NO. 1 - 2004
Nansen News
is a newsletter from
the Fridtjof Nansen
Institute (FNI)
The institute is
based at Lysaker
outside Oslo,
Norway, and is
engaged in applied
social science
research on
international
resource
management and
the environment
The Fridtjof
Nansen Institute
P.O. Box 326
N-1326 LYSAKER
Tel: (47) 67111900
Fax: (47) 67111910
Email: post@fni.no
FNI Web-site:
http://www.fni.no/
Sustainability Indexes – is a more solid
scientific basis needed?
Since the Brundtland Commission coined the concept of sustainable
development in 1987, we have seen an almost exponential growth in the use
– and misuse – of sustainability phrases. One area of focus has been the
establishment and use of sustainability indexes to measure the performance
of countries and corporations in this context. Of the last category here is Dow
Jones Sustainability Group Index – DJSGI or DJSI – the most famous one.
For the more specific environmental dimension of sustainable development
we have also a number of different indexes, among them the Environmental
Sustainability Index (ESI) of the World Economic Forum. We also have
several environmental performance indexes both for countries and
corporations. Adding to the confusion is the fact that corporations are using
different parameters and indicators when they develop their own corporate
social strategies. Sometimes these include everything from human rights,
labour and security issues to environmental and sustainable development
parameters, but often this concept is much more narrowly defined.
The use of these indexes, often very aggregate and complex ones, seems to
be increasingly important for business, NGOs and civil society at large. When
these measurements are made public and given political and consumer
connotations, corporations do care and act to change bad practices. In fact,
business has been in the fore-front in this development. As this phenomenon
has developed, we have also seen that a great number of firms and
businesses are now established and are making money from the ’index
business’ itself. The inclusion of environmental performance into the economy
is a much broader trend which is highly welcome, but the ’index sector’ and
the selection of parameters and indicators do have some major shortcomings.
Both the conceptual foundation for and the composition and architecture of
many of the most widely known indexes are blurry and not very scientifically
founded. When the Nordic countries are on top of the list of environmental
sustainability indexes, the lack of externality inclusion is a major factor. We
have exported our ecological footprints!
The research on drivers for policy change towards sustainable development
should therefore contribute to a more solid scientific basis for development
and use of these indexes. They have been accepted as a useful tool for
guiding us in the direction of sustainable development of the business sector,
and we should make sure that they really do.
Peter Johan Schei
Director
New Publications …
New helmsman
at the FNI
Climate compliance:
new book
Peter Johan Schei (59) is the new director of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, effective from 1
April. Schei holds a Master’s degree in biology from the University of Oslo, and has worked
on environmental and resource management issues since 1973. He comes from a position as
Special Consultant /Head of Negotiations at the Directorate for Nature Management (DN),
where he was Director in 1989-1995.
Schei headed the Norwegian delegation to international negotiations on biodiversity, trade
in endangered species, and the exploitation of wetlands. He has held a number of
international positions in his field, and has developed and led several research programmes
on biodiversity and management of natural resources, both nationally and internationally.
During the preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg,
he worked for the UN General Secretary.
A manuscript entitled International Compliance: Implementing the Climate Regime, edited
by Olav Schram Stokke, Jon Hovi and Geir Ulfstein and involving experts from Norway,
United Kingdom, and the United States, has been accepted for publication by Earthscan,
London. The book will be out in early autumn of 2004 and is one of a string of publications
resulting from a project under the Samstemt programme of The Research Council of
Norway. The book project has been undertaken jointly by The Fridtjof Nansen Institute,
CICERO, and the Department of Public and International Law at the University of Oslo.
Arctic Council meeting
FNI Researcher Kristine Offerdal attended the Artcic Council meetings in Selfoss, Iceland 35 May as a member of the Norwegian delegation to the meetings. She participated in both the
SAO meetings (Meetings for Senior Arctic Officials) and the SDWG meeting (Sustainable
Development Working Group).
The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that provides a mechanism to
address the common concerns and challenges faced by the arctic governments and the people
of the Arctic. The Member States of the Arctic Council are Canada, Denmark, Finland,
Iceland (Chair 2002-2004), Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the USA.
Health project
evaluation
Since mid-2002, FNI researchers Geir Hønneland and Lars Rowe have been involved in the
evaluation of an international health collaboration. The Task Force on Communicable
Disease Control in the Baltic Sea Region has initiated, funded and monitored some 100
projects on infectious disease control, most of which have been carried out in the Baltic
countries and Northwest-Russia. The Task Force mandate period expires in June 2004. FNI
conducted the so-called contextual evaluation, focusing on the cultural, political and social
environment (i.e. non-medical factors) surrounding Task Force projects. Hønneland has been
a member of the Task Force’s Steering Committee for evaluation, and Hønneland and Rowe
have co-authored the book Health as International Politics. Combating Communicable
Diseases in the Baltic Sea Region, forthcoming in May 2004 (see www.ashgate.com). Rowe
has compiled a final report from the Steering Committee for evaluation, which has taken into
account all four evaluations of various aspects of the Task Force. He will present the overall
result at the 6th Nordic-Baltic Congress on Infectious Diseases in Palanga, Lithuania, 3-6
June.
AAS Annual Meeting
Senior Research Fellow Gørild Heggelund participated in the annual meeting of the
Association for Asian Studies (AAS), the largest society of its kind in the world. The AAS
seeks through publications, meetings, and seminars to facilitate contact and an exchange of
information among scholars to increase understanding of East, South, and Southeast Asia.
