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This concluding chapter covers various approaches to the fight against transnational ecoviolence and environmental crime, including state and market-based approaches, militarized responses, the protection of environmental activists, intelligence-led policing and high tech, international multilateralism, INTERPOL, international courts, and earth jurisprudence. While there are no easy answers to the many challenges posed by transnational ecoviolence, many of these approaches offer hope if they can be applied with human security and environmental justice firmly in mind.

In this chapter we examine the rising phenomenon of climate crimes, from small fraud over carbon offsets to large-scale unreported emissions and efforts to mislead the public over the impacts and causes of climate change itself. The chapter also features a discussion of climate justice and its implications, examines the threat of “climate colonialism” and related issues in the transition to a post-carbon economy, and offers a syncretic case study of the disastrous Australian wildfires of 2019.

In this chapter, we explore the transnationalization of the illegal wildlife trade (IWT), examining how such crimes engender ecoviolence and harm on a global scale. Case studies present a more nuanced picture of the IWT. A sound understanding of the political economy of IWT aids our theorization of this crime from both the environmental justice and human security perspectives, which are in turn are theoretically and pragmatically adept at identifying the drivers, pressures, sources, and impacts of IWT, opening new vistas of green criminological inquiry.

This Introductory chapter covers the employment of the terms violence and ecoviolence in the book and introduces a framework based on environmental justice and human security to analyze transnational ecoviolence.

Canada has played a key leadership role in global environmental governance during specific periods since 1968, but has frequently faded from view or reversed direction as economic competiveness rem...

Transnational environmental crime has become the largest financial driver of social conflict, with severe implications for peace and security. Sustainable-development frameworks need to overtly recognize and mitigate the risks posed by transnational environmental crime to environmental security.

Among the plethora of marine ecosystem challenges of this century, two have received increasing attention in recent years. One of these challenges, the primary subject of this book, is climate change. Another challenge is that of plastic. Marine plastic pollution can be subdivided into three basic categories: (1) macroplastics, including debris such as fishing nets, large pieces of Styrofoam, and parcels that have been lost or discarded from cargo ships; (2) microplastics, which comprise particles under 5 mm in diameter that remain when plastic objects, including plastic nurdles (which are used in various production processes), enter the sea and phytodegrade; and (3) nanoplastics, the end state of microplastic degradation, which are invisible to the naked eye and, because they are so small (1,000 times smaller than an algal cell)), are more likely than microplastics to pass through biological membranes. All of these categories of plastics are regrettable intrusions on natural ecosystems, but the latter are particularly worrisome for those concerned with environmental change. In this chapter, we argue that all types of plastic pollution are also troublesome irritants for those concerned specifically with climate governance. The links between plastic debris, which is reshaping ocean ecology, and the broader threat of climate change are rarely explored. Our analysis suggests that there are several interlinked variables and relevant ethical and policy-related considerations. In particular, the climate change and the microplastics narratives – discovery, scientific advances, technological and policy innovations – need to come together if we are to make solid progress in response to both of these wicked problems. We develop three primary ideas in this chapter. First, there are clear links between the oceans and climate change agenda and the marine debris agenda. Microplastics especially are contributing to the climate change problem and vice versa (Royer et al., 2018). Second, there are intriguing governance parallels between the two problems, such as existential threat responses, shared but differentiated responsibilities, and common heritage issues. The most pronounced intersection is at the level of ecological justice. Third, we argue that climate change governance should take the microplastics plague into account. Similarly, those dealing with plastic debris have no choice but to take climate change into serious consideration. In the remainder of this chapter we discuss why plastic debris should be a topic of grave concern to the climate change mitigation and adaptation community, and we show why it is a vital issue for environmental governance and ecological justice. We explore similarities between these two mega-issues from policy and justice perspectives, looking especially at human impacts and concerns about shared governance. We examine international legal principles that can be applied to both issues, including common heritage, shared but differentiated responsibilities, and the precautionary principle. Finally, we take a pragmatic look at what can be done to integrate these twin issues as part of wider efforts to achieve effective ocean governance amidst climate change.

The Trump administration has certainly marked a radical departure in some (though not all) of the policy orientations familiar to observers of the U.S.–Canada relationship. An increasingly important question, then, is whether this relationship, on the whole cordial if viewed from within the limited prism of government-to-government relations, will become increasingly strained as climate change takes a greater physical, financial, and emotional toll on the continent. Is the unique relationship as resilient as preceding decades of cooperation and collaboration would suggest, or is its fragility gradually increasing as we become more aware of, and yet proceed to take limited steps to mitigate, the impact of climate change? Looking beyond the currently heated Ottawa–Washington dynamic, most of the policy collaboration shared by the two countries has been taking shape at the subnational level, especially in fields related to biodiversity conservation, migratory species, resource sharing, water management, and other areas. Even these relationships will be tested by the waters to come.

