Breaking the International Environmental Governance Deadlock: Lessons from Other Regimes

By Johannah Bernstein, International Environmental Lawyer

International environmental governance (IEG) has been the subject of reform for the past two decades. Efforts have taken the form of high-level advisory groups, independent commissions, task forces, UN General Assembly consultations and ministerial consultative groups. This paper looks at the need for a new paradigm for environmental governance that is firmly rooted in a global good ethos, which not only recognizes the interconnected nature of worsening global challenges, but which also emphasises the importance of authority and resources to compel collective action in the face of narrow national interests.