Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Biosphere - WBGU

Approaches for positive regulations I 2.3
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under international environmental protection
cooperation, regulations are required according to
which the obligations on participating countries are
proportional to their capacities, in other words the
performance capacity of the political systems and
economies is taken into account.
Since international environmental institutions
often have small secretariats and few capacities, they
have to develop and build up networks with other
international institutions and related programmes,
for instance, with the World Bank, UNDP and various
regional development banks. That sort of interorganizational
coalition and network can be a considerable
help in promoting the performance of
weaker states.And, for instance, the Global Environment
Facility (GEF) functions as a financing mechanism
for the Biodiversity Convention with UNDP,
UNEP and the World Bank as ‘parent organizations’.
Arousing interest (concern building)
In many cases of international environmental protection
the players are certainly motivated to solve environmental
problems. They are often, however, not in
a position to do this alone since there are cross-border
environmental problems and risks that can only
be solved together with other players, this is particularly
true of global biosphere conservation. If however
other players do not share the concern then it
cannot necessarily be expected that international
institutions will be able to introduce effective regulations.
Institutions and states are not then powerless,
however.There are several ways in which the interest
of states can be raised or promoted.
In order to encourage these states to collaborate
on effective international conservation and sustainable
use of the global biosphere, their concerns and
interests must not be ignored, rather they must be
included on the international agenda. This can be
facilitated by open agenda-setting procedures in
international institutions so that states are in a position
to bring their problems up for discussion on the
international agenda and thus lend more weight to
the issues.
Even if stragglers show only limited interest in
solving the global biosphere conservation issue, linking
a number of problems together can enhance that
interest. If the environmental problem is linked to
other concerns or interests then the stragglers usually
rethink their disinclination. This type of approach
promises results if linked to incentives such as financial
assistance, technology transfer or trade restrictions.A
promising approach in this regard is the Biodiversity
Convention: economic incentives are
planned, ie industrialized countries intend to step up
their technology and finance transfers to developing
countries. In exchange, the biodiversity-rich developing
countries agree to increased nature conservation
and species conservation measures (Section I 3). The
Biodiversity Convention thus links the goal of use of
biological diversity with benefit-sharing, so that
developing countries otherwise less interested in
cooperation receive something in return for making
sustainable use of their biological diversity.
Institutions can increase international public pressure
by driving competition among governments to
be stronger advocates for the environment, because
obligations to positive regulations contribute to creating
an international reputation and image gains.
Institutions play a key role in that regard. International
institutions are almost always reserved in their
criticism of governments, NGOs are not subject to
such constraints. So they play an important and
active role by criticizing governments, national policies
and multinational companies. The information
they use for such purposes is often gleaned from
attending formal international meetings.
Research into environmental regimes has shown
that the interest in international environmental policy
among less motivated states and straggling countries
can be aroused and strengthened. An international
network of international institutions, government,
NGOs, mass media and multinational companies
can exert public pressure over the players, but
also raise interest and understanding for positive
regulations. In this context, triggering societal learning
processes within states, governments and multinational
companies is a crucial factor within a global
biosphere policy. These learning processes touch
inner-societal interest configurations and national
regulations that influence one another and so ultimately
an adaptation of behaviour to comply with
the positive regulations does occur.
I 2.3.3
Conclusions for the conservation and use of the
biosphere
Conservation of the global biosphere is a comprehensive
and complex task that can only be sufficiently
and effectively solved if the above-mentioned
conditions of positive regulations are fulfilled, or at
least envisaged as a goal, and the guard rails for the
preservation of the biosphere are respected. In summary
one can state that (Levy et al, 1993) a contractual
environment, flexible handling of compliance,
building national capacities, learning processes and
growing interest parallel to ongoing activities all
influence one another in a reciprocal and synergistic
relationship. Positive regulations relating to the
global biosphere conservation that are intended to
work long-term and effectively require comprehen-