The AAS members are scholars, business people, diplomats, journalists, and interested lay
persons.
The AAS annual meeting took place in San Diego, California March 4-7, 2004. Due to a
large number of participants, the meeting was organised into 219 different and parallel
sessions and panels with a great variety of topics ranging from economics, history, politics,
literature, culture, religion, media etc in East, South, and Southeast Asia. Heggelund
participated in the session entitled Nature and State in Asia, and presented the paper ‘The
Three Gorges Dam: Resettlement and Envi-ronmental Policy-making’.
Page 2
New Publications …
New ballast-water project
The Norwegian Government has, within the framework of assistance and cooperation
projects with Croatia, supported the project on “Ballast water issues for Croatia: Possible
usefulness of Norwegian experience and expertise”. FNI has been entrusted with
coordination of this one-year project, which is implemented in collaboration with Det norske
Veritas. The project is led by FNI Senior Research Fellow Davor Vidas.
The idea and the initiative for the project originated during the visit of the Foreign
Minister of Norway, Jan Petersen, to Croatia in May 2003, on which occasion the Croatian
side expressed its interest in Norwegian experience and expertise on ballast-water issues as
possibly helpful to Croatia in addressing the challenges and perspectives in this area.
Croatia currently faces ballast water issues in two respects. First, related to all of its
export ports, where an examination of this matter is needed and both technical and regulatory
solutions required. Second, in relation to a particular location – the deep-sea port of Omišalj
in the Bay of Kvarner region – which may, according to the current plans, soon become the
first major oil export port in the Adriatic Sea, and thus experience an intensive and increasing
tanker export traffic.
The main purpose of the project is to assist Croatian authorities as an independent
pool of expertise in considering and evaluating risks from introduction of invasive species
with ballast water, technical risk control options, as well as regulatory options for the ballastwater issues. Institutional contacts in Croatia are the Ministry of the Sea, the Ministry of
Environmental Protection, and the Ministry of Agriculture – Fisheries Directorate. In
addition, collaborative contacts with the relevant Croatian scientific institutions and experts
have been established.
FNI in Expert Group on
Mediterranean Marine
Law
On 15-16 March 2004, IUCN invited a group of legal experts to a workshop in Malaga,
Spain, to examine Improved Governance of the Mediterranean Beyond Territorial Seas. Dr
Davor Vidas, director of Marine Affairs and Law of the Sea Programme at FNI, gave one of
the introductory speeches, on Croatia’s recently proclaimed ecological and fisheries
protection zone. This zone, which is based on the exclusive economic zone provisions of the
UN Law of the Sea Convention, was prompted by two main challenges for the Adriatic Sea:
the increasing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, as well as the increasing
pollution risks for the marine environment, including plans for oil export routes through the
Adriatic. At the same time, the mainstay of the Croatian economy – tourism – is based on a
preserved marine environment.
An important purpose of the workshop, widely attended by Mediterranean legal experts,
was to launch an IUCN Expert Group on Mediterranean Marine Law, in which FNI also
takes part.
Report on results of
Norwegian development
policy
In 2001, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs appointed an advisory committee on
results in the development policy. 23 April the committee presented its final report in Oslo.
Head of the committee, Helge Rønning (University of Oslo), presented the broad lines of the
report, while Bjørne Grimsrud (FAFO) discussed aspects pertaining to the coherence of
Norwegian policies towards developing countries. FNI Research Fellow Regine Andersen
highlighted three issues of particular relevance for the reorganised NORAD. First, she
warned against the new donor trends of instrumentalizing NGOs for the implementation of
poverty reduction strategies in developing countries, since it weakens the role of NGOs as
democratic actors, critics for the strategies and watchdogs for their implementation. In
addition it weakens the role of the state, in that NGOs are given responsibility for services
traditionally provided for by the state. Second, she suggested that NORAD in its new role as
a professional advisor to the Ministry should seek professional input and co-operation not
only among research environments traditionally engaged in development studies. The new
challenges of policy coherence and professional advice necessitate involving a broader range
of research environments. Finally, she emphasised the recommendation from the report on an
evaluation of the evaluation procedures of the former evaluation unit in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.
Keynote speakers at IUU
workshop
Senior Research Fellow Olav Schram Stokke and Director of the Marine Affairs and Law of
the Sea Programme, Davor Vidas, gave the keynote address to the OECD Workshop on
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Activities, held in Paris, 19 April 2004 20 April 2004.
Page 3
New Publications …
New FNI publications are presented below in broad thematic categories, to assist those
who search for information on specific topics.
BIODIVERSITY AND OTHER GLOBAL GOVERNANCE ISSUES
Bryde, Martin
Plant and Animal Variety:
The Variety Exceptions of
the European Patent
Organisation and the
European Community
Assessed in Relation
to Patentable
Subject Matter.
FNI report 4/2004.
Lysaker, FNI, 2004.
76 p.
This report is based on a thesis submitted to the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo as part of
the cand. jur. degree. It discusses the legal understanding of the terms plant variety and animal
variety in the European Patent Convention (EPC) and the Patent Directive of the European
Community (98/44/EC). The main finding is that only plant and animal varieties are exempted
from patentability while other expressions of plants and animals are patentable. This includes
inventions covering expressions of plants and animals on superordinate taxonomical levels,
inventions where the tech-nical feasibility is not confined to one particular variety and patent
claims covering micro-organisms. The terms are inter alia interpreted in light of the
International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, the UPOV Convention
and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the TRIPs
Agreement. The relation between patents and sui generis protection for plant varieties
illuminates the division of work between the systems and contributes to the understanding of
the term variety seen from a patent law perspective. The report provides a basis for further
research. In particular, the consequences of the current understanding of the variety exceptions
(chapter 7), will be investigated more thoroughly in forthcoming research.
