Environment, Security and UN Reform

193 Pages·1994·8.914 MB·English

by  Mark F. Imber

Environment, Security
and UN Reform
Mark F. Imber
ENVIRONMENT, SECURITY AND UN REFORM
AlsobyMarkF. Imber
THEUSA, ILO, UNESCO ANDIAEA
Environment, Security
and UN Reform
Mark F. Imber
LecturerinInternationalRelations
UniversityofStAndrews
M
St. Martin's Press
©MarkF.Imber1994
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Imber,Mark.
Environment,security,andUNrefonn/MarkF.Imber.
p. em.
Includesindex.
ISBN0-312-12168-7(cloth).- ISBN0-312-12169-5(paPer)
1.Environmentaldegradation-Developingcountries.
2.Environmentalresponsibility-Developingcountries.
3.Environmentalpolicy-Developingcountries. 4.UnitedNations
EnvironmentProgramme. I.Title.
GEI60.D44I43 1994
363.7'009172'4-dc20 9~5974
CIP
To A. J. R. Groom and John Simps.on,
whose enthusiasm and excellent teaching most
encouraged me to study international organisations
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
ListofTables viii
Preface ix
Acknowledgements Xl
TwoHiroshimasEveryWeek
2 Debt,PovertyandEnvironment 27
3 TheGlobalCommons 48
4 TheUNEPRole 67
5 TwoCheersforRio, 1992 84
6 BeyondUNCED: Revenues andReforms 114
.Appendix1 TheStockholmPrinciples(1972) 146
Appendix2 GeneralAssemblyResolution43/196 150
Appendix3 RioDeclarationonEnvironmentandDevelopment 154
~Totes 158
Bibliography 170
lndex 175
vii
List of Tables
1.1 Attitudestosecurity 11
1.2 Theenvironmentalwager 20
1.3 Achievingenvironmentalconsensus 21
1.4 Time/distancepriorities 22
2.1 Deforestationandpopulationcomparisons, 1989 33
2.2 AverageannualratesofGDPgrowth 36
2.3 Averageannual growthofGDPpercapita 37
2.4 Percentageofmajorimportsfacing non-tariffbarriers,
1965-86 39
2.5 Secondarymarketpriceofface valueofloans 46
3.1 AreaofEEZs 57
3.2 Thegrowthofthecommonheritageofmankind 65
4.1 Leadingcontributionsto theUNEnvironmentFund 77
4.2 TheUNEPbudget 78
5.1 ThecontentsofAgenda21 103
6.1 MajoroutstandingcontributionstotheUNbudget 119
6.2 StatusofUS contributionstotheUNsystem 121
6.3 US funding formultilateralprogrammes 122
6.4 US funding ofUNenvironmentalactivities 123
6.5 Countriesdispersingequaltoormorethan0.7percent
targetduringthe 1980s 124
6.6 Countriestransferringless than0.7percentofGNP
targetduringthe 1980s 125
6.7 TheeighteencountriesofOECDIDAC,GNPand
ODAcompared 125
6.8 Defenceexpendituresat 1985prices 136
6.9 AproposalforanEconomicSecurityCouncil 142
6.10 Nationalsecurityandenvironmentalsecurity 143
viii
Preface
Why another book on environmental diplomacy? The issue of environ
mental security has been addressed very well in many places, by Arthur
Westing,CarolineThomas,IanRowlands,DanielDeudneyandothers.The
linkage between environmental degradation and the burdens of Third
World debt has also been addressed, by Morris Miller, Susan George and
others.Proposalsfortheprotectionoftheglobalcommonshavebeenadvo
catedsince the 1980s byWilliBrandtand Gro HarlemBrundtlandin their
world-famous reports, and by Barry Buzan, Steven Krasner and John
Vogler, in the academic literature. I am not, however, aware of a single
study which attempts to synthesise this triple dilemma, within the analy
ticalframeworkofinternationalrelationsandfurthermore, linkedexplicitly
totheagendaofUNreform.
In 1989IconcludedastudyofthetroubledrelationsbetweentheUS and
the specialised agencies with the observation that the environmental
agendawouldprovethetoughesttestoftheUNsystem'sabilitytorecover
from a decade ofalleged politicisation and the American-led response of
budgetaryausterityandpartialboycott.Thisstudy,althoughstandingalone
as aninvestigationofenvironmentalandsecurityissues,represents, forthe
author, asecondstagein thestudyoftheUNsystem, linkedby aconcern,
common to both studies, to investigate the limits ofthe possible in what
David Mitrany called 'the progress of international government'. As a
rationalist and agnostic in world ofpassionate fundamentalists, the func
tionalistis bornto bedisappointed. However, intheworldofstates, 'bind
ingtogetherthoseinterestwhicharecommon,wheretheyarecommonand
totheextentthatthey arecommon'is, alas, theonlywayforward.
Inasensethisbookwaswrittenbackwards:eachchapterinitiallychosen
as thepointofintroduction needed explaining by one that logically had to
precede it. From a nuts-and-bolts investigation of the mandate and per
formance of the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, com
missioned by theESRC inAugust 1990,itemergedthatUNEPcouldonly
be explained ifprefaced by discussion ofmore fundamental questions of
the context in which the post-Stockholm development ofthe international
environmentalregulation hadbeenconducted.
In trying to understand the causes of diplomatic inertia, intransigence
and the persistently egotistical behaviour- of states caught in the two
'prisoner's dilemmas' of environmental security and military security, I
was repeatedly impressed by thecentralityoffinancial arrangements as an
ix