Environmental governance

Kendall Stiles

Chapter 4 in Understanding Global Governance, 2026, pp 80-98 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Since human understanding of the links between exploitation of natural resources connected to industrialization and the collapse of the ecosystem was poorly understood until the mid-1900s, there was little in the way of global governance on the environment until around 1960. That said, the major powers agreed on their right to extract from nature, which they assumed would be able to supply all humankind's needs indefinitely. As people in wealthy states became concerned about their natural environment, and out of fear that anti-pollution regulations would undermine their competitiveness, governments in the West began to promote global environmental protection according to agreed rules. In Europe, this idea took hold and became one of its top priorities, while in the US, environmental regulation became a political football, with liberals and conservatives reversing each other's policies whenever they came to power.

Keywords: Ecology; Pollution; Climate change; Transboundary pollution; UNEP; UNCED (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035358496
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