Institutional and Legal Responses to Global Climate Change

The USSR called for the holding of an Internatiomtl Conference on Environment and Development (infra) at the level of Heads of Government or State. See statement of Edward Sheverdnadze. Soviet Foreign Minister, before the UN General Assembly on 29 September 1989, UN Document A/44/PV.6, p. 46.

World Commission on Environment and Development , Our Common Future (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987), paragraphs 31-32.

See. for example, P. Scharlin , Reshaping Institutions to Meet Environmental Crises: Beyond Business as Usual, Report of the Fifth Talloires Seminar on International Environmental Issues (Talloires, France: Tufts European Center, 14-18 May 1989 ), p. ii.

See UN Document A/44/340-E/ 1989/1 20. annex.

Statement of Sir Crispin Tickell before ECOSOC, 9 May 1989.

Lynton K. Caldwell , Internatonal Environmental Policy: Emergence and Dimensions ( Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1984), p. 63.

UNGA Resolution 2997 (XXVII) (15 December 1972), which established UNEP. See also UNEP Environmental Law Unit , Environmental Law and the UN Environment Programme (Nairobi : UNEP, 1985), p. 3.

Caldwell, op. cit., in note 6, p. 63.

For ACC's involvement in climate change issues, see UNEP (GC/15/8/Add.3), paragraphs 14-22. For further information on CIDIE, see CIDIE Secretariat , Action and Inter-action; the Role and Patential of CIDIE. Volume 1 (Nairobi: CIDIE , 1989).

The Guardian. 12 October 1990. The initial capital is likely to be I billion Special Drawing Rights.

UNEP has, for example, written the Environmental Operational Guidelines for the Policies and Procedures Manual of UNDP.

See, generally, U.P. Thomas , Tire United Nations Environment Programme. - Constraints and Strategy in the Context of 1992 (Washington, DC: Proceedings of the 31st Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, 10-14 April 1990).

UNESCO, IOC, UNDP, WMO and others participate in the WCP, which was created by the Eighth World Meteorological Congress in 1979, following the First World Climate Conference. Operative paragraph 4 of UNGA Resolution 43/53 (27 January 1989) calls upon the relevant UN organs to give the WCP high priority. Sub-components include: the World Climate Impact Studies Programme (UNEP); the World Climate Research Programme (WMO-International Council of Scientific Unions [ICSU, a non-UN body]), which in turn has three sub-programmes and is linked to others; the Climate Computer (WMO): the World Climate Data Programme's Climate System Monitoring Programme (WMO. UNEP); and the Climate Change Detection Programme (WMO). Individual UN agencies also run independent programmes, such as the Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture (FAO). These arc, of course, complemented by programmes of nongovernmental international scientific bodies, such as the ICSU, which involve co-operation with UN agencies, such as the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). The IGBP was launched in 1986 and involves ICSU co-operation with WMO, UNESCO and UNEP. Like the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), it also possesses three sub-programmes.

See operative paragraph 10 of UNGA Resolution 43/51 (22 December 1989).

See the First Assessment Report and the Policy Makers' Summaries of the three working groups (June 1990). The working groups are concerned with: 'Scientific Assessment of Climate Change' (WG I), 'Potential Impacts of Climate Change' (WG II) and 'Formulation of Response Strategies' (WG III).

See operative paragraph 10 of UNGA Resolution 44/207 (22 December 1989), and UNGA Resolutions 43/196 (20 December 1988) and 44/228 (22 December 1989).

World Commission on Environment and Development, op. cit., in note 2, paragraphs 105-06.

Reprinted as revised in International Legal Materials (Vol. 19, 1980), It was concluded by the World Bank, five regional development banks, the EC Commission, the Organization of American States, UNEP and UNDP. The European Investment Bank signed in 1983.

See, for example, P. Muldoon , 'The International Law of Ecodevelopment: Emerging Norms for Development Assistance Agencies', Texas International Law Journal (Vol. 22, 1987).

OECD and the Environment (Paris: OECD, 1986), p. 6.

UNECE Symposium on Problems Relating to the Environment: Proceedings and Documents of a Symposium Organised by the ECE, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 2-5 May 1971 (New York: ECE, 1971).

See, for example, 'A Soft Target in the Greenhouse', The Independent, 8 October 1990, p. 17.

See, for example, Council Directive 88/609 (24 December 1988) on the Limitation of Emissions of Certain Pollutants into the Air from Large Combustion Plants.

A Working Party consisting of representatives of the government departments responsible for taxes, finance and the environment was established in November 1989 and first met in February 1990. See The Econamist ( 17-23 March 1990), p. 66.

EC Council Resolution on the Greenhouse Effect and the Community, 89/C 183/03 (21 June 1989).

It will be difficult, for example, to obtain Brazilian, Chinese and Indian participation in an effective regime without substantial transfers of resources or technology to them from developed countries. China plans to double its use of coal by the end of the century and India to triple its use. Since this is likely to result in their output of carbon dioxide exceeding that presently produced by all OECD countries, this throws doubt upon the efficacy of an alternative OECD or regionally based 'mini regime'.

UN Document A/44/361 annex.

UN Document A/44/551 -S/20870. annex.

UN Document A/44/673, annex.

Op. cit., in note 13.

World Climate Programme Impact Studies, Developing Policies for Responding to Climatic Change (WMO/TD-No. 225), p. i.

