Global Environmental Politics Problems, Policy and Practice

Introduction

On 7 December 1972, astronauts aboard the Apollo 17 spacecraft captured an image that would have a profound effect on people's perceptions of planet earth. It is now so pervasive and familiar that, for most, it perhaps triggers no reaction at all. But this image allowed people to see the earth in full view for the very first time. Perfectly illuminated, it appeared as a blue marble floating in an empty sea of darkness. ‘Tiny’, ‘fragile’, and ‘unified’ are words that came to be associated with this image of earth. Commander Eugene Cernan described how national boundaries disappeared when he viewed the planet from this perspective. His words capture a sentiment that spread widely at this time, when Western environmentalist movements were gathering momentum and demanding political action. Commander Cernan wrote: ‘I think the view from 100,000 miles could be invaluable in getting people to work out joint solutions, by causing them to realize that the planet we share unites us in a way far more basic and far more important than the differences in skin colour or religion or economic system’ (quoted in White 1998: 37). The timing of the ‘blue marble’ photograph was politically advantageous. As we will see in this chapter, it coincided with the ‘birth’ of environmental multilateralism. International cooperation experienced a boom in the post World War Two period, with hundreds of intergovernmental institutions created by the end of the twentieth century. It was in the 1960s and 1970s that the environment made it onto the international agenda. Resource use and environmental degradation were gradually recognised as common problems that would require collective and coordinated action.

In this chapter we will first examine the concept and practice of multilateralism, and see how it has been changing since the mid-twentieth century. We then trace the development of environmental multilateralism and identify the factors that have promoted, strengthened, and challenged diplomatic efforts to address the causes and consequences of environmental change. Here we will discuss different types of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and their political and legal status. Since its inception, environmental multilateralism has been characterised by divisions between the North and the South.