Tvedt, Morten Walløe and
A. Maki-Tanila ‘Legal
issues’. Pp. 41-45 in: S. J.
Hiemstra (ed.), Guidelines
for the Consti-tution of
National Cryo-preservation
Programmes for Farm
Animals. Lelystad, The
Netherlands : Centre for
Genetic Resources, 2004.
47 p.
The working group that developed these Guidelines took up the difficult task of assembling all
the relevant issues regarding cryopreservation of AnGR into practical Guidelines. Some issues
are not new, but the way they are presented is intended to make them easier to pick up and
use. Other issues are relatively new to the European (and global) AnGR community and will
be of real interest to those engaged in ex situ conservation. As the FAO’s First Report on the
State of the World’s AnGR for Food and Agriculture process gains momentum and countries
throughout Europe begin to develop new or existing national action plans for the conservation
and sustainable use of their indigenous breeds of livestock, the question of ex situ
conservation of those breeds will arise.
There is reason to believe that these Guidelines will become an essential reference
document for all those considering setting up or renewing gene banks, whether policy
makers, NGOs, research institutes or private organisations.
Hønneland, Geir and Lars Rowe
Health as International Politics: Combating
Communicable Diseases in the Baltic Sea Region.
Aldershot & Burlington, VT, Ashgate, 2004. 150 p.
In recent years, health has become a pressing issue in international
politics - a development which has been reflected in the growth of
academic literature on the subject. The emergence of new (and reemergence of old) infectious diseases since the early 1990s has
attracted scholarly interest from various fields of investigation. At the
same time, in a European context, the dramatic rise in tuberculosis and
HIV/AIDS in some former East Bloc countries has caused particular
concern. This timely work provides a detailed account of how the states
around the Baltic Sea have met the challenge of communicable
diseases and used health issues as an instrument in their foreign policy
more widely.
Geir Hønneland and Lars Rowe should be congratulated for producing such an
insightful account of the challenges faced by the Task Force and how it
responded to them. This book will be invaluable reading for anyone involved in
international health projects, especially those involving the former Soviet Union.
Professor Martin McKee, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,
UK.
Page 4
New Publications …
CLIMATE POLITICS
Andresen, Steinar, Jon
Hovi and Tora Skodvin:
‘The persistence of the
Kyoto Protocol: Why other
Annex I countries move on
without the US’.
Global Environmental
Politics, Vol 3, No 4, 2003,
pp. 1-24.
The United States, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is not going to ratify the
Kyoto Protocol (KP) in the foreseeable future. Yet most other countries have decided to
remain on the Kyoto track. Four main explanations for this seeming puzzle are discussed. The
first is that the other countries still think the KP will lead to substantial cuts in emissions and
that this will outweigh the costs of implementation. Second, by implementing the treaty,
parties hope that others will follow suit later on. Thirdly, EU climate institutions have created
a momentum that has made it difficult to change course. Finally, the KP persistence may be
linked to the ambition of the EU to stand forth as a leader in the game. While the two first
explanations are discarded, the latter two seem more promising.
Wei Lin, Gørild
Heggelund,
Kristian Tangen
and Li Jun Feng:
Efficient Implementation of
the Clean Development
Mechanism in China.
FNI report 1/2004.
Lysaker, FNI, 2004.
24 p.
China at present ranks as the world’s second largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2) after the
USA. Given its huge emissions of greenhouse gases and large potential for low-cost emission
reductions, China is generally expected to become a major recipient of CDM funding. The
current report has several purposes. First, the authors discuss how CDM is likely to be
implemented in China, not least in terms of effectiveness measures. They go on to examine
Chinese policies on and priorities for CDM as set forth in international negotiations and
reflected in their CDM project system design. They survey recently deployed, internationally
funded CDM projects and China’s capacity for identifying, approving and carrying out CDM
projects. They describe as well China’s first CDM project, the Inner Mongolia Huitengxile
Wind Farm Development Project, a project that was approved by the Dutch CERUPT in 2003.
The report reviews project experiences and developments thus far. Finally, inasmuch as the
report is a joint ERI/CREIA-FNI production, they look at developments in Norway’s climate
policy and CDM potential. To summarize the conclusion, the authors note that China’s
domestic CDM apparatus still awaits approval by the State Council, which may indicate
waning Chinese interest for (or a wait-and-see attitude towards) CDM. At the same time,
however, the authors expect that the several ongoing international projects with Chinese
actors will gradually enhance CDM understanding in China. While CDM capacity is strong
centrally in China, there is little knowledge or awareness of it in industrial quarters. The
international projects will therefore be crucial to help bring knowledge to local stakeholders.
The Inner Mongolia Huitengxile Wind Farm Development Project is one such example. China
has gained valuable experience through its participation in the Dutch CDM program, and
CDM information has been disseminated to stakeholders in China, especially industrial actors.
The report sets out several recommendations concerning future Chinese and
Norwegian government action.
Hasselknippe, Henrik
“Systems for carbon trading:
an overview”
Climate Policy Special
Supplement on Defining and
Trading Emission Targets,
No 3, suppl 2, 2003, pp. 4357.