See, for comment, D. Everest , The Greenhouse Effect: Issues for Policy Makers (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs and Policy Studies Institute , 1988), p.9.

World Climate Programme Impact Studies, op. cit., in note 31.

Report of 17th Session of the General Assembly (San Jose, Costa Rica: IUCN, 1 -10 February 1988), paragraph 17.14.

International Herald Tribune, 27 July 1990 , p. 20.

Svante Arrhenius , 'On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature on the Ground', Philosophical Magazine (Vol. 41, April 1896), pp. 237-76.

See also UNGA Resolution 42/184 ( 11December 1987).

See WG I Policy Makers' Summary, op. cit., in note 15.

About 300 scientists and policy-makers from 48 countries, UN organisations and NGOs attended. See The Changing Atmosphere: Implications for Global Security (Geneva: WMO, 1989).

Protection of the Atmosphere (Ottawa, Canada: Statement of the Meeting of Legal and Policy Experts, 22 February 1989), p. 1.

In particular, negotiations are continuing on the preservation of biological diversity, which are a major distraction from global warming issues.

International Legal Materials (Vol. 26, 1987), p. 1541.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, ibid. See also the Helsinki Declaration on the Protection of the Ozone Layer (UNEP/OzL. Pro. 1/5, 2 May 1989), appendix I; and the statement of the London Meeting to review the Protocol, 19-29 June 1990.

The London Meeting created a Global Fund to be managed by a committee of 14, including representatives from UNEP, UNDP and IBRD. This fund, totalling US $160 million, will rise to $240 million in the event that China and India accede to the Protocol. These two countries are taking steps to do so.

Report ofSpecial Session of the Governing Council of UNEP (GC.15.12, July 1989).

WG III's Policy Makers' Summary, op. cit., in note 15, p. 3

For example, UNGA Resolution 43/53, op. cit., in note 13 ; and UNGA Resolution 44/207, op. cit., in note 16.

Ibid., p. v.

These proposals for low standards related to the establishment of a carbon tax or insurance fund. It is interesting to note that West Germany, normally expected to be a leader in favour of high standards, lined up behind the disappointing proposals. See. for example. Stephen H. Schneider. 'The Costs of Cutting - or not Cutting - Grecnhouse-gas Emissions, in Jeremy Leggett (ed.). Global Warming: The Greenpeace Report (Oxford: Oxford University Press , 1990), p. 186.

UN Document Report A/44/48 (20 March 1990).

Statement of Ticket). op. cit., in note 5, p. 2.

See. for example, notes by Brown-Weiss. D'Amato and Grundling in American Journal of lnternational Law (Vol. 84, 1990) pp. 190-212: and Edith Brown-Weiss. In Fairness to Future Generations (New York, 1988).

Edith Brown-Weiss . 'The Planetary Trust: Conservation and Intergeneratinnal Equity'. Ecology Law Quarterly (Vol. 11, 1984), p. 564.

The Financial Times, 14 June 1990.

Statement of M. Gorbachev before UNGA on 7 December 1988, UN Document A/43/PV.72. p. 19.

Statement of the Conference (New Delhi, India: 21-23 February 1989). paragraph 7. The conference was organised by the Indian Tata Energy Research Institute, The Woods Hole Research Centre. UNEP and the World Resources Institute.

In the US. the post of Secretary of the Environment is being considered for elevation to Cabinet rank. In Brazil, a prominent environmentalist. Jose Listzemberger, has been conspicuously appointed as Minister for the Environment. in the UK, environmental issues have taken on an enhanced status within the government, as illustrated not least by the seminar on climate change organised by the Prime Minister for her Cabinet in April 1989. In addition, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has reorganised its departmental structure to reflect the growing importance of environmental issues.

Decisions of UNEP Goveming Council Nos. 15/1 and 15/4 (25 and 26 May 1989); Report of Council, 15 S., GAOR 44 S, Supp. No. 25 (A/44/25).

Ibid.

Statement of Tickell. op. cit., in note 5, p. 2.

Ibid.

Fen Osler Hampson , Climate Change: Building International Coalitions of the Like-Minded', International Journal (Vol. 45. No. I, Winter 1989-90), p. 70.

Statement of Gorbachev before UNGA. op cit., in note 55.

Letter dated 30 April 1989, Annex to UN Document A/44/264 E/1989/73 (2 May 1989). The elaborated purpose of the proposed Centre, which would be headed by an Under-Secretary-General, would be 'to organise international co-operation in critical environmental situations. The experts would examine the situation on site and draw up recommendations on the limitation and elimination of the consequences of the disaster in question, Their assessments would be widely publicised. As the Centre developed, it would also provide necessary technical assistance to the states concerned. The feature of the proposal that is probably of most relevance to the debate on the institutional consequences of global warming is the suggestion that the groups of experts 'would include lawyers to consider legal problems that may arise as a result of environmental disasters with transboundary effects'.

Statement of Shevardnadze, op. cit., in note 1, p. 46.

Statement of Tickell, op. cit., in note 5, p. 2.

Statement of Shevardnadze, op. cit., in note 65.

See World Commission on Environment and Development. op,. cit, in note 2. paragraph 107, which talks of a 'World Conservation Bank'.

M. Bowman , Legal lmplications of Global Climate Change: Tropical Forests (paper for the Environmental Section Meetings on the Legal Aspects of Global Warming of the British Branch of the Intemationrtl Law Association , 1990).