The Globaluyv Governance

8/13/2019 The Globaluyv Governance

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Keynote papers

The global governance of climate change, forests, water, and

food: normative challenges

J. GuptaInstitute for Environmental Studies, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV Amsterdam,the Netherlands; UNESCO-IHE Institute or Water Education, Delf; School o Commerce, Division o

Business, University o South Australia, Adelaide;[email protected].

Abstract

Global negotiations in a number o different areas show that power politics ofen determines negotiationoutcomes. Tis raises a number o ethical challenges. Tis paper, hence, addresses the question: Whatare the normative challenges at global level in the context o climate change, water, and orests and whatdoes this imply or ood? Tis question is addressed through short case studies on the climate change

negotiations, water negotiations, and orest negotiations which discuss the link o each with ood, thekey ethical issues involved, the state o current governance, and draws inerences or the ood regime.It argues that the existing inequities in the ood regime globally and locally will be exacerbated by theimpacts o climate change, water and orest governance on agricultural productivity. Tis may, to someextent, be resolved through advances in technological knowledge; but such advances may not necessarilyaddress the distribution problem which is at the heart o normative challenges. Te paper argues thatone way to try and solve these distributional problems globally, is to promote the adoption o a globalconstitution and the rule o law.

Keywords:power politics, ethical issues, distributional problems, rule o law

Introduction

Te rule o law concept reers to the application o general principles in a predictable manner to allsituations it is ofen contrasted with the rule o a king or a powerul leader. While the rule o lawconcept is considered as very important at the national level in most developed countries and is promotedactively in the developing world by the developed countries, at global level the rule o law project is veryincomplete. Many powerul countries (such as the US) see the international arena as anarchic and donot wish to give up their sovereignty to a global decision-making process. As a result, the global arenais characterised by ad hoc rules that are generally taken to support the interests o hegemonic actors (c.Simpson, 2000). Tis is particularly evident in the case o climate change. Tis implies that countries

preer issue-specific rules rather than ethics based principles at global level.

Against this background, this paper addresses the question: What are the normative challenges atglobal level in the context o climate change, water, and orests and what does this imply or ood? Tisis answered through short case studies which discuss the link o each with ood, the key ethical issuesinvolved, the state o current governance, and draws conclusions or the ood regime.

Climate Change

Climate change and food

Te problem o climate change can affect ood availability, access and use patterns. It can affect ood

availability, since changing local climates (drought, oods, changes in growing season) and salt waterintrusion can affect crop survival and productivity. It can affect access by changing the ability o local

Climate nd, DOI 10. /978- - - - _2, 012T. Potthast and S. Meisch (eds.), change a sustainable development: Ethical perspectives on landuse and food production 392 90 8686 753 0 Wageningen Academic Publishers 20
mailto:joyeeta.gupta%40ivm.vu.nl?subject=mailto:joyeeta.gupta%40ivm.vu.nl?subject=


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Keynote papers

regions to produce or local people, or by changing the price o agricultural commodities therebypushing it out o the reach o local people. It can affect use patterns by either orcing people to use whatis available as against what they want; or climate mitigation and adaptation policy may call or a crop-switch to other crops such as rom rice to wheat. Existing ood problems in Arica and Asia are likely to

be urther exacerbated by the effects o climate change.

Climate change ethical challenges

Te climate change problem is essentially a North-South issue or our reasons. First, in terms o thepast emissions o greenhouse gases, the emission level o the average Northern country was substantiallyhigher than that o the average Southern country. Second, the bulk o the impacts until 2020-2050 arecaused by past emissions, the majority o which were emitted by the developed world. Tird, accordingto UNDP (2007), i global greenhouse gas concentrations and emission levels are to be kept withinsae levels the world budget or the 21stcentury would be exhausted by 2032, leaving little room orthe developing countries to grow something they have been asking or at the UN General Assembly

or a long time and which has been now ormalized in the UNGA resolution (1986) on the Right toDevelop. Fourth, the impacts o climate change will be more severe in the South both because o thegeographical location o the developing countries, and also because their vulnerability is the greatest.

