Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
energy policy that involves investment and support
for renewable energy initiatives, the UK has
developed an energy strategy that seeks to support
a range of economic interests in different ways.
The strategic balance forged within the UK energy
white paper concerns more than merely economic
interest. It also reflects a broader compromise
between competing environmental priorities.
Consequently, while nuclear power provides
perhaps the most commercially viable approach
to meeting increasing energy demands, and at
the same time reducing the UK's production of
greenhouse gases and supporting other renewable
energy sources serves to off-set some of the envir-
onmental concerns that surround the transporta-
tion and storage of nuclear waste.
Although theories of anarchism, eco-
authoritarianism and neo-Marxism are by no
means the only ways in which we can understand
the connections that exist between states and
the environment (for a broader overview see
Whitehead et al, 2007), they do provide us with a
helpful set of frameworks for interpreting why
states act in certain ways when it comes to
environmental affairs. The remainder of this
chapter deploys these ideas of state-environment
Box 7.3 Beyond the state: the rise of international systems of
government
While nation states continue to be prominent actors in the regulation of human environmental
relations in the Anthropocene, it is important to acknowledge that environmental government
capacity is increasingly being developed at international levels. In the context of the forms of large-
scale environmental issues that cross national state boundaries (such as climate change, ozone
depletion, acid rain, interalia), it has become increasingly apparent that multilateral action is required
to effectively tackle these problems. Coordinated action on the environment can be traced back to
1972 and the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. This conference was followed
by the establishment of the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which sought to eradicate the emission
of CFCs (see
Chapter 3 t
his volume). In 1992 the international community came together in Rio de
Janeiro for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. This conference was
responsible for establishing a wide range of international agreements relating to climate change,
biodiversity and forest conservation.
Notwithstanding the significant number of systems that now exist for governing environments
at an international scale, it has proved difficult to coordinate international action on global
environmental problems. Particular tensions have emerged within climate change negotiations
between certain more economically developed countries, who are keen to address the threat of a
changing climate, and emerging economies (such as China, India and Brazil) that are concerned about
the impact that such policies could have on their economic development. It has also proved difficult
to effectively enforce international environmental agreements (such as those regulating the whaling
industry) when powerful states (such as Japan) openly contest them.
Key readings
Andresen, S. et al (eds) (2000) Science and Politics in International Environmental Regimes, Manchester
University Press, Manchester
Whitehead, M. (2006) Spaces of Sustainability: Geographical Perspectives on the Sustainable Society,
Routledge, Abingdon
