly observe international environmental negotiations to effectively inform the reader on the geopolitics of protecting our planet. This second edition offers an additional perspective from the Global South as well as providing a broader analysis of the role of science in environmental treaty-making. It provides a unique contribution as a panoramic analysis of the process of environmental treaty-making.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199397996
• ISBN13: 9780199397990
• Release Date: November 2014
• Publisher: OUP Us
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Why 'no regrets' is good green management

Companies applying the 'no regrets' policy described in this book as a global diplomacy strategy are likely to fare better with their corporate greening moves in the climate-change, carbon-constraint era. Susskind, who led Harvard's 'public dispute' negotiation program, wrote this book shortly after the 1992 UN 'earth summit' (in which I participated as a business communications consultant, and then wrote "Going Green"). His idea of 'no regrets' in climate change decisions: Whether or not a nation believes CO2 emissions cause global warming, action to conserve fuel is an economic plus. Substitute "company" for nation and the principle is behind most company management moves with regard to modern corporate greening. Executives hedge their bets or bet on ROIs that may -- or will -- reduce environmental impact, focusing on probable wins or, at minimum, reduced regret. Susskind's book, a big-picture guide on green diplomacy, is a substantial resource for good green management.