Assessing Green
Diplomacy
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Success & failure in green
diplomacy
Toxic Waste Trade
 Whaling
 Acid Rain
 CITES
 Ozone Depletion
 Climate Change
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Lessons Learned
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Lead states/laggard states
Importance of nonstate actors
Importance of organizational structure
Importance of symbolic politics
Least common denominator
Strengths of convention/protocol
– Allows incremental progress
– Works well for simple issues
Weaknesses of convention/protocol
– Works less well for complex issues
Role of U.S.
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Institutional Problems
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Weakness of UNEP
– Physical & political isolation
– Under-funded
Dominant economic institutions downplay
environment
– WTO, World Bank, IMF
– Business
A World Environment Organization?
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Three Alternative Futures
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Business-as-usual
– Liberal environmentalism
Fortress World
– Rich protect themselves
– Securitizing energy
Global Transformation
– Addresses the intertwined dimensions of the
global problematique
 Inequity, violent conflict, environmental
degradation
Evidence for all three
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Liberal environmentalism
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Business-as-usual
Proliferation of agreements & institutions
– Hundreds of treaties since Stockholm,
yet environmental conditions worsen
Green diplomacy embedded in ideology of
growth
Voluntary initiatives emphasized over
binding commitments
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Capitalism, Globalization and
Ecology
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Market logic
– Economic efficiency: cheap labor &
materials
– Market expansion: growth imperative
– Profit motive: short time horizon
 Ex: Banking industry & renewable energy
Pro-free trade argument
– Trade increases GNP; wealth promotes
environment
Anti-free trade argument
– Shadow ecologies; race to the bottom; time
frame
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Darker Green: A Global
Green Deal
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Based upon “common but differentiated
responsibility”
North would supply funds & technology to
enable South to leapfrog into sustainable
development
EX: Per capita emissions approach to
GHGs
What would it take??
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Green Politics Beyond the State
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Subnational initiatives
– States, cities, neighborhoods
Voluntary & Type-2 Initiatives
– Pew Center on Global Climate Change; ISO 14001;
Forestry Stewardship Council; Marine Stewardship
Council
Green investment
– Climate & insurance industry
Earth Charter
– “Declaration of Interdependence”
Exemplary mobilization
– City Repair
– Global Ecovillage movement
– Lifestyle politics
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Addressing the Root Causes
What underlies I= PAT?
– What are the causes of exponential
growth?
Social structures
Culture & values
 Is there a role for the average citizen in
green diplomacy?
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