This paper will be divided in three parts, beginning with a brief background on the global warming agenda and tackle the issues surrounding the Kyoto Protocol. The second part will look at climate change and the protocol from the respective lenses of realism and liberalism. I will argue that while none of the theories precisely covers the entirety of the issue, each provides helpful analysis falls short of clarifying the entire climate change picture. Can states cooperate effectively through the structure of the Kyoto protocol to solve an international problem of global warming?” I. Global Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol
The study of the effects on global warming is nothing new, however, the climate change agenda has only in
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[15] President George W. Bush has not made any effort since that time to revive the
Climate change is not a new concept. It has been mostly referred to as global warming in the past. As much as people would like to file this issue away as something to deal with at a later date, it simply cannot wait. This problem we face is costing us billions of dollars, forests and wildlife are being eliminated, and people are dying. Starting to sound like a big deal, right? Future generations will be affected the most. People who do not even exist will have to pay for what we, all people, have done to this earth. To begin to make changes, one must realize the severity of the issue. Bill Mckibben, author of “Recalculating the Climate Math,” conveys that “We’ve already raised the world’s temperature by one degree—enough to melt almost half the ice in the Arctic, kill off huge swaths of the world’s coral, and unleash lethal floods and drought. July and August tied for the hottest months ever recorded on our planet, and scientists think they were almost certainly the hottest in the history of human civilization” (Page 3 of 5). Global climate change is a serious problem because it increases natural disasters and is the cause of extreme weather.
The UNFCCC is working with the various governments around the world to stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere to keep the planet from warming more than 2ºC above pre-industrial temperatures (Watts, 2015). The most noted of the work is the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings that began with COP1 in Berlin back in 1995. The COP3 adopted the Kyoto Protocol, even though it wasn’t fully accepted by all member nations. The COP21 was an effort to legally bind members to their submitted plans of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), defining what level of greenhouse gas production each nation would commit to not exceeding from 2025-2030. Prior to the INDCs, a bleak outlook was forecast in 2009-2010 of global temperature rising between 4-5ºC. That figure was restated by the UNFCCC prior to the COP21 in Paris, to below 3ºC, due to the commitments of the INDCs (Watts, 2015).
Since the beginning of International Relations and foreign policy, especially in the United States, environmental issues have not been its top priority. this problem has gained much momentum sense the environmental movements of the sixties and the passing of landmark pieces of policy. From domestic policy decisions of the Clean Air and Water Acts to the international ban on CFC’s, environmental policy has showed a degree of promise and precedence. Many critics of past and current mitigation efforts have pointed out that our current efforts are much too slow and International Protocols and not lived up to their projections. In order for climate policy to be successful it must appertain to three distinct criteria; It must be adopted broadly, have the ability to stay in place indefinitely, and it needs to have incentives to reduce emissions that make it beneficial for firms and the public sector to invest (McKibbin 2006, 9). According to some it will be motivation, not feasibility as to the deciding factor of whether or not we are successful in mitigating and adapting to climate change (Jamieson 2013, 466).
In order to even attempt to explain the interactions of states in the global interstate system we typically have to look towards two words, international relations. International relations also try’s to explain the interactions of others whose actions manifests from one country and then is steered towards people of another country. While each state is exploited as ‘sovereign’, specified international groups and organizations are needed as state and non-state actors. These actors include the United Nations (UN), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and Amnesty International. International Relations involve the study of foreign policy, negotiation, war, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, international conflict, trade, and economics. Each of those foreign affairs essentially makes up the relation between countries. A very important issue going on in international relations today is global warming and climate change. Unfortunately this matter receives very little attention. The reason it is so serious, is it could eventually destroy our world, as we know it today. Global warming is already having severe effects on communities, health, and climate. Our sea levels are rising; heat waves are more frequent, wild fires are growing, were experiencing severe droughts, and also increased storms.
conservatives caricature liberal ideas in highly misleading ways”(Manza, 2010, p. 478). Liberals believe, and it has always been my opinion, that states can come together to overcome problems that, will eventually, affect everyone (Goldstien, 2005, p.55). A realist would say that this is a key weakness of liberalism, envisaging utopia, when we should be focused on how the world really is (Goldstien, 2005, p.55). In response I would hold my optimistic/ idealistic head high and wave the current news headlines in front of them; “World leaders make history with climate deal in Paris (Al Jazeera and AFP)”. Jeremy Bentham, one of liberalisms key thinkers, argued that creating an international law, in this case a climate change treaty, that pushed aside self-interest and made sacrifices on behalf of the state would make way for a universal ideal, resulting in the most possible happiness of all nations as one (Sutch, Elias, Juanita, 2007, p. 67). On the 12th of December, in the French capital, leaders from 195 nations came together to sign an unparalleled agreement on climate change, a legally binding deal to limit carbon emissions (Al Jezeera, 2015). This is an example of Bentham’s ideals and Liberalism’s core values, the presence of a real harmony and homogenization of
Climate change is the most significant, most revisited, most controversial, most discussed climate issue in modern history. Global warming serves as a glaring demerit on the lengthy list of accomplishments of mankind: a reminder that progress coupled with reckless abandon never has a good outcome. Though its presence in the national spotlight is a recent phenomenon, the early stages of global warming were detected centuries ago.
