User:Annikachun/Environmental governance

Global governance [edit]
According to the International Institute for Sustainable Development, global environmental governance is "the sum of organizations, policy instruments, financing mechanisms, rules, procedures and norms that regulate the processes of global environmental protection." The idea of global environmental governance is to govern the environment at a global level through a range of nation states and non state actors such as national governments, NGOs and other international organizations such as UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). The global environmental movement can be traced back to the 19th century; academics acknowledge the role of the United Nations for providing a platform for international conversations regarding the environment. Supporters of global environmental governance emphasize the importance of international cooperation on environmental issues such as climate change. Some opponents argue that more aggressive regional environmental governance has a stronger impact compared to global environmental governance.

Environmental Governance in the Global North and South
Relations between the Global North and Global South have been impacted by a history of colonialism, during which Northern colonial powers contributed to environmental degradation of natural resources in the South. This dynamic continues to influence international relations and is the basis for what some historians recognize as the "North-South divide." Scholars argue that this divide has created hurdles in the international lawmaking process regarding the environment. Scholars have noted that unindustrialized countries in the Global South sometimes are disconnected from environmentalism and perceive environmental governance to be a "luxury" priority for the Global North. In recent years, sustainable development has made its way to the forefront of international discourse and urges the North and South to cooperate. Academics recognized that environmental governance priorities in the Global North have been at odds with the desire to focus on economic development in the Global South.

Some analysts propose a shift towards "non-state" actors for the development of environmental governance. Environmental politics researcher Karin Bäckstrand claims this will increase transparency, accountability, and legitimacy. In some cases, scholars have noted that environmental governance in the Global North has had adverse consequences on the environment in the Global South. Environmental and economic priorities in the Global North do not always align with those in the Global South. Producers in the Global North developed voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) to address environmental concerns in the North, but these standards also end up impacting economic activity in the Global South. Jeffrey J. Minneti from the William & Mary Law School has argued that the Global South needs to "manage its own ecological footprint" by creating VSS independent from the Global North. Tension between countries in the Global North and Global South has caused some academics to criticize global environmental governance for being too slow of a process to enact policy change.