Socioecology Research Today

Stratospheric ozone loss is on course to become a solved environmental problem, with all significant producing countries (including China and India) undertaking complete phase-outs of ozone-depleting substances. The universal concurrence and speed with which ozone loss has been addressed are sometimes heralded as signs that effective international agreements on other problems of the global commons [...]

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is the largest known remaining anthropogenic threat to the stratospheric ozone layer. However, it is currently only regulated under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol because of its simultaneous ability to warm the climate. The threat N2O poses to the stratospheric ozone layer, coupled with the uncertain future of the international climate regime, motivates [...]

The Minamata Convention on Mercury, named after the Japanese port where people suffered serious health effects from mercury pollution in the 1950s, was agreed by more than 140 countries after week-long talks in Geneva leading up to all-night negotiations on Saturday (19 January). Nations agree first global treaty to ban mercury emissions – SciDev.Net

Just a decade ago, ‘adaptation’ was something of a dirty word in the climate arena — an insinuation that nations could continue with business as usual and deal with the mess later. But greenhouse-gas emissions are increasing at an unprecedented rate and countries have failed to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol climate treaty. [...]

No multilateral environmental agreement (MEA) has so far been concluded with a view to addressing the problem of ocean acidification. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is considered by many as being capable of addressing ocean acidification as it regulates carbon dioxide emissions – the root cause of the problem. In this [...]

In the spring of 2006, Tibetans in China set fire to more than a million dollars worth of otter, leopard and tiger pelts. The numerous bonfires were a response to the 14th Dalai Lama’s statement, made at the Kalachakra Initiation Ceremony in India, that Tibetans should cease wearing such pelts. The Chinese state interpreted this [...]

How does uncertainty about “dangerous” climate change affect the prospects for international cooperation? Climate negotiations usually are depicted as a prisoners’ dilemma game; collectively, countries are better off reducing their emissions, but self-interest impels them to keep on emitting. We provide experimental evidence, grounded in an analytical framework, showing that the fear of crossing a [...]

Founded in response to the 1973 oil shock, the International Energy Agency (IEA) is arguably still the most important multilateral organization for energy-importing countries. Yet, the global geopolitical landscape has changed considerably since the IEA’s creation. The rise of new energy consumers, new energy-related challenges and new international energy forums prompt a rethink of the [...]

Here we explore the global governance challenge posed by planetary boundaries interactions by focusing on the role of polycentric systems and order, a theoretical field that has gained much interest in the aftermath of claims of a stagnant UN-process. In the first part we work toward a clarification of polycentric order in an international context, [...]

At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference in Cancun, in November 2010, the Heads of State reached an agreement on the aim of limiting the global temperature rise to 2 °C relative to preindustrial levels. They recognized that long-term future warming is primarily constrained by cumulative anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, that deep cuts [...]