Te initial social contract between the developed and the developing countries was that (a) the developedcountries would reduce their emissions o greenhouse gases; and (b) provide assistance to the developingcountries to help them purchase more climate riendly technologies and to adapt to the impacts oclimate change. Tis was encapsulated in the leadership paradigm.

However, by the time the Climate Convention (1992) was finally drafed, (a) the target to reduceemissions was worded in very vague language possibly not amounting to a legally binding target; (b)

the help to developing countries was not in terms o targets and timetables but in terms o woolly words the only clear paragraph being Art. 4.7 which is cited till today by the developing countries; and (c)the ethical norms encapsulated in the article on Principles included five ideas: Te common butdifferentiated responsibilities and respective capability principle, the right to sustainable development,the protection o vulnerable countries, the precautionary principle and the open international economicsystem. Yet at least two o these are contradictory (the precautionary principle is made subject to thecost-effectiveness argument; and the open economic system may contradict sustainable development).Furthermore two important ideas are excluded (the polluter pays principle and the no harm principle),and the whole was made legally contentious through a ootnote!

By the time the Kyoto Protocol (1997) was adopted, (a) new targets were adopted by the developed

countries, but together (1) they ell short o what was needed (both in absolute terms and also sincethe US has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol and Canada has withdrawn in 2011), (2) individually theyinclude targets to increasegreenhouse gas emissions, (3) there was an option to offset increases in thedeveloped world through projects in the developing world; (b) the (1) bulk o the technology transerhelp to developing countries was linked to emission reduction in the North (e.g. Te Clean DevelopmentMechanism (CDM)) and (2) the Adaptation Fund was created out o a tax on the cooperation betweenNorth and South in the CDM; (c) an implicit new norm on grandathering was introduced throughthe introduction o the emissions trading concept.

Current state of climate governance

We have reached 2012 and there are (1) no new legally binding targets; only some highly conditionalpledge and review type targets ; (2) i there are no new targets, the impetus to invest in the offset


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mechanisms o the CDM and Reducing Deorestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) is reduced,and thereby there will be ewer resources owing into the Adaptation Fund, and although there are newunds promised it is unclear which country and which actor will contribute and by how much; and (3)consensus reerences to normative values are disappearing rom the agenda (Gupta, 2010).

Te bottom-line is that the climate change problem has not been adequately addressed and the potentialimpacts rom past emissions are being elt in different parts o the world, but these are, o course,subject to the attribution challenge: can these impacts be attributed to greenhouse gas emissions o thedeveloped world?

Inferences

Tis implies that the impact o climate change on ood availability and access is becoming urtherexacerbated; and as there are limited resources available or climate change adaptation, there is alsolimited assistance to those impacted in the 150 non-developed countries.

Water

Water and food

Fresh water is a key resource or ood production. Between 70 and 80% o water use is or agriculturalproduction. In act this ratio has scarcely changed since the time o the Mesopotamian Civilization. Tewater system is changing partly because o the impacts o climate change (e.g. changing precipitation andevaporation patterns, rising sea levels and melting glaciers) but also because o other human activitiessuch as dams which inuence sedimentation patterns and soil ertility, and changing land use patterns.Since the world population is expected to increase by about 40% in 2050, there will be an increase in

the demand or ood and eed.

Water ethical challenges

Water is governed rom local through to global levels. I will only discuss the issues that arise romtransboundary to global water use and only in relation to the non-navigational uses. In relation tothe transboundary use o water, the key issues are regarding who has the ownership and/or user rightsover the water, how can water be shared between countries, and how can responsibilities regarding themanagement o ecosystem services be allocated between countries.