In September 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda, a transformative plan of action for people, planet, and prosperity containing seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. To inform and animate the negotiations, the UN launched an ambitious series of consultations, involving inter alia governments, civil society, business, knowledge-based institutions, and citizens. This article contributes to the debate on democracy and global governance, drawing on democratic theory and the lessons of the elite donor-driven process that led to the Millennium Development Goals. It argues that, in the age of globalization, citizen participation is vital for the effectiveness and legitimacy of global governance. It then assesses the nature and extent of such participation in three UN 2030 Agenda consultation channels: the High-Level Panel, the national consultations, and the MY World citizen survey. The latter, in particular, exceeded the expectations of stakeholder democracy and ventured into a more direct parti...

This special issue represents an assessment of international organizations and transboundary networks governing natural resource and biodiversity issues in and among Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The management of natural resources and protection of biodiversity is a highly technocratic process requiring collaboration and information sharing among a diversity of actors to facilitate the development and coordination of policy addressing complex and multisectoral issues. Numerous bilateral and trilateral organizations exist to ostensibly facilitate transboundary governance, yet the scholarly knowledge of their respective roles has many gaps. In this introductory article, we propose a typology of international environmental organizations based on two dimensions: (1) whether their activities center primarily on capacity building or regulation, and (2) the extent to which they exemplify the “bureaucratic” or “post-bureaucratic” model of governance. Using this typology we provide an overview of the special issue's contributions in terms of their assessment of North American bilateral and trilateral environmental organizations and transboundary networks.

Stoett begins with an overview of some of the major threats to marine ecology, particularly to oceans and coasts, in the North American context. His contribution introduces different key policy questions that observers and analysts should strive to answer as North America moves forward. He states that an awareness of how decisions are made and implemented is a key element in any case study related to oceans policy before any bilateral or trilateral policy collaboration, convergence, or divergence can take place. He goes on to make specific questions about how policy is developed and whether the policy is science-driven or politically (or, even, ideologically) determined. Stoett concludes his contribution exploring some nascent areas of trilateral cooperation.

The first decade and a half of the 21st century has not been kind to Canada's reputation in the realm of international relations. This is the result of policy decisions that have alienated the country, as exemplified by the country's policy-making in two domains in which Canada had previously earned respect as a global leader hitting above its weight: international environmental protection and international justice. In this commentary, we argue that Canada's foreign policy in these two areas derive from a common reactive and dogmatic policy-making which is, despite its name, actually aimed at appeasing domestic audiences.

This article introduces the complexities of framing the policy debate over invasive alien species or, more generally, bioinvasion. It suggests that there are six principal framing conceptualizations that have emerged or are gaining steam and credence: biodiversity and conservation; climate change and globalization; human security; “natural national security”; market failure; and the commons and global governance. Although the biodiversity approach dominates the international discourse at present, it presents a partial and hence distorting picture. Over time, as the problem of bioinvasion compounds, the inadequacy of the biodiversity frame will become generally apparent and so the other framings will gain in currency. Ultimately, bioinvasion must be viewed as a policy challenge for global environmental governance and justice. The author concludes by raising the limited possibility of developing an International Convention on Invasive Alien Species.

1Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Concordia University, Montreal. The author is grateful to the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada for related funding. An earlier version of this paper was presented to the International Studies Association Annual Meeting of 2003 in Portland, Oregon.

This article focuses on the increasing array of intergovernmental and non‐governmental organizations with specific or linked mandates related to migration issues. The United Nations (UN), and in particular the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), has gone some way toward making migration a priority issue‐area. However, with the very notable exception of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) — which is mandated to assist exclusively involuntary migrants — important players such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and related nongovernmental organizations exist outside the formal UN framework. This article asks whether, in this age of globalization, the old order of migration policy; which centred on the promotional and prohibitory role played by governments, is being surpassed by a new order in which governments are increasingly unable to control mass migration in a unilateral fashion. Is it time that international organizations play the...

(1995). The international whaling commission: From traditional concerns to an expanding agenda. Environmental Politics: Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 130-135.