This paper focuses on the increasing number of regional, national and international systems
for trading and transfer of greenhouse gas emission allowances and emission reduction
credits. The paper will serve as a platform for further discussions on the development of the
international carbon trading market. The analysis builds on the International Emissions
Trading Association (IETA) Trading Schemes Database, which has been developed by Point
Carbon, covering all known trading schemes and programs. A full overview of all existing
trading schemes and proposals is presented, showing inter alia the outreach and judicial nature
of the systems, the range and nature of emission reduction or credit purchase targets,
allocation methods used, links to external systems, and possibilities for the use of projectbased credits. A comparative assessment is performed on a number of design criteria,
allowing for conclusions to be drawn on the level of harmonisation of these systems, and the
identification of convergence or divergence of important operational features. The systems
covered in the analysis display considerable variation when it comes to key design criteria and
functionality. A rapid integration of many of the planned and active systems seems likely
following the agreement on the EU emissions trading scheme, and will be further accelerated
if the Kyoto Protocol is ratified.
Page 5
New Publications …
Tangen, Kristian,
Atle C. Christiansen,
Anders Skogen
and Ian Roche
Imperfect Implementation of
the Kyoto Protocol.
FNI report 5/2004.
Lysaker, FNI, 2004.
44 p.
The objective of this study is to analyse the economic consequences of different scenarios for
the development of the carbon market established by the Kyoto Protocol. The report explores
a number of scenarios and looks into what they will mean in terms of economic costs e.g.
GDP loss, and the marginal costs, ‘the carbon price’, of meeting the Kyoto targets. In all
scenarios, the economic consequences for the EU are less than for Canada and Japan.
Measured in terms of GDP loss, Canada will be affected more than Japan. However, the
economic consequences are less than estimated in many previous simulations under the
assumption that the USA would be a party to the Kyoto Protocol. With the exception of the
‘no Trade’ scenario, the GDP loss is likely to be less than the normal uncertainty in GDPestimates. However, the relatively low costs reflect that Japan and Canada under the scenarios
simulated, ensure compliance with their commitment targets by buying allowances and credits
from abroad. As illustrated in the report, purchasing allowances and credits from abroad will
normally entail far larger investments than domestic abatement measures. In essence, while
the EU can very much rely on its internal market, Japan and Canada will in all scenarios have
to rely on external market actors. The strong reliance on an external carbon market implies
that Japan and Canada face risks that are less relevant in the EU context.
Christiansen, Atle C.
‘The Role of Flexibility
Mechanisms in EU Climate
Strategy: Lessons Learned
and Future Challenges?’
International Environmental
Agreements: Politics, Law
and Economics, Vol 4, 2004,
pp. 27-46.
The main objective of this article is to examine the evolution of European Union (EU) climate
strategy, scrutinising in particular developments in EU’s view on the so-called flexibility or
Kyoto mechanisms. In brief, the article argues that there has been a gradual change in EU’s
views, from the role of a sceptic in the run-up to Kyoto towards becoming more of a
frontrunner on emissions trading in recent years. The need to “save Kyoto” and the protracted
development of EU climate policy are highlighted as two of the most important drivers behind
this process of change. This article also discusses some of the lessons learned from
international negotiations and the development of EU climate policy. Finally, drawing upon
the lessons learned, the author explores the future challenges for the further development of
EU climate policy.
Hønneland, Geir
Russian Fisheries Management
The precautionary approach in theory
and practice.
Leiden and Boston, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
/ Brill Academic Publishers, 2004. 210 p.
This book is the first comprehensive introduction to Russian
fisheries management in the Western literature. It sets out the
basic principles and organisational structure underlying Russian
fisheries management and describes associated processes and
practices, such as quota allocation, technical regulation and
enforcement of fishery legislation. The book focuses attention on
fisheries management at the federal level and in Russia's northern
fishery basin, the largest fishery region in European Russia.
Problems such as institutional conflict, alleged corruption and
incomplete legislation on fisheries are discussed, as are the
assets of scientific and technical expertise found in the country's
Soviet legacy.
Throughout the book, the performance of the Russian system
for fisheries management is evaluated in relation to the
requirements of a precautionary approach to fisheries, as set out
in contemporary international law.
Page 6
New Publications …
ENERGY POLITICS
Heggelund, Gørild
Environment and
Resettlement Politics
in China: The Three
Gorges Project.
Hampshire, Ashgate, 2004.
296 p.
The Three Gorges dam, currently being constructed on the Yantgze River in China, is
controversial both inside and outside China, particularly because of the large number of
people to be resettled (officially 1.2 million) and the environmental impacts. Using material
previously unavailable in any Western language, it analyses the Chinese discussions over
policy-making for the resettlement process and impacts. It concludes that the environment
and resettlement policies have been linked in a new way in this project. However, despite
these positive developments, it argues that the social impacts from resettlement have not yet
reached a high level of political attention and that the Chinese authorities need to
acknowledge that resettlement has social costs. The book provides an understanding of the
social, political and economic factors of one of the largest and most controversial
development projects currently being implemented. It also sheds light on China’s policymaking procedures and political priorities over the past decade.
Skjærseth, Jon Birger
Kristian Tangen, Philip
Swanson, Atle Christer
Christiansen, Arild Moe
and Leiv Lunde
Limits to Corporate
Social Responsibility: A
Comparative Study of Four
Major Oil Companies
FNI report 7/2004.
Lysaker, FNI, 2004.
26 p.
