Abstract
The system of international organizations (IOs) that has developed to deal with commons issues, mostly environmental in nature and mostly over the past four decades, is marked by a few central IOs that address the range of commons issues, but at a fairly general level, and a much larger number of small IOs and regimes that address the governance of specific commons issues. This chapter addresses these features of the system, beginning with a discussion of the most central of the IOs, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and continuing with a survey of smaller and more specific environmental IOs and regimes, with a focus on cooperation on addressing climate change. It then looks at the role of science in the system.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barkin, J. Samuel. “The Environment, Trade, and International Organizations.” In International Handbook of Environmental Politics, edited by Peter Dauvergne. London: Edward Elgar, 2005.
Barkin, J. Samuel, and Elizabeth R. DeSombre. Saving Global Fisheries: Reducing Fishing Capacity to Promote Sustainability. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013.
Barkin, J. Samuel, and George Shambaugh, eds. Anarchy and the Environment: The International Relations of Common Pool Resources. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999.
Biermann, Frank, and Steffen Bauer. A World Environmental Organization: Solution or Threat for Effective International Environmental Governance? Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005.
DeSombre, Elizabeth R. Global Environmental Institutions. New York: Routledge, 2006.
DeSombre, Elizabeth R. The Global Environment and World Politics, 2nd ed. London: Continuum, 2007.
Falkner, Robert. “The Paris Agreement and the New Logic of International Climate Politics.” International Affairs 92 (2016): 1107–1125.
IPCC. Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Geneva: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014.
Ivanova, Maria. “Institutional Design and UNEP Reform: Historical Insights on Form, Function, and Financing.” International Affairs 88 (2012): 565–584.
Ivanova, Maria. The Untold Story of the World’s Leading Environmental Institution: UNEP at 50. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2021.
Levy, Marc. “European Acid Rain: The Power of Tote-Board Diplomacy.” In Institutions for the Earth: Sources of Effective International Environmental Protection, edited by Peter M. Haas, Robert O. Keohane and Marc A. Levy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1993.
UNCSD. The Future We Want. Rio de Janeiro: United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, 2012.
World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barkin, J.S. (2023). The Global Commons. In: International Organization. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22559-8_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22559-8_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-22558-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-22559-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)