The main claim of Pamela Chaseks’s presentation was that through government and industry climate change can be stopped. Chasek discusses several instances when governments united regarding climate change as well as how these governments have impacted climate change, if at all. For example,a successful negotiation was Lima 2014, the United States and China agreed to reduce emissions; however, at the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009 developed countries made an agreement that left developing countries out of the loop. This caused smaller states weary of states who hold more power. This displays that government cooperation and communication is needed to successfully execute the issue of climate change. Without concise agreements and negotiations
As stated in the previous section, climate change is not necessarily a new issue. However it’s been receiving the spotlight lately, as it should. The issue of the “Greenhouse Effect” has been around as early as 1820’s when scientist Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier theorized that the Earth should be colder than it is. His main idea was that the Earth technically had a blanket around it, trapping in heat and keeping us as warm as we are.
The climate change impacts of greenhouse gases threaten the economic development and environmental quality. These threats indicate that all nations regardless their economic growth should work collaboratively to reduce the emission to a certain level. Hare et al. (2011) argued that “climate change is a collective action problem” thus requires a global coordination from all countries. This indicates that actions from several countries would never be sufficient to address the climate change problem. If a global target to limit warming to 2°C or below is about to achieve (UNFCCC 2010, p.4) a broad range of participation is required (Hare et al., 2011). However, the increasing complexity of negotiation processes is inevitable. Each country will pursue its own interests during the
“The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the premise that (a)
According to an article focused on environmental awareness, “the world’s average surface temperature rose by approximately 1 degree Fahrenheit, the fastest rate in any period over the last 1000 years” (Source A). Damage has already been done to the environment but it is not the time to throw our hands up, it is the time for leaders in all sectors to tackle this issue head on. We know that carbon dioxide is the culprit, so now it is imperative to implement the solution and take a hard look at who is producing the most greenhouse gases. Big changes need to take place but they can only be done in steps and not all at once to be effective. In an excerpt from a book about global warming, Mark Maslin brings up the point that many feel the Kyoto Protocol does not go far enough; scientists believe that a 60% cut of greenhouse gas emissions is necessary in order to “prevent major climate change” (Source E). A sixty percent cut of emissions should be what countries work up to achieving but first and foremost, every country needs to agree to the Kyoto Protocol guidelines. The Kyoto Protocol itself should not be viewed as the end in the discussion of greenhouse gas restrictions, but rather the first stepping stone to a much broader and effective
This is just an explanation of how Global Warming is becoming about. Scientist are proving and discovering new ways to detect and analyze Global Warming and the effects.
On December 12 of 2015, 195 countries made history by committing to the first truly global international climate change agreement (Paris Agreement, 2015). This agreement took place in Paris and was adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The outcome of the Paris Conference on Climate Change was described as “revolutionary” (Venezuela) “marvelous act” (China) and as “a tremendous collective achievement” (European Union) that introduced a “new era of global climate governance” (Egypt) while “restoring the global community’s faith of accomplishing things multilaterally” (USA) (Paris Agreement, 2015).
Global warming is the increase in temperature of Earth’s atmosphere, and the Kyoto Treaty was made to reduce greenhouse gases, and have the climate that all living things have come to rely upon, back on track. After decades of ongoing research and debate, scientists have not been able to figure out what causes global warming. The only conclusion that has been made is the fact that greenhouse gases emitted by humans have led to deadly consequences. Thus, 189 United Nations member states have signed an agreement aimed at combating global warming. However, some countries have not ratified the treaty, leading to political dispute over global warming.
Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement which was announced in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. It is considered as the supplement of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and the main target for the Kyoto protocol is to reduce the emissions of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Nowadays, there are 192 Parties that have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol and the overall emission of these countries accounts for 61% of the total greenhouse gases emission on world. The agreement was designed first to solve the issue on greenhouse gas emission and it is one of the most well-known environmental issue in public and becomes worse and worse through time. Therefore, reducing greenhouse gas emission today is necessary and crucial for the sustainability of the environment. One of the most famous impact of greenhouse gas emission is the sea level increasing. As the tremendous amount of greenhouse gas emissions in 21 century, it leads to the global warming and thus the Earth’s climate has warmed by approximately 0.6 Celsius degree over the past 100 years. Increasing of sea level makes island countries such as Maldives face the problem that the majority of its land area might be underwater by the end of the century( Union of Concerned Scientists,2011).