Transnational enterprises, and the major oil companies in particular, have long suffered
from a rather unpleasant public image. Since the mid-1990s, a growing number of studies
have questioned whether oil industry investments are a force for good in developing
countries. The main objective of this article is to examine and discuss the response of oil
companies to this emerging and widening challenge to business, focusing on the four
‘majors’: ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, and TotalFinaElf. Drawing on business environmental
management perspectives and theories of domestic politics, two key questions are
addressed: How have companies dealt with calls for wider corporate social responsibility?
What can explain differences in response between companies? In addition, we briefly
discuss the dilemmas companies are facing defining the limits of their responsibility. The
case studies indicate significant variations among the companies, particularly at the
rhetorical level, but also in terms of what they do and how they do it. These differences can
be explained by a combination of company-specific features and different home-base
countries. Nevertheless, even the most ‘progressive’ companies run into difficulties in
setting the borders or limits to corporate social responsibility, e.g. how companies should
relate to interference in what has traditionally been seen as the domestic affairs of host
countries. More specifically this involves transparent reporting, the so-called ‘paradox of
plenty’ and investments/disinvestments in areas with poverty and unrest.
Haufler, Virginia
Corporate Intervention in
Domestic Politics: Normative
Change in the International
Community
FNI report 6/2004.
Lysaker, FNI, 2004.
29 p.
In the last decade, the private sector has increasingly come to be seen as both the source and
solution for many of the cross-border problems that advocates of “global governance” seek
to resolve. The international community now demands that corporations pay attention to the
distribution of revenues from production, human rights protection, anti-corruption efforts,
and other areas where preventive action might reduce the likelihood that foreign investment
might create or exacerbate political and military conflict. This represents both an increased
tolerance for intervention in the domestic sovereign affairs of state, and perhaps even the
legitimation of foreign investor participation in host country politics.
Three inter-related factors at the system level arguably provide the permissive
environment in which new norms about corporate behavior emerged and strategies
changed. First, widespread liberalization and openness to foreign investment was
accompanied by increasing concerns about ‘good governance’ and the link between
development and conflict. Second, the international community became more willing to
consider intervention in the domestic affairs of states, especially in failed states. Finally,
transnational activist coalitions strategically sought to press corporations for reform and to
hold corporations accountable on a range of issues. These combined to facilitate increased
openness to private sector involvement in domestic political affairs.
FNI publications may be ordered from the Institute or downloaded from our web site.
The Fridtjof Nansen Institute, P.O. Box 326, NO-1326 Lysaker, Norway. Tel . (47) 67 11 19 00.
Email: post@fni.no Web site: www.fni.no
Page 7
New Publications …
Eikeland, Per Ove
The Long and Winding Road
to the Internal Energy
Market - Consistencies and
Inconsistencies in
EU Policy
FNI report 8/2004.
Lysaker, FNI, 2004.
44 p.
It has now been16 years since the European Commission in 1988 issued its first Green Paper
on the implementation of the internal energy market, launching the ideal that free and fair
competition should guide further EU energy market development. This report explores the
impact of regulatory policies and potential insufficiencies of regulatory power at the EU level
for the creation of an internal market where competition is free and fair.
The EU is still far from achieving a completely free and fair energy market, partly due to
asymmetric implementation by member states of internal energy market policies and partly
due to lack of reconciliation of policy instruments at the EU level. EU competition policy
does not seem to be fully reconciled with internal energy market policies. The disinclination
to enforce competition rules has facilitated increasing market concentration, likely to
aggravate barriers to free and fair competition in the Union. The Commission has neither
managed to fully reconcile environmental and supply security policies with internal market
policies. Instruments applied to reach environ-mental and energy security goals have often
worked against the ideal of free and fair competition.
Although the European Commission has noted successes in the process of opening up
European energy markets to competition, lack of reconciliation entails that member states can
still apply various forms of protective measures (strategic regulation) to shield their national
industries from competitive pressure. EU energy policy inconsistencies reflect underlying
interests of EU member states more than conditions at the EU centre. Member states have not
been interested in handing over policy instruments to the EU executive that would have
enabled it to iron out inconsistencies. The coordination and enforcement capacity of the
European Commission is therefore limited.
EUROPEAN AND EU ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS
Næss, Tom
“The Effectiveness of the
EU’s Ozone Policy”
International Environmental
Agreements: Politics, Law
and Economics, Vol 4, No 1,
2004, pp. 47-63.
Has the EU’s ozone policy been effective? In other words: What caused the 90 per cent
phase-out of ozone depleting substances (ODS) within the EU? Was it due to an EU-wide
regulatory approach, to national circumstances, or to the Montreal Protocol? As EU’s
environmental policy has not been overly successful so far, it would interesting to know why
ozone policy is an area where the EU and its Member States have reached targets effectively
over a relatively short time. We suggest that the effectiveness of EU’s ozone policy is due to
two factors that together secured this rapid phase-out. First, the ozone policy was enacted by
means of an EU regulation – rather than by directives – which required all Member States
and all larger ODS-generating corporations to implement a ban simultaneously. Second, with
the US administration making a u-turn and the increased availability of ODS-substitute
chemicals, Europe saw a political opportunity to speed up the phase-out process. A limited
study of the phase-out of ODS in Spain supports this argument. While the EU’s ozone policy
has been effective, its success owes much to particular economic and political circumstances
associated with the issue of ozone depletion.