One of the more sustained calls for United Nations (UN) reform is for changing the structure of the Security Council, currently composed of 10 non‐permanent, rotating members and five permanent members (China, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia). This article explores several perspectives on possible Security Council reforms, including what the author terms the Great Power Model, the Regional Model, and the Functional‐Incentive Model. The article argues that all of these models present far more problems than they solve, and that the United Nations has much to offer despite a necessarily flawed Security Council.

Third World Cities: Problems, Policies, and Prospects edited by John Kasarda and Allan Parnell. London: Sage Publications, 1993. Pp. xvii + 310; index. £37.50 (hardback); £19.50 (paperback). ISBN 0 8039 4484 5 and 0 8039 4485 3 Environmental Problems in Third World Cities by Jorge Hardoy, Diana Mitlin, and David Satterthwaite. London: Earthscan, 1992. Pp. 302. £11.95. ISBN 1 85383 146 8

Whether viewed from the perspective of humanitarian internationalism or national self‐interest, large and sudden population movements induced by severe environmental catastrophes promise to become major foreign policy issues. This article argues that there are both conceptual and legal problems with the fashionable but potentially misleading label of “environmental refugees.” It argues instead for the more neutral term “ecopolitical displacees” as a first step towards effectively conceptualizing, addressing, and responding to this emerging North‐South issue.

The history of international efforts to regulate the whaling industry has been characterised by uncertainty and conflict as well as co‐operation. Before the passing of a moratorium on commercial whaling in the 1980s, attempts at catch regulation failed as the short‐term interests of the whaling industry prevailed. With the advent of green politics, however, a gradual but steady normative transition took place as the International Whaling Commission (IWC) increased in size and shifted in function. This shift provides a fascinating study in the regime dynamics of international organisation, and comments on human‐nature relations as well. However, the present state of the regime is troubling for whale preservationists as whaling states remain intent on a return to commercial whaling; Norway will begin small‐scale whaling in 1993; Iceland has withdrawn from the IWC, and the biggest problem facing whales ‐ habitat destruction ‐ is yet to be addressed in a meaningful way. Yet, the symbolic power of the whale ma...

Introduction: Security in Between / Michael A. Innes. NATO, the Balkan Crises, and European Security and Defense Identity / Thomas Mowle. Power-Sharing or Partition? History's Lessons for Keeping the Peace in Bosnia / Alan J. Kuperman. Democratic Ends, (un)Democratic Means? Reflections on Democratisation in Brcko and Bosnia-Herzegovina / Valery Perry. The Clandestine Political Economy of War and Peace in Bosnia / Peter Andreas. The North African Mujahideen Network of the Balkan Peninsula / Evan. F. Kohlmann. Environmental Security in Post-Dayton Bosnia-Herzegovina / Peter Stoett. A Dog That No Longer Bites? Media and Security After Dayton / Adam Jones. Overcoming the Failings of Dayton: Defense Reform in Bosnia-Herzegovina / Tobias Pietz. The Limits of Post-Conflict Police Reform / Timothy Donais. Crossing Boundaries: State Border Services and the Multidimensional Nature of Security / Alice Hills

It is fitting to begin with an admission that this chapter suffers from a multiple purpose disorder. It is intended firstly to comment upon the preceding chapter written by Lawrence Surendra, which is an excellent survey of the current state of resistance to industrialization in contemporary Asia (and is in itself an update of an essay presented to a seminar entitled ‘Asia in the 1990s: Making and Meeting a New World’). Not surprisingly, Surendra applies his broad knowledge of Asian issues and politics with his usual depth for the particular to produce an engaging and challenging essay.

There is growing recognition that the post-Cold War era demands new conceptions of global and human security. In this highly readable account of international security issues, Peter Stoett begins by disussing four principal security threats: state violence, environmental degradation, population displacement, and globalization. Employing a minimalist-maximalist framework - the minimalist interpretation applies to conventional and restricted legal definitions of a term, while the maximalist interpretation refers to broader conceptions of problems, often global in effect - Stoett argues that the acceptance of either perspective has profound conceptual and immediate praxiological implications. While the latter may tend to see security in terms of the state and governance within an international system, it is the former, more specific, interpretation that is suitable for policy analysis. Only varied understandings of the basic terms of global security, Stoett reasons, allow for widespread critical debate among both generalists and specialists. The concluding chapter on globalization, with its attendant implications for the environment and population displacement, situates human and global security within the larger context of the historical process of expansionism. Human and Global Security provides a sophisticated, yet eminently readable account of contemporary security issues set against a backdrop of international relations theory. Its approach will appeal to a general audience as well as students and scholars.