The U.S. and Global Environmental Governance: From Laggard to Leader?
After organizing a major international conference in Switzerland this past summer on global environmental governance, Wilson Center Fellow Maria Ivanova is exploring the U.S. role in environmental affairs. She says U.S. leadership is needed to inspire collective action on global environmental concerns.
Wilson Center Fellow Maria Ivanova arrived at the Center in June, just before the start of her nine-month fellowship, to organize the Global Environmental Governance Forum in Glion, Switzerland. Spearheaded by the Global Environmental Governance [GEG] Project, which Ivanova leads, this four-day conference brought together several generations of environmental leaders, including all former and current directors of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as well as leaders of other international organizations, NGOs and governments from around the world. The Forum also tapped into a broad pool of young talent in the field of environmental governance and management.
"What was remarkable was that the men and women who have been with the environmental movement for 30 to 40 years have not given up at all," Ivanova said. "They are more visionary and forward-looking than any of us could imagine." And this vision, she said, is inspiring young people. "We need leadership at all levels and we rely on the inspiration and imagination of the younger generation."
Ivanova, who teaches government and environmental policy at the College of William and Mary, said the GEG Forum sought to invigorate a new generation of environmental leaders, many of whom have grown disenchanted with the lack of progress, and to generate political momentum for action.
Building on the enthusiasm at the Forum, the GEG Project, a joint initiative of the College of William and Mary and the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, is producing publications, videos, and training courses as well as oral histories of the movement's founding architects, several of whom are in their 80s.
Over the next nine months, Ivanova will focus on the role of the United States in global environmental governance. She seeks to answer a simple question: Why was the United States a leader in international environmental affairs in the 1970s and 80s, a laggard in the 90s, and an active obstacle in the last decade? Furthermore, is the international system not functioning because the United States has been obstructive, or is the United States disengaging because the system is not delivering?
Ivanova's research will include how and why global environmental institutions were created, how they can better foster collective action on environmental concerns, and how the United States could contribute to the global efforts of fighting climate change and other environmental problems. On climate change, for example, international institutions are essential. "No country by itself can tackle climate change and concerted collective action is critical," Ivanova said.
Advancing global environmental cooperation will require new approaches and visionary leadership. Resources, knowledge, and political attention to the environment have been fragmented. And the environment has been pitted against development creating a false dichotomy and misaligned priorities.
"We must understand the environment is the foundation of the economy and of our survival as a species and value it as such," Ivanova emphasized. "That will lead to different policy choices." Ultimately, Ivanova underscored, "what is necessary is a new ethic of global citizenship."
