Originally published on the CGS blog on July 28, 2014.
The United States and the global community currently face a variety of challenges, and it is becoming increasingly clear that no one actor is capable of solving all of our global problems. In particular, issues related to the environment need to be resolved collectively, since many environmental concerns do not respect borders or sovereignty.
These issues range from the preservation of biodiversity to the maintenance of clean watercourses. Many natural resources are labeled as common-pool resources, since single proprietary ownership is not possible and many different groups of people are able to use the same resource simultaneously.1
These resources often face collective action problems due to actors’ inability to work together for a common purpose due to self-interest. Moreover, there are also free-rider issues; it is difficult to force all actors to follow actions beneficial to the group if they can receive benefits without doing so.2 This issue is often conceptualized as the tragedy of the commons, which is defined as “the degradation of the environment to be expected whenever many individuals use a scarce resource in common.”3
However, these results are not inevitable and can be avoided with effective governance strategies. These strategies need to incorporate the wide variety of actors that use the same resources, and in cases of transnational resources (such as trans-boundary river basins), it is important to coordinate actions between state actors.
Additionally, since the type of actors participating in the international system has proliferated beyond states, it is essential to incorporate non-state actors like nongovernmental organizations and multinational corporations. The scales of governance related to these different resources can also vary from local to international, and as a result, connecting these different scales is necessary to maintain effective strategies that hold the different users and uses of a resource accountable.
International regimes can also be useful in resolving issues related to the environment. Krasner defines regimes as “sets of implicit or explicit principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures around which actor expectations converge in a given issue-area of international relations.”4 Regimes can also help promote cooperation, which is needed in order to guarantee effective governance and management strategies.
The United States, as a global leader, has a responsibility to promote good environmental governance.
Within the United States, there are nongovernmental organizations that work to connect local, state, and federal actors. The United States has also entered into partnerships with its neighboring countries, particularly Canada. The International Joint Commission, for instance, is a body dedicated to the management of trans-boundary watercourses shared between Canada and the United States, and works to promote cooperation and limit conflict between the two nations.
Governmental bodies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, also work globally with organizations and other states to promote sustainable development and limit the impact of pollution. However, there is a need for greater cooperation between the United States and other state and non-state actors related to the environment. For instance, the United States should sign international agreements related to limiting carbon emissions in order to legitimize them and demonstrate to the international community our commitment to limiting the effects of climate change.
The United States, along with other international organizations and states, should work with other states (especially developing ones) to help them form effective governance strategies for their common-pool resources. By demonstrating our commitment to environmental issues and helping other states to establish effective governance, the United States will truly become a global leader in the realm of effective environmental governance.
There are a variety of environmental issues that our global community faces. Unilateral action is not enough to solve them, especially the ones that are transnational. Through effective governance and cooperation, we can address these issues, mitigate potential problems in the future, and guarantee that our global habitat is safe for future generations.
1 Elinor Ostrom. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
2 Mancur L. Olson. The Logic of Collective Action. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965).
3 Ostrom, 2.
4 Stephen D. Krasner (Ed.). International Regimes. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983), 2.
