Competing definition of climate change and the post-Kyoto negotiations

Emerald - Tập 4 Số 1 - Trang 104-118 - 2012
Chloé Anne Vlassopoulos1
1Department of Political Science, University of Picardie, CURAP/CNRS, Amiens, France

Tóm tắt

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the definitional debates linked to climate change and their impact on the policy actors ' position and on policy content. It is suggested that while discussing about “climate change”, different policy arenas perceive different problems implying different responsibility attributions and different solutions.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study mobilizes different sources, such as regulations, research reports, and scientific papers, combined with personal interviews with international agents participating in the climate policy negotiations process.

Findings

– Initially, climate change has been defined as an environmental degradation problem. Progressively, other competing definitions of the problem occupied the public debate. Alternatively, climate change has been discussed as a development issue, a migration issue and a security issue. The paper argues that while this polyphonic discourse persists, the problem definition process remains unaccomplished, new institutional equilibriums cannot be established and, consequently, policymaking cannot follow.

Practical implications

– By focusing on the different perceptions and debates of the climate issue, this paper points to the conflicts transcending the international arena. This gives policy actors a wider view of the negotiating process in which they are involved.

Originality/value

– Most analyses explain the success or failure of international agreements by pointing to either the presence/lack of governmental compliance or the institutional complexity and need for coordination between enforcement agencies. Less attention is paid to the way public problems are perceived by different policy communities. This paper focuses on the definitional debates accompanying the post-Kyoto negotiations and their impact on the policy making process.


Tài liệu tham khảo

Arrenius, S. (1896), “On the influence of carbonic acid in the air upon the temperature of the ground”, Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science , Vol. 5 No. 41. Ausubel, J. (1987), “A second world climate conference”, Climatic Change , Vol. 11, pp. 289-90 (Guest editorial). Bäckstrand, K. and Lövbrand, E. (2007), “Climate governance beyond 2012: competing discourses of green governementality, ecological modernizaiton and civil environmentalism”, in Pettenger, D.M. (Ed.), The Social Construciton of Climate Change: Power, Knowledge, Norms, Discourses , Ashgate, Farnham, pp. 123-48. Boisson-de-Chazournes, L. (2008), “United Nations framework convention on climate change”, United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law , available at: http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/pdf/ha/ccc/ccc_e.pdf. Christie, R. (2007), “The human security dilemma: lost opportunities, appropriated concepts, or actual change?”, in Dans, P. et al. (Eds), Environmental Change and Human Security: Recognizing and Actin on Hazard Impacts , Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 253-70. Felli, R. (2008), “Justice globale pour les réfugié-e-s climatiques?”, Asylon(s) , November 5-20, available at: www.reseau-terra.eu/rubrique154.html. Flohn, H. (1977), “Climate and energy: a scenario to a 21st century problem”, Climate Change , No. 1, pp. 5-20. Guterres, A. (2008), “Climate change, natural disasters and human displacement”, A UNHCR perspective, UNHCR paper. Kasa, S. , Anne, T.G. and Gørild, H. (2008), “The group of 77 in the international climate”, International Environmental Agreements , Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 113-27. Lascoumes, P. and Vlassopoulos, C.A. (1998), “Protéger l ' aire ou réguler les sources de pollution?”, Regards sur l'Actualité , No. 239, pp. 31-41. Levy, D.L. and Downie, M.A. (2000), “The UN environmental programme at a turning point: options for change”, in Dans, P.C. (Ed.), The Global Envoronment in the Twenty-first Century: Prospects for Internaitonal Cooperation , UN University Press, New York, NY, pp. 355-77. Liotta, P.H. and Shearer, A.W. (2007), “Zombie concepts and boomerang effects: uncertainty, risk, and security intersection through the lens of environmental change”, in Liotta, P.H. , Mouat, D.A. , Kepner, W.G. and Lancaster, J.M. (Eds), Environmental Change and Human Security. Recognizing and Acting on Hazard Impacts , Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 9-34. Mee, L. (2005), “The role of UNEP and UNDP in multilateral environmental agreements”, International Environmental Agreements , Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 227-63. Myers, N. (1989), “Environment and security”, Foreign Policy , No. 74, pp. 23-41 (Spring). Myers, N. (1997), “Environmental refugees”, Population and Environment , Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 167-82. Najam, A. (2005), “Developing countries and global environmental”, International Environmental Agreements , Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 303-21. Stripple, P.P. (2008), “Beyond the public and private divide: remapping transnational climate governance in the 21st century”, International Environmental Agreements , Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 367-88. Theys, J. (2007), “Pourquoi les préoccupations sociale et environnementale s ' ignorent mutuellement. Un essaie d ' interprétation à partir du thème des inégalités écologiques”, in Cornu, D.P. (Ed.), Environnement et inégalités sociales , Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles. Tubiana, L. , Gemenne, F. and Magnan, A. (2010), Anticiper pour s'adapter. Le nouvel enjeu du changement climatique , Pearson, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Vlassopoulos, C. (2007), “‘Double speed policy change’. A postpositivist framework for the study of clean air policy in France and Greece”, ECPR paper, Helsinki, available at: www.reseau-terra.eu/IMG/pdf/Vlassopoulou.ECPR.pdf. Vlassopoulos, C. (2010), “Institutional barriers to the recognition and assistance of environmentally forced migrants”, in Affi, T. (Ed.), Environment, Forced Migration and Vulnerability , Springer, Dordrecht. Yearley, S. (2009), “Sociology and climate change after Kyoto. What roles for social science in understanding climate change?”, Current Sociology , Vol. 57 No. 3, p. 389.