Joyeeta Gupta

A Theoretical Framework

In order to answer the two research questions on the horizontal and vertical bottlenecks raised in Chapter 1, this chapter argues that while international law, politics and policy analysis can each provide insights for understanding the bottlenecks (2.2); together they provide a better analytical framework (2.3). Section 2.4 covers the methodology.

Navigating the Anthropocene: Improving Earth System Governance

The United Nations conference in Rio de Janeiro in June is an important opportunity to improve the institutional framework for sustainable development. Science assessments indicate that human activities are moving several of Earths sub-systems outside the range of natural variability typical for the previous 500,000 years (1, 2). Human societies must now change course and steer away from critical tipping points in the Earth system that might lead to rapid and irreversible change (3). This requires fundamental reorientation and restructuring of national and international institutions toward more effective Earth system governance and planetary stewardship.

The EU's Climate Leadership: Reconciling Ambition and Reality

This article argues that while the EU aspires to and is capable of structural, directional and instrumental leadership in the global climate regime, it thus far has not fully utilized this potential. Partly this is because the EUs shortcomings with respect to implementation have reduced the credibility of its leadership, partly because the complex internal negotiations tend to divert attention away from consideration of the impacts of its negotiation position on other countries. Nonetheless, the EU is moving the regime-building process forward. It is recommended that if the EU wishes to continue acting as a leader, it then needs to combine the three types of leadership with a short, medium and long-term strategy.

The multi-level governance challenge of climate change

The problem of climate change calls for global action to deal with the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and adaptation policies to enhance the resilience of people to cope with the potential impacts of climate change. The literature and politics has focused on the bottlenecks at the global and European Union level, examining the limits of the international and supranational political framework to deal with such problems. Much work has also been done on policy instruments at the national level. Few articles have examined the implementation of policy in domestic contexts, given the different political and administrative structures and the trend towards decentralization of powers to provincial and local authorities. The available literature focuses on few countries (e.g. Angel et al. 1998; Deangelo & Harvey 1998; Bulkeley & Betsill 2003; Rezessy et al. 2006). This special issue aims to address this gap and complement existing literature by examining how policy responsibilities are shared between national, provincial and local actors in France, Italy, the Netherlands and China. The choice of these four countries emerged automatically out of a collaborative project between institutions from these countries. When we started to work on this special issue, we hoped that there would be relevant literature in different national contexts. This turned out to be quite illusory and we have had to undertake primary data gathering efforts to understand how responsibilities are shared between different governance levels in different countries to deal with the unprecedented problem of climate change. This special issue consists of five papers, one theoretical paper and four country studies. The latter examine national policy, the division of responsibility between central and lower governments and the ways and means by which each country allocates tasks to different governance levels or the processes by which lower governments and communities can adopt their own initiatives. The case studies examine specific policy developments in cities, provinces or rural areas, and then derive conclusions about the policy space at different levels and about the limits of administrative capacity in general. Some of the interesting issues that arise from the analysis are discussed briefly below.

Fresh water goes global

Water management is a central responsibility of civil society. Major questions persist regarding practice, policy, and the underlying evidence and methods to inform both. Over the next 3 weeks, Science presents essays invited to debate key issues in freshwater research and management. This week: local versus global. When, and to what extent, should a global viewpoint replace, or work in tandem with, enduring localized perspectives?

The power sector in China and India: greenhouse gas emissions reduction potential and scenarios for 1990-2020