MARINE AFFAIRS AND LAW OF THE SEA
Hønneland, Geir
Russian Fisheries
Management. The
Precautionary Approach in
Theory and Practice.
Leiden and Boston, Martinus
Nijhoff Publishers / Brill
Academic Publishers, 2004.
210 p.
This book is the first comprehensive introduction to Russian fisheries management in the
Western literature. It sets out the basic principles and organisational structure underlying
Russian fisheries management and describes associated processes and practices, such as
quota allocation, technical regulation and enforcement of fishery legislation. The book
focuses attention on fisheries management at the federal level and in Russia’s northern
fishery basin, which is the largest fishery region in European Russia. Problems such as
institutional conflict, alleged corruption and incomplete legislation on fisheries are discussed,
as are the assets of scientific and technical expertise found in the country’s Soviet legacy.
Throughout the book, the performance of the Russian system for fisheries management is
evaluated in relation to the requirements of a precautionary approach to fisheries, as set out in
contemporary international law.
Page 8
New Publications …
Stokke, Olav Schram
and Clare Coffey
‘Precaution, ICES and the
Common Fisheries Policy: A
study of regime interplay’.
Marine Policy, Vol 28, No 2,
2004, pp. 117-126.
Andresen, Steinar
and Tora Skodvin:
‘Non-state influence in the
International Whaling
Commission 1970-1990’.
Global Environmental
Politics, Vol 3, No 4, 2003,
pp. 61-87.
.
This article examines the interplay between the precautionary provisions in the global
fisheries regime and problem-solving under (1) the International Council for the
Exploration of the Sea and (2) the EU Common Fisheries Policy. The causal processes are
partly ideational (learning-driven) and partly normative (commitments-driven). The effect
is synergistic: the UN Fish Stocks Agreement strengthened the hand of those within ICES
and EU fisheries bodies who favoured greater safety margins, long-term planning and preagreement on recovery plans for endangered stocks - without disrupting cooperative
relations. There is some awareness among participants in source and target regimes of the
fact of interaction and also preparedness to respond to it.
Most studies on the influence of non-state actors in international politics is focussed on the
international level. One main objective of this article is to develop a multi-level approach
that allows analysis of non-state influence via the domestic level. This is discussed in
relation to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in the period 1970-1990, with a
particular focus on the competition for influence between the scientific community and the
environmental and animal rights movement. The analysis shows that the domestic level is
equally or even more important than the international level. In this case the
‘environmentalists’ succeeded in mobilizing domestic public support particularly in the US,
and had a key ally in the US government. The domestic role of this non-state actor was of
key importance in the transformation of this regime in the 1970s and 1980s. While science
played quite a significant role in the 1960s and early 1970s, later on it was side-tracked by
the ‘environmentalists’.
POLAR POLITICS AND LAW; NORWAY AND RUSSIA
Hønneland, Geir
and Lars Rowe
Health as International
Politics: Combating
Communicable Diseases in
the Baltic Sea Region.
Aldershot & Burlington, VT,
Ashgate, 2004.
150 p.
In recent years, health has become a pressing issue in international politics - a development
which has been reflected in the growth of academic literature on the subject. The
emergence of new (and re-emergence of old) infectious diseases since the early 1990s has
attracted scholarly interest from various fields of investigation. At the same time, in a
European context, the dramatic rise in tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in some former East
Bloc countries has been a cause of particular concern. The book provides a detailed account
of how the states around the Baltic Sea have met the challenge of new and re-emerging
communicable diseases and used health issues as an instrument in their foreign policy more
widely. A main conclusion is that the programme did not attract as much money as
anticipated from the Western states around the Baltic Sea, but that the implementation of
projects has generally been successful. Interestingly, the Task Force has not only created
robust networks between East and West in the Baltic Sea area, but also between Russia and
the Baltic states and among the Russian federal subjects.
Jørgen Holten Jørgensen
Svalbard og Fiskevernsonen:
Russiske persepsjoner etter
den kalde krigen. (Svalbard
and the Fishery Protection
Zone: Russian Perceptions
After the Cold War.)
FNI-rapport 13/2003.
Lysaker, FNI, 2003. 79 p.
In Norwegian.
This report looks at Russian perceptions and interests at the Svalbard archipelago and in the
Fishery Protection Zone. Starting with perestroika, the Soviet and later Russian settlements
were suffering a reduction of activity and were partly dismantled. By the end of the 1990s,
however, Russia once again started to allocate federal investments to the archipelago and is
currently making efforts to open a new coal mine. At the same time, the Russians have been
increasingly concerned about the Norwegian management of Svalbard and the Fishery
Protection Zone. In April 2001, Norway for the first time ever arrested a Russian trawler in
the Protection Zone, bringing it to port in Tromsø. Although the trawler undoubtedly had
committed serious violations of the fishing regulations, Russia claimed that Norway had no
right to arrest foreign citizens in a zone not recognised inter-nationally as being under
Norwegian jurisdiction. A few months later, the Norwegian Parliament applied the
Svalbard Environmental Protection Act, putting the Russian (and Norwegian) coal mining
under question. Unsurprisingly, the Russian reactions were severe.
The study asks what interests Russia has on Svalbard, and how the Russian perceptions
come about. Arguably, while the fishery activities in the waters around Svalbard are
important for the fishing industry in Northwest Russia, there is hardly any economic reason
to continue the mining activity in Barentsburg. Neither should security issues play a
significant role any longer. Norway, by ‘domesticating’ Svalbard, has given broad
responsibilities to the sector ministries. The co-ordination of Svalbard politics under the
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New Publications …
control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has loosened, resulting in less attention to foreign
actors. In Russia, which already is highly sceptical towards its rich western neighbours, a
realist discourse of ‘us’ against ‘them’ is central. The Norwegian management of Svalbard
and the Protection Zone has thus been seen by the Russian administration as an indirect
means to press Russia out of the area.
