International Environmental Policy: Interests and the Failure of the Kyoto Process [Hardcover]

Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen (Author), Aynsley J. Kellow (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 184064818X | ISBN-13: 978-1840648188 | Publication Date: January 2003

The Kyoto protocol has singularly failed to shape international environmental policy-making in the way that the earlier Montreal protocol had done. Whereas Montreal placed reliance on the force of science and moralistic injunctions to save the planet, and successfully determined the international response to climate change, Kyoto has provided significantly more problematic. "International Environmental Policy" considers why this is the case. The authors contend that such arguments on this occasion proved inadequate to the task, not just because the core issues of the Kyoto process were subject to more powerful and conflicting interests than previously, and the science too uncertain, but because the science and moral arguments themselves remained too weak. They argue that "global warming" is a failing policy construct because it has served to benefit limited but undeclared interest that were sustained by green beliefs rather than robust scientific knowledge. This topical book takes a frank look at the political motivations that underpin the global warming debate, and should appeal to the political scientists and energy policy analysts as well as anyone with an interest in the future of the environment and in the policies we create to protect it.

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About the Author

Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen, Reader of Environmental Politics, Department of Geography, Hull University, UK and Aynsley Kellow, Professor and Head, School of Government, University of Tasmania, Australia

Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Pub (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 184064818X
• ISBN-13: 978-1840648188
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,744,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars useful contribution, May 1, 2003

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This review is from: International Environmental Policy: Interests and the Failure of the Kyoto Process (Hardcover)

Boehmer-Christiansen and Kellow candidly argue that the Kyoto Protocol (2001) was not as successful as the earlier Montreal Protocol because of conflicting political interests. Since the mid-1980s efforts have been made to combat global warming by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, generated by the combustion of fossil fuels, including coal and oil. The Kyoto Protocol to the Framework Convention on Climate Change was finally signed - without the USA - in November 2001 in Marrakesh. Leaders of the United States (the largest emitter of greenhouse gases) refused to sign the protocol, citing economic unfairness, scientific uncertainty, and objecting to UN-dominated globalization. The authors argue that, until individual states' political interests are reconciled, scientific findings will have no weight. This book contributes to the literature on global environmental policy, but given its sophisticated terminology, it is best suited for advanced graduate students and scholars of environmental policy. It should be read along with other recent books, such as David G. Victor's The Collapse of the Kyoto Protocol and the Struggle to Slow Global Warming (Princeton University Press, 2001). -Johanna Granville, PhD (Stanford U.)