At regional level, two case studies may illustrate some o the normative challenges. Te Nile passes

through 11 countries and ows via Sudan into Egypt beore emptying into the Mediterranean Sea.Colonial and post colonial agreements between Sudan and Egypt provide the bulk o the waters o theNile to these two countries, a division that is highly contested by the upstream countries. In order toquestion this division and to address the problem o equitable sharing o the Nile waters, the Nile BasinInitiative and the Cooperative Framework Agreement have been launched; and the current politicalchanges in Egypt, the split up o Sudan and South Sudan, and the building o the Grand MillenniumDam may provide a political window o opportunity to renegotiate the sharing o the Nile. Anothercase study is that o the Mekong which ows through China via Myanmar, Tailand, Laos, Cambodiaand Vietnam. Te equitable sharing and management o the Mekong River is currently being governedby the Mekong River Commission, but China and Myanmar are not members. As an upstream country

with considerable political and economic power, China has the ability to increase its water access and

pollution without taking into consideration downstream needs. Te challenge is to find ways to includethe upstream countries into the joint management o the river.


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At global level, the 1997 Watercourses Convention aimed to codiy rules regarding the sharing owatercourses and has six criteria or water sharing between countries, only one o which reers to pastuse. It also has criteria or not causing harm to other countries. However, this Convention has yet toenter into orce, and climate change has not yet been mainstreamed into this or other transboundary

water agreements.

Current state of water governance

Te current state o water governance is that we have a global treaty that is not in orce, we have anumber o water related initiatives (e.g. promoting integrated water resource management) takenby a vast number o UN and non-UN agencies that have some inuence and we have the 2010 UNGeneral Assembly Resolution on the Human Right to Water and Sanitation. At regional level we havehundreds o treaties and although in the UN Economic Commission or Europe region, the treatiesare developing a normative ramework or dealing with water, in other regions o the world, most treatiesare highly contested in terms o equitable utilization, ood water management and pollution control

and have not yet taken climate change into account.

Inferences

Te key norms or water governance in relation to access (the human right to water and sanitation),equitable utilization (the sharing o water resources among riparian users), and the no-harm principle(the use o water such that harm to states is minimized) have been articulated and codified, but are yetto be effectively implemented because o regional politics. Te management o risks (ood risks, andthe risks o climate change impacts) have yet to be taken into account.

Forests

Forests and food

Deorestation and orest degradation are very much in the news today. A key driving actor behinddeorestation is the need to expand agricultural land. At the same time, the relationship is not one-way.Forests provide bushmeat, ruits, nuts and honey or rural communities; they provide ecosystem services

which regulate hydrological services or irrigation use, absorb greenhouse gases, minimize the impactso extreme weather events on the landscape, may enhance pollination in nearby fields and some orests(mangroves) reduce the potential or salt water intrusion; and income to local communities so that theycan buy ood. At the same time, orests are also impacted by changing climates.

Forest ethical challenges

Te ethical challenges at global level with respect to orests concern firstly whose orests are beinggoverned? Forests typically all under national boundaries and the question is can oreigners dictatehow a country manages its land use? Tis is especially important in relation to the act that those whohave already deorested tend to turn a finger towards those who are currently deoresting to ask themto stop doing so. Tis is one o the critical reasons why there is no real effective global orest governanceregime today.

Te act that deorestation may contribute about 17% o global greenhouse gas emissions has broughtattention back to the deorestation issue; this time the idea is that emission reductions in the orest arena

can be used to offset emissions in the developed world. Afforestation and reorestation projects qualiyas CDM projects, while reducing deorestation qualiy as REDD projects. Apart rom the dubious


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ethics o offset policies, there is another issue here. How will developing country governments actuallyimplement the orestry policies? Will this lead to labelling some land as orests and thus impacting onthe right to sell o local landowners? Will this lead to a negation o community rights to use and manageorests? Or will this lead to a true compensation o orest ecosystem services or local people via the

payment or ecosystem services (PES) concept. What effect will this have on the local availability oland or agricultural purposes or on the local access to ood sources within orests?

Experiences rom the past (e.g. Debt or nature swaps) suggest that there is many a slip between thetheoretical idea and the practical implementation. While in theory many o the ethical aspects can beresolved, in practice those who are expected to pay may not wish to pay, a PES scheme is considerablymore expensive than a Protected Area scheme, ownership rights to orests are highly disputed and thelocal community is ofen difficult to identiy, find and compensate.