At the same time, various bureaucratic structures in Russia pursue their own interests in
Svalbard affairs. In a rather effective way, they have managed to use the general discourse
in their efforts to present any unresolved issue on Svalbard as a zero-sum game between
nations.
Hønneland, Geir, Jørgen
Holten Jørgensen and
Morten Bremer Mærli
The environment of Barents
Russia: Driving Forces
and Key Actors.
Project Barents Russia 2015
– Working Paper.
Oslo, ECON Analysis, 2004,
36 p.
The report examines past and current environmental conditions of Barents Russia with a
particular focus on their significance for human health and industry. The larger part of the
region is pristine wilderness. Pollution is mainly concentrated around the region’s major
industrial areas, specifically the two nickel smelters on the Kola Peninsula and the Northern
Fleet’s storage sites for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. Since the early 1990s,
industrial emissions from industry have been falling sharply throughout the region,
generally owing to falling production levels and the introduction of cleaning facilities. The
most important environmental threat in the region is the danger of accidents at nuclear
installations, notably the Kola Nuclear Power Plant, and oil spills at sea from tankers.
Russian environmental authorities have seen their influence seriously weakened since
the mid-1990s. The federal body for environmental protection lost its ministerial status in
1996 and was disbanded altogether in 2000. In Barents Russia, the result was a sharp
reduction in staff, resources and influence. Environmental NGOs are few in number and
weak, and public environmental awareness low. Environmental conditions in Barents
Russia are affected primarily by industry itself. It is becoming more important to put across
an ‘environmentally friendly’ image, a trend that will probably continue to grow in
significance in the foreseeable future. Foreign governments and international organizations
have contributed significantly to reducing pollution and increasing nuclear safety.
Globalization could persuade the highest political leadership in the country to find it
expedient to pay greater attention to environmental concerns in the future.
Moe, Arild
Offshore Activities in the
Russian Barents Sea.
Project Barents Russia 2015
– Working Paper 10. Oslo,
ECON Analysis, 204. 40 p.
The purpose of this working paper is to review developments on the Russian continental
shelf in the Barents Sea and discuss the driving forces. The paper starts with an overview of
reserve estimates and then goes on to describe and evaluate the licensing process and
regional capacities. It also presents the status of field developments. The main Russian
actors are presented, and the possible role of foreign companies is discussed. At the end of
the report main driving forces are summed up and three ‘proto-scenarios’ briefly presented
The working paper is written as part of the scenario project “Barents Russia 2015”, subproject on the energy sector.
Moe, Arild
Oil Transportation through
the Barents Sea. Project
Barents Russia 2015 –
Working Paper 11. Oslo,
ECON Analysis, 2004.
11 p.
Russian oil shipments through the Barents Sea have increased rapidly in recent years. The
explanation for this development is the combination of increasing oil production, stagnant
domestic consumption and bottlenecks in export pipelines. Russian oil companies have
found it profitable to refine crude oil and transport the products on rail to ports along the
White Sea. In addition, shipments of crude oil from Varandey and West Siberia will
increase in the coming years, when start-up of offshore production is also likely. Plans for a
trunk pipeline connecting fields in Western Siberia with a sea terminal in Murmansk
surfaced in 2002. The pipeline is planned to have an initial capacity of 80 mill. tons per
year, increasing to 120 mill. tons. The basic reasoning behind the pipeline is the same as for
the rail-based exports. But whereas the increase in rail-based exports in the north was
described as a certain trend, there are more uncertainties surrounding the Murmansk
pipeline project. These uncertainties includes developments in Russian oil production,
capacities of other infrastructure projects, and institutional conflicts as well as geopolitical
considerations, which are all briefly discussed.
Hønneland, Geir
“Fish Discourse. Russia,
Norway and the Northeast
Arctic Cod”.
The article argues that discourse analysis can help explain why Russian and Norwegian
fishery authorities in the period 1999-2001 set quotas for the Northeast Arctic cod far above
scientific recommendations. While the ‘sustainability discourse’ dominated on the
Norwegian side - framing discussions in terms of the quotas being ‘sustainable’ or not - the
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New Publications …
Human Organization, Vol.
63, No 1, 2004, pp. 68-78.
Russian discourse centered around the battle between the two nations involved. According
to the ‘Cold Peace discourse’, Norway wants to reduce the quota to ensure competitive
prices for cod on the world market or, alternatively, simply to ‘ruin Russia’. The ‘seafaring
community discourse’ feeds on distrust on both sides of the border of scientific prognoses
and serves to weaken the arguments of the ‘sustainability discourse’ and strengthen the
conclusions of the ‘Cold Peace discourse’. The ‘pity-the-Russians discourse’ offers a way
out of the deadlock: feeding on the Western perception of Russians as ‘poor’, the
Norwegians are ready to set scientific recommendations aside on humanitarian grounds.
Overarching discourses in society provided ‘windows of opportunity’ for the given
outcomes. Notably, the ‘Cold Peace discourse’ made it possible for Russian shipowners to
argue against a quota reduction, and the ‘pity-the-Russians discourse’ made it acceptable
for the Norwegians to agree to Russian claims.
