Environmental Treaties

History of Environmental Treaties

The first multilateral environmental treaty was recorded in 1868. Since then, more that 450 [Page 219]multilateral and 900 regional agreements have entered into force. Most of these have been adopted since 1972, when the UN Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm, Sweden. This landmark meeting was the first mega-conference convened to discuss international environmental issues in a systematic and comprehensive way. To date, three subsequent mega-conferences have been held and a plethora of environmental agreements have been concluded internationally, regionally, and globally. Although cooperative environmental agreements are often hailed as positive steps toward managing resources, protecting fragile ecosystems, or preventing harm to human health, the UN Environment Programme has noted that parties often find it difficult to meet the numerous obligations conferred on them by these agreements.

Key Actors

Both state and nonstate actors are involved in the development and implementation of environmental treaties. State actors may include both bureaucrats, or government-designated policy experts, and scientific advisers appointed by states to assist policy makers in their analysis of technically complex issues. Nonstate actors may include representatives of corporations, industry associations, and civil society advocacy groups. These actors participate in treaty development and implementation by lobbying decision makers, contributing ideas to policy discussions, and providing evidence that may influence policy choices.

The Role of Science in Environmental Policy Making

Science plays an important role in the formulation of environmental treaties. The complexity of environmental problems and lack of certainty about hazards posed by various technologies and activities have led policy makers to rely increasingly on scientists for advice about appropriate policy responses. As advances in technology (e.g., chemical production and use) have changed the way humans interact with the environment, new issues relating to environmental and human health degradation have arisen. The risks associated with these technologies are often poorly understood, and evaluation of these hazards often requires individuals with scientific expertise to predict possible outcomes under conditions of great uncertainty. Policy makers have called on scientists to interpret complex technical information, assess the risks posed by various activities, and help devise appropriate policy responses to problems. Thus, scientists have become key actors in the formulation of many international environmental agreements.

Governments, corporations, and advocacy groups all employ scientists to analyze problems and represent their interests during the stages of policy making in which scientific evaluation of environmental problems is carried out. Thus, although science is often regarded as separate from politics, in reality economic and social interests are often promoted during the earliest, supposedly politically neutral, stages of policy making. The technical complexity of many contemporary environmental problems can create opportunities for stakeholders to promote their political agendas by emphasizing knowledge gaps or scientific uncertainty. Parties on all sides of an issue can use scientific evidence (or the lack thereof) to argue in favor of their own policy preferences. Exaggeration of scientific uncertainty or strategic framing of issues are two examples of the way in which power can play an important role in the formulation and implementation of environmental treaties.

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