Inferences

Te key norms or emerging orest governance are sustainable orest management, orest ownershiprights and payment or ecosystem services. But all o these are highly contested in the practical world oorest implementation. Te key question is whether orest lands can be managed such that the perceivedtrade-offs between orests and ood can be dealt with and the communities living in and around orestsare not worse off.

Implications for food

Implications of the above for food

Changing climates, hydrological regimes and orest regimes may have a serious impact on global ood

security. Although there are attempts to address these problems using a normative ramework, thesenorms are yet to be implemented. Although there are attempts to design solutions or these problems,the climate change regime is ar rom being addressed, many parts o the world are very water stressed,and deorestation and land degradation continues.

Food ethical challenges

Te global governance o ood itsel is not without its ethical challenges. Global ood governanceis dispersed among many different UN agencies and agreements and World Food Summits receiverelatively little global high-level attention. Tere is no real determination o common values and ethics

with respect to ood. Instead ood security is negatively inuenced by the implementation o ood aid

politics, over-production in the West and rising prices in the South, debt and past structural adjustmentprogrammes in the South, subsidies or European agriculture and fisheries, the intellectual propertyrights regime, the impact o gene technology on ood biodiversity, by hierarchical vertically integratedmarkets (e.g. on bananas) on small armers and by the new demands or biouel and the global recession.

Add to these existing ethical challenges, the new ethical issues raised by climate change (as to who isresponsible or reducing emissions and compensating others and thereby setting a good example toemerging economies), by water (as to how transboundary water should be shared and managed in termso its complete ecosystem services), and by orests (as to how to create an ethical and legitimate multi-level governance system to address the orestry issue) and the issue becomes much more complicated.


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Inferences

While technologies may be able to ensure enough ood production or all, the key problem will bewhether the existing wastage o ood in consumer societies can be reduced, and whether the distribution

o ood can be enhanced and local access and affordability o ood guaranteed.

Conclusions

As the global economy increases three-old by 2050 with accompanying demands or ancy ood, as theglobal population increases by 40%, and as technologies make more consumptive behaviour possible(e.g. travel to space, individual gadgets), global greenhouse gases may continue to rise in a business asusual scenario, average temperatures may increase by1.5-2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, water

withdrawals may increase by 20-85%, 10-20% o land may be converted or agricultural use, nutrientloads may increase by 2/3rds, edible fish populations may reduce by 90% in comparison to pre-industriallevels, and plant species may decrease by 10-15% (MA, 2005).

Tis is likely to enhance stress between and within countries. Tis may lead to two choices the first isthat ood, water and energy become global security issues and bring the world community together in a

joint effort to address problems; or it may lead to an intensification o competition between countries.In both cases, the only way orward is to create a rule o law system and a global constitution within

which countries operate: in the first situation such a rule o law system will be symbiotic with the globalefforts, in the second situation, such a system will help pre-empt the breach o global responsibilitiesand the rise o resource conicts and wars.

Such a global constitution could draw inspiration rom the 1945 UN Charter and its emphasis onpeace and security, the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the human rights

agreements and the Millennium Development Goals and their emphasis on guaranteeing access tobasic resources, and the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention and its emphasis on sharing transboundaryresources equitably.

Acknowledgements

Te author has partly worked on this project as part o the EU FP7 Project on REDD Alert (ReducingEmissions rom Deorestation and Degradation through Alternative Landuses in Rainorests o theropics (contract number 226310).

References

Gupta, J. (2010). A history o international climate change policy, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews 1(5): 636-653.

MA (2005). Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Island Press, Washington.

Simpson, G. (2000), Te Situation on the International Legal Teory Front: Te Power o Rules and the Rule o Power.

European Journal o International Law 11: 439.

UNDP (2007). Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World. UNDP Human Development Report

2007-2008. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

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