HELPFUL HINTS FOR COUNTRY ASSIGNMENTS

 

 

COUNTRY REPORT: Your report should include basic information about the history, geography, demographics, political and cultural context of the country. This report should be in narrative form and should focus on environmental conditions, primary actors, major challenges and strategies taken for addressing environmental problems. More specifically, your report should have a section on approaches to climate change, its perspective on climate change, what steps have been taken toward addressing these problems, etc.

 

Possible Questions to ask in Developing your Report:

 

1. Briefly describe the political, economic, and demographic history of your country within the past 50 years. Include the country’s current population and rate of increase or decrease.
2. What are your country's most important economic assets at the present time? What are its most pressing environmental problems?
3. What portion of your country's gross national product is spent on its military? For debt service? For education? For environmental protection? Provide a pie chart showing all major expenditures.
4. Are any multi-national corporations engaged in economic activities within your country? Which? Doing what? Briefly describe one or more examples having major environmental impact(s).
5. Are any nongovernmental environmental organizations engaged in environmental protection activities within your country? Which? Doing what? Major example(s)?
6. What are the three most important international conventions or agreements pertaining to environmental issues to which your country is a party? Why?
7. Has your country declined to become a party to any major international conventions or agreements pertaining to environmental issues? Which? Why? Major example(s)?
8. Identify your sources for this assignment, using a standard citations format.

 

Revised Paper should address:

1. What is your country's ecological footprint? relative to other countries in region, world?

2. How does your country's background link to environmental problems?

3. What mechanisms constrain or restrict (economic, social development, history, etc) addressing environmental problems in your country? subscribe to sustainable development?

4. How does this connect with the environmental agreements signed at the international level? Particularly, climate change related agreements.

5. What have government officials saying about the environment (e.g. Kyoto), what is there official policy and rationale on signing/not signing?

6. What is/has the impact of signing environmental agreements? Domestically and internationally? Are they a major player on the environment at the international level?

7. Conclusion: what do you think are the primary environmental problems facing your country and how can international environmental law help address them?

 

 

 

Websites with Country-Specific Environmental Profiles (to get you started):

 

Pop Planet: http://popplanet.org/PopPlanet/countries.cfm;

UNEP: http://www.unep.net/ (pick from drop menu);

Tiempo Climate News: http://www.tiempocyberclimate.org/newswatch/searchnation.htm;

Earthtrends: http://earthtrends.wri.org/country_profiles/index.cfm?theme=3

CIA Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/

Nationmaster, Ecological Footprints, by nation

Earth Charter Initiative: http://www.earthcharter.org/country/

 

 

 

FINAL PAPER:  In addition to your country report, the paper should contain two additional sections. First, write your own Legal Environmental Accord to address Climate Change from the perspective of your country used in the case study (2-3 pages). You can use any of the Accords we examined in class as an outline or template for your design. In the second part, analyze the strengths and deficiencies of your accord, and what structural/legal changes do you envision as necessary to adequately address climate change (3-4 pages) from your country’s perspective. You should bring in readings from class with their proper citations. So, your final paper should be 8-12 pages, inclusive of the initial country report.

 

 

Hints for Protocol and Analysis (you don't have to address all of these issues, they're just to help you get ideas and structure your projects):

 

Probably Need to Include/Address Some Form of the Following:

* Structurally, you may want to have a "key terms" section at the beginning (like in many of the protocols) and a "core assumption" section, followed by your "principles" or "articles" section and "implementation" and/or "commitments". It's up to you, just suggestions.

* You need to start with some basic philosophy on how you want to deal with sustainable development; that is, how do you frame the tension between the environment and development (this is true regardless of GN or GS). Identify your main concern: equity, development, environmental protection, or cultural respect? Are these areas (economy, environment, social) separate or interconnected? To what degree?

* Building on #2, On some level, you will have to group countries or distinguish them into categories; you may want to assess different standards, timetables, etc for each category. Thus you will most likely have to establish basic guidelines for all countries. Annex 1 countries are based on GDP or total carbon emissions, and are required to do x, y, z; Annex 2 countries, etc. Within this framework you can place your country and its commitments.

* How do you address the fundamental drivers of environmental degradation (recall the 1st class)? Affluence, Glob Pop growth, etc? Here, you will want to do this in light of your own country's needs. What the role of technology (non renewables)?

 

May Want to Consider:

* Conceptually, what is the best way to implement SD—through global or local frameworks? Does your framework engender neocolonialism? Role of national debt?

* How do you create equity in the system? Tech transfers, debt relief, etc. Remember the importance of issue linkage (i.e. trade and environment, debt relief for emissions credits, etc).

* Relatedly, how do you provide an individual with legal/political standing in the global system? Critical Q. Are you just talking about states and policies or individuals and communities? Does an individual have a "carbon limit" or just states? MNCs?

* Identify the Gen Principles of IEL that you'll use to base your protocol on (e.g. Rio Principle 2 on TB harm, Polluter Pays, CDR, etc)

* How are you going to pay for Environ Protection? Why would countries agree to pay for EP in another country? Incentive structure?

* Are you going to differentiate between causes and effects of climate change? Kyoto only deals with causes, are you going to address the effects (say for the Inuit or Small Island Nations)? With causes, are you differentiating between production and consumption based carbon?

* Role of continuing research and education?

* You'll have to go through the type of commitments your country will be willing to make: hybrid, indexed, fixed, etc. This should help you in establishing categories and commitments for each country.

* How will your Protocol's principles be implemented? Self-reporting? Global Organization? Local compliance?

* How can you build in mechanisms for noncompliance--big issue, because major powers may not sign on if too great? Sanctions through what?

* Pay attention to your use of language: are you requiring something as in "shall" do something, or are you making it flexible as in "may" or normative as in "should".

* What's role of state responsibility, intentional liability and civil liability?

* Do you need to reign in MNCs? What's their role in your protocol?

* Consider the major players (regardless of your country) in developing the agreement: China, US, EU and maybe India.

* Make sure you identify the role of nonstate actors in the system, implementation, and compliance (state v. nonstate actors).

* Be mindful of why treaties are ineffective or their weaknesses (recall our lecture #4)

 

Probably Need to Include in the ANALYSIS:

* In the analysis, you want to note the tensions that exist in your treaty (e.g. nation-state v. global community; environment v. development; local v. global, etc). Here, you want to draw out those tensions and analyze them, particularly why you drew the "line" where you did? Why was that important for your country, and why would other comply?

* In your analysis, you should at least implicitly address the role of the individual and increasing environmental awareness (in developed and underdeveloped countries)

* You should draw on the readings from the quarter to help analyze your protocol--look at some of the shorter articles assigned for particular topics.

* Use citations from readings, web sources, and previous protocols.