Effectiveness of international environmental agreements

• Research unit: EU RFP
• Project number: 98.0246

Key words (English)

International environmental agreements

Alternative project number (English)

EU project number: ENV4-CT97-0513

Research programs (English)

EU-programme: 4. Frame Research Programme - 3.1 Environment

Short description (English)

See abstract

Partners and International Organizations (English)

Coordinator: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)

Abstract (English)

The Concerted Action on the Effectiveness of International Environmental Agreements linked more than 50 researchers from 17 institutes in 10 different countries together in an on-going process of academic exchange and co-development of a research agenda. At the center of the CA were the more than 120 international environmental agreements in force today. The formal conclusion of a set of rules, norms and expected behaviour does not automatically translate into specific political action nor result in an automatic impact on the state of the environment. Thus the effectiveness of international agreements matters.

Several major research projects investigated the various factors having an impact on the effectiveness of specific agreements in recent years. The objective of the CA was to bring these research communities together and to push the research agenda ahead. Among the key questions addressed were the following three:

1. In terms of effectiveness analysis, to what extent can we analyse both the EU and international regimes using the same analytical and methodological concepts and methods?
2. The main future challenges for research.
3. Lessons learned in institutional design; identifying practical obstacles.

After a kick-of conference, the CA split-up in two different tables, i.e. global (international) agreements and regional (EU) agreements, to unite again in a final conference. In a series of workshops, the experts - including political scientists, lawyers, economists, ecologists and decision-makers - presented their state of research, elaborated their set of questions and developed a concerted research agenda. The CA has resulted in several publications and two research projects to be followed-up in the framework of the 5th program. Most of the papers and some of the proceedings are published on the website of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (http://www.fni.no).

The main achievement of the CA was that some of the leading researchers in the field could sit together, exchange views beyond specific projects, discuss pertinent issues with decision- makers and develop new approaches to more efficient and effective international institutions. Thus the CA will hopefully have an impact on the negotiations of future agreements such as the Kyoto Climate Protocol as well as on future research by the scholars involved.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: Euro-DB of the
State Secretariat for Education and Research
Hallwylstrasse 4
CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Swiss Project-Number: 98.0246