The Climate Change Convention and Developing Countries: From Conflict to Consensus?

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Springer Science & Business Media, 2013 M03 9 - 249 pages
The climate change problem can only be effectively dealt with if global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be reduced substantially. Since the emission of such gases is closely related to the economic growth of countries, a critical problem to be addressed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) is: how will the permissible emission levels be shared between industrialised (ICs) and developing countries (DCs)? The thesis of this book is that the long-term effectiveness of the FCCC runs the risk of a horizontal negotiation deadlock between countries and the risk of vertical standstill within countries if there is little domestic support for the domestic implementation of measures being announced in international negotiations. The research question is: Can one observe trends towards horizontal deadlock and vertical standstill and if yes, how can the treaty design be improved so as to avoid such potential future bottlenecks? The research focuses on the perspectives of domestic actors on the climate convention and related issues in four developing countries: India, Indonesia, Kenya and Brazil. The following key findings emerge from the research: 1. Handicapped negotiating power: The common theme of the foreign policy of DCs is that ICs are responsible for the bulk of the GHG emissions and need to take appropriate domestic action.

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Contents

The climate change issue
1
1
21
The domestic context Opportunities and risks
46
Foreign policy Between solidarity and fighting inequity
74
GEF The case of power politics
99
Joint Implementation Between hope and angst
116
Policy options and related nondecisions
132
The politics of climate science
150
The science of climate politics
166
Towards enhanced cooperation
179
References
206
List of treaties and other international legal instruments
223
Table of cases UN and other international documents
242
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