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Environmental Governance in the Anthropocene: Challenges, Approaches and Critical Perspectives

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International Relations in the Anthropocene

Abstract

The Anthropocene is seen as a fundamental challenge and transformative moment for environmental governance. Embedded in Holocene institutions and ideas, the argument goes, existing concepts and practices of environmental governance can no longer be seen as an adequate response to the new reality of the Anthropocene. Rather, environmental governance must be reconsidered as Anthropocene governance. This chapter takes up and discusses these calls for a renewal of environmental governance in the Anthropocene. To this end, four fundamental challenges to environmental governance in the Anthropocene are described. Next, an overview of the various goals and means of Anthropocene governance is provided, and two particularly prominent approaches, "Earth System Governance" and "Ecological Reflexivity," are presented in more detail. Taking a critical perspective, two avenues for advancing the concept of Anthropocene governance are outlined.

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Further Reading

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sustainability Research Group, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Basil Bornemann

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  1. Basil Bornemann
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Correspondence to Basil Bornemann .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Westminster, London, UK

    David Chandler

  2. Department of Social Sciences, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Franziska Müller

  3. Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Delf Rothe

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Bornemann, B. (2021). Environmental Governance in the Anthropocene: Challenges, Approaches and Critical Perspectives. In: Chandler, D., Müller, F., Rothe, D. (eds) International Relations in the Anthropocene. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53014-3_17

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