Abstract Emissions of greenhouse gases from China and India are expected to increase in the coming two decades. The objectives of this study are two-fold: (1) to quantify the technical potential of various options to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from the electricity sector in China and India in the year 2020, and (2) to evaluate a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario plus a number of best practice technology (BPT) scenarios for emission reduction of greenhouse gases from electricity production in China and India up to the year 2020. Options to reduce emissions include end use efficiency improvement, fuel switches, and efficiency improvement of existing and new power plants. For China, we calculated that the individual options analysed have technical potentials to reduce 2020 emissions ranging from 1% to 43% (relative to 2020 unabated emissions) and for India from 4% to 45%. Relatively large reduction potentials are calculated for end use efficiency improvement (43% for China and 45% for India), replacement of coal by renewable energy (23% for China and 14% for India) and natural gas (11% for China and 14% for India). Reducing electricity losses during transmission and distribution would reduce emissions by 7% (China) and 6% (India) and electrical efficiency improvement of power plants by 9% in both countries. The reduction options differ with respect to their feasibility. In the BAU scenario, emissions increase considerably between 1990 and 2020. Next, we present results for three BPT scenarios, which reflect the combined technical potential of selected options to reduce emissions. Our calculations indicate that all three scenarios have a potential to reduce emissions to about half the 2020 BAU level. The three scenarios are very different in their assumptions on reduction options, indicating that there are different strategies possible for realising relatively large emission reductions in China and India. We conclude that end use efficiency improvement may be one of the most effective ways to reduce emissions, in particular when combined with fuel switches. However, in none of the scenarios presented here the reduction options are sufficient to avoid building of new coal-fired power plants after the year 2000.

The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water

PART 1. Introduction.- 1. The Evolution of Global Water Law.- 2. Mesopotamia: A History of Water and Law.- 3. Islamic Law and the Politics of Water.- 4. Water in the Jewish Legal Tradition.- PART 2. Evolving National Law and Politics.- 5. Brazil: The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water.- 6. South Africa: The Development of Water Law.- 7. East African Water Regimes: The Case of Kenya.- 8. Israel: The Evolution of Water Law and Policy.- 9. Russia: Historical Dimensions of Water Management.- 10. India: Evolution of Water Law and Policy.- 11. Australia: The Problem of Sustainability in Water.- 12. United States: The Allocation of Surface Waters.- 13. The United States: The Emergence of Environmental Considerations.- PART 3. Evolving Supranational and Regional Water Law and Politics.- 14. European Community Water Policy.- 15. Southern Africa: Evolving Regional Water Law and Politics.- 16. The Jordan Basin: Evolution of the Rules.- 17. The North American Great Lakes.- 18. The Rio De La Plata Basin.- PART 4. Current Trends in International Water Law.- 19. Case Law on International Watercourses.- 20. International Cooperation on Water Resources.- 21. Public Participation in Water Governance.- 22. The Market Alternative. PART 5. Conclusions.- 23. The Challenges for the 21st Century: A Critical Approach.- Index.

Sharing the burden of adaptation financing: An assessment of the contributions of countries

Climate change may cause most harm to countries that contribute least to greenhouse gas emissions. This paper identifies deontology, solidarity and consequentialism as the principles that can serve as a basis for a fair international burden sharing scheme of adaptation costs. We translate these principles into criteria that can be applied in assigning contributions of individual countries, namely historical responsibility, equality and capacity to pay. Specific political and scientific choices are discussed, highlighting implications for international burden-sharing. Combining historical responsibility and capacity to pay seems a promising starting point for international negotiations on the design of burden-sharing schemes. From the numerical assessment, it is clear that UNFCCC Annex I countries carry the greatest burden under most scenarios, but contributions differ substantially subject to the choice of an indicator for capacity to pay. The total financial contribution by the Annex I countries could be in the range of

Problem-solving through International Environmental Agreements: The Issue of Regime Effectiveness

55-68 billion annually.

Sustainable development goals and inclusive development

Regime analysts tend to assume that for environmental agreements to be effective the environmental problem at stake must be relatively simple or “benign.” This means, inter alia, that scientists should have reached consensus on causes and effects and that interests between and within countries are deemed to be not too conflicting. The implication of this assumption is, however, that international environmental regimes cannot effectively address more complex issues, such as the current global environmental issue of sustainability and climate change. This article outlines an alternative approach. Building upon a typology of policy problems developed in the policy sciences, it argues that, for addressing different kinds of environmental problems, we need different kinds of environmental regimes. It then goes on to develop a typology of environmental regimes which can deal with different types of environmental problems.