This book describes the roles of various actors in the formulation and implementation of environmental policy at the international, regional and national level. It focuses on the necessity of cooperation among states and non-state actors to combat current and future environmental degradation, and on their roles in safeguarding the environment in the 21st century. In examining the roles of these different actors during the last 25 years, the book aims to find answers to questions regarding the adequacy of the existing range of actors to find the proper solutions to current and future environmental problems. For this purpose, the book has been divided into five sections, each written by a research group consisting of scholars from a wide variety of universities and institutions. These sections mainly examine the role of distinct actors: the first section focuses on states and their policies, the second on activities of civil society, the third on the relationship between market forces and the environment, the fourth on the role of regional arrangements and the fifth on international organizations as actors in the environmental arena. The book emphasizes that through studying functions and capabilities of relevant actors in the global environment, their relationship with other actors and their effectiveness, essential to tackle future environmental problems, can be established. It underlines that coordinated action at all levels by all actors is a necessary requirement to come to truly effective global environmental cooperation.
The book does not introduce many original ideas, and the examples cited in the elaboration of the five sections in substantive chapters occasionally make a rather random impression. Furthermore, the contributors use quite varying levels of theoretical abstraction. Nevertheless, the book provides a good overview of the main issues currently at stake in the global environment. Throughout the work, the increasingly important role of the United Nations is underscored as the focal point for addressing global environmental issues at the international level, especially in view of the absence of a world government and the limited capacity of international law and international courts to impose binding decisions on sovereign nations. Some of the chapters excel and provide many valuable insights, such as Chapter 18 on the UN Environment Programme by David Downie and Marc Levy. They give not only a thorough overview of the role of UNEP in the environment debate, but also present noteworthy options for changing UNEP's functions and structure.
In her conclusion, Chasek adopts a forward looking approach and points out, among other things, the dilemma that while it is timely and necessary to find a suitable arrangement that will allow formal participation in international fora for civil society, this will be difficult to achieve without threatening state sovereignty. Her cautious recommendations to improve the role of the UN are insightful and one can hope that decision makers will take them into account in shaping, actualizing and putting into action the global environmental agenda.
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