Hønneland, Geir
‘Nuclear Safety Discourse in
the European Arctic’. Polar
Record, Vol 40, No 212,
2004, pp. 39-49.
The article outlines discourses surrounding the emergence and implementation of the
Norwegian Plan of Action for nuclear safety in Northwestern Russia. The launching of the
Plan of Action was facilitated by the ‘Barents euphoria discourse’, which held optimistic
views of a general ‘clean-up’ in Northwestern Russia by the help of infrastructure financed
by the Nordic side, and the ‘nuclear disaster discourse’, hinging of the idea of a ‘ticking
time bomb’ in Norway’s immediate vicinity to the east. The latter discourse clashes with
the prevalent Russian ‘nuclear complex discourse’ whose main assumption is that issues of
nuclear safety should be left to the experts, not to the general public. Criticism of the Plan
of Action mounted around the turn of the century, eventually causing the Norwegian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to designate it as largely unsuccessful. The ‘environmental
blackmail discourse’ took over in Norway, with its story line that ‘the Russians are taking
advantage of us’. The ‘Cold Peace discourse’ in Russia has primarily served to obscure
Norwegian motivations for the Russians.
Gørild Heggelund
Environment and Resettlement Politics
in China. The Three Gorges Project
Ashgate, 2004. 296 pages.
The Three Gorges dam, currently being constructed on the
Yantgze River in China, is controversial both inside and outside
China, particularly because of the large number of people to be
resettled (officially 1.2 million) and the environ-mental impacts.
Using material previously unavailable in any Western language, it
analyses the Chinese discussions over policy-making for the
resettlement process and impacts. It concludes that the
environment and resettlement policies have been linked in a new
way in this project. However, despite these positive developments,
it argues that the social impacts from resettlement have not yet
reached a high level of political attention and that the Chinese
authorities need to acknow-ledge that resettlement has social
costs. The book provides an understanding of the social, political
and economic factors of one of the largest and most controversial
development projects currently being implemented. It also sheds
light on China’s policy-making procedures and political priorities
over the past decade.
Reviews
‘… a must read for anyone seriously interested in the Sanxia
project as well as providing useful information about recent
changes in Chinese policy formulation.’
Dr Richard Louis Edmonds, University of London, UK
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New Publications …
YBICED available in new, 11th Edition
The Yearbook of International Co-operation on Environment and
Development (YBICED) is now available in its 2003-2004 edition.
YBICED aims to demonstrate the international community’s position
on specific environment and development problems, the main obstacles to
effective international solutions, and how to overcome them. It assesses the
achievements and the short-comings of international co-operation, and
seeks to distinguish between rhetoric and reality.
The Yearbook combines independent, high-quality analysis with updated
reference material. The latter presents the facts, the former an informed
evaluation of the results achieved through international collaboration
within a particular agreement, organization, or process.
‘An invaluable source for everyone who needs to be up-to-date on
international efforts to solve environmental challenges. Unique in its
presentation of the interrelationships between treaties, IGOs, NGOs, and
governments.’
Jonathan Lash, President, World Resources Institute (WRI)
Current Issues and Key Themes 2003/2004
♦ Franchising Global Governance: Making Sense of the Johannesburg Type II Partnerships (Dr Liliana B. Andonova
and Marc A. Levy, Columbia University)
♦ Protecting the Baltic Sea: The Helsinki Convention and National Interests (Björn Hassler, Södertörn University
College)
♦ FAO and the Management of Plant Genetic Resources (Regine Andersen, Fridtjof Nansen Institute)
♦ Analysing the ECE Water Convention: What Lessons for the Regional Management of Transboundary Water
Resources? (Dr Patricia Wouters and Dr Sergei Vinogradov, University of Dundee)
♦ The External Environmental Policy of the European Union (Professor John Vogler, Keele University)
♦ Stemming the Tide: Third World Network and Global Governance (Graham K. Brown, University of Nottingham)
Ordering information may be found at
www.greenyearbook.org or www.earthscan.co.uk
FNI Staff
Peter Johan Schei, Director
Arild Moe, Deputy Director
Jon B. Skjærseth, Research Director
Morten Sandnes, Head of Administration
Research Staff
Steinar Andresen, Sr. Research Fellow
Helge O. Bergesen, Sr. Research Fellow –
on leave
Douglas Brubaker, Sr. Research Fellow
Gørild Heggelund, Sr. Research Fellow
Geir Hønneland, Sr. Research Fellow
Kristin Rosendal, Sr. Research Fellow
Olav Schram Stokke, Sr. Research Fellow
Davor Vidas, Sr. Research Fellow
Jørgen Wettestad, Sr. Research Fellow
Regine Andersen, Research Fellow
Per Ove Eikeland, Research Fellow
Lars H. Gulbrandsen, Research Fellow
Henrik Hasselknippe, Research Fellow
Anne-Kristin Jørgensen, Research
Fellow – on leave
Lars Rowe, Research Fellow
Morten Walløe Tvedt, Research Fellow
Martin Bryde, Researcher
Jørgen H. Jørgensen, Researcher
Kristine Offerdal, Researcher
Ingvild Sæverud, Researcher
Page 12
Øystein B. Thommessen, Editor
Ida Bjørkum, Research Assistant
Elin Boasson, Research Assistant
Ellen Kongshaug, Research Assistant
Svanhild-Isabelle Batta Bjørnstad,
Research Assistant
Administration
Kari Lorentzen, Librarian
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