Chapter 2
Responding to Global Environmental
Change
Learning Objectives
• Identify selected global responses to
environmental degradation.
• Place Canada within the global context for
environmental response.
• Understand corporate, personal, and educational
aspects of response to environmental challenge
• Describe ways of tracking progress among
nations on environmental matters over time.
Introduction
Ozone helps
shield life on
Earth from the
sun’s harmful
ultraviolet rays.
Montreal Protocol: viewed by many as the most
successful international environmental agreement ever.
• Set targets to phase out ozone depleting CFCs
• Ratified by all UN member states
Why was it so successful?
• High public support for addressing the issue (why?)
• The chemicals (cause and effect) were clearly identified
• Substitute chemicals were readily available (& cost effective!)
• Multiple stakeholders involved in the response:
o international community, national governments,
o private sector,
o research and educational institutions,
o the public.
- How is this different from the climate change context?
- What might Diamond (2005) say from Ch 1?
Global Perspectives
Environmental degradation often transcends political
and national boundaries
Weiss (2011) outlines three distinct periods in the
development of international environmental
agreements
• 1900-1972: focus on local agreements, commercial
species.
• 1972-1992: frameworks for international response
• 1992-present: maturation & linkage
International Environmental Agreements
First period, 1900-1972: “early glimmers” of
global environmental responses
• Limited international environmental principles or
treaties.
• Some localized agreements protected certain species,
often those of commercial value.
• Often implemented in specific locations in the western
hemisphere and Africa
▪ E.g., Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds,
International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling
Second period, 1972-1992: “development of a basic
framework” for global environmental response.
• International treaties
proliferated and the focus of
environmental issues
broadened
• Treaties included more detail
and intruded on national
sovereignty to a greater degree
▪ E.g. CITES, Ramsar
Convention on Wetlands,
Montreal Protocol
But there were issues around
inefficiency and ‘treaty
congestion.”
International Environmental Agreements
Third period, 1992 to today: “maturation and
linkage” of global environmental responses
• Greater attempt to link environmental laws to other
areas of law
• More actors involved
• Refining principles and rules, development of non-
binding agreements [RF-what about binding
agreements?]
• Shift away from establishing new legal documents and
agreements toward ensuring implementation and
compliance
▪ E.g., UN Convention on Biological Diversity
Sustainable Development Goals
At the end of 2015, at least some progress had
been made on many MDG targets (what’s MDG?)
• E.g., extreme poverty reduced by half, access to an
improved drinking water for 2.3 billion people,
and child mortality almost halved
• BUT – the data indicates that environmental
problems are getting decidedly worse
How can human well-being improve while
environmental problems are getting worse?
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
(a tool/method/framework for responding to
environmental challenge and change)
• Focus on improving human well-being AND
highlighting connections to sustainability
• A challenge at the international level is to enact
policies and programs that will see consumption
levels raised in needy countries but reduced in
over-consuming countries, such as Canada
Sustainable Development Goals
• 15-year framework established in 2015
• Follow from the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) that expired in 2015
• Broadened focus on environmental sustainability, …
• Seven goals explicitly
highlighting
connections
between well-being
and the environment
(which ones?
© [Oxford University Press or author name], 2019 13
National Perspectives
Most Canadians
are unaware of
global challenges
due to our
abundant resources
and high living
standards.
National Perspectives, cont’d
On paper, Canada has impressive legislation, policies,
strategies, and plans regarding the environment.
• However, their translation into “on-the-ground”
improvements is often chronically under-resourced.
Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), 1999
• Primary legislative framework for protecting the
environment (focuses on preventing pollution).
• To be reviewed every 5 years, but the first review took
place 17 years later, in 2016
National Perspectives
A review of CEPA resulted in recommendations:
• Should recognize the right of every person in Canada to a
healthy environment (already recognized in over 100
countries, not in Canada (why would there be reluctance to
formally recognize this right?)
• Need national drinking water and air quality standards
• Put onus on industry to prove substances are safe before
being approved for sale
• Need to examine cumulative impact of noxious
substances.
Jurisdictional Arrangements in Canada
Responsibility for natural resources & environment
divided between the federal & provincial
governments, territorial and municipal
governments.
• Indigenous peoples increasingly having a role.
• Control and ownership of Crown lands and natural
resources is provincial; federal in the North.
Examples of provincial natural resource jurisdiction?
Examples of federal jurisdiction?
Jurisdictional Arrangements in Canada
Legislative authority a significant source of conflict.
• Canadian gov. declared jurisdictional authority-land &
resources: viewed treaties as extinguishing inherent
rights
But court decisions set new requirements,
• e.g., duty to consult.
• Failures of government to meet treaty commitments
(Blueberry River)
• Co-governance mandate (e.g. Blueberry)
Indigenous Jurisdictional Authority
• Demands for a say in land-use decisions, and recognition as
distinct order of gov.
• Conflicts about authority as above (Blueberry)
• BC context: few treaties ever signed
Jurisdictional Arrangements in Canada
Bilateral arrangements with US
• Air pollution (why would a bilateral be important?);
• Shared water bodies
Multilateral arrangements with other nations or international
organizations
• Fisheries [to avert tragedy of the ??)
• migratory birds and animals, and
• minerals on or under the ocean floor.
Environmental Impacts of Policies/Politics
Responding to environmental challenges is becoming
increasingly politicized (what does that mean?).
Can shift significantly with a change of government:
• Stephen Harper revised Canadian Environmental
Assessment Act, removed HAAD clause from Fisheries
Act-revised again by Liberals.
Is the response to climate change similarly affected?
• Harper reduced GHG emissions target
• Canada-Lifetime Unachievement Fossil Award
• Trudeau: pan-Canadian Framework (carbon tax)
• Controversy and court challenges
Other issues include
governments not following
through on stated policies,
commitments.
Regardless of the political party
Canada’s performance is poor.
• Fail to fulfil international &
national commitments.
• Falling behind - followers vs
leaders Reagan: ‘environment is
Enlightened political leadership not a partisan challenge’
can play a big role. Bush: ‘the Whitehouse
…recent examples-enlightened or effect.’
non-enlightened?
Corporate Perspectives
Companies may voluntarily take environmental action or
government may impose regulations
• E.g., extended producer responsibility—laws that require
manufacturers and importers to accept responsibility for
their products at the end of their useful lifespan
• Gov. may provide incentives
to design products to be
recycled/reused and toxic
materials eliminated
• Canada has no such laws,
but some companies have
taken the initiative
Corporate Perspectives, cont’d
Life-cycle assessments (LCAs) identify inputs,
outputs, and potential environmental impacts of a
product or service throughout its lifetime
• E.g. Volvo and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) such as Green Seal
Eco-labelling: companies voluntarily adhere to
specified environmental standards and practices and
can thereby label their products accordingly
• E.g. LEED, Dolphin-Safe, EnergyStar
Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR refers to corporations’ efforts to address
social, ethical, and environmental concerns in
their business practices, thereby moving beyond a
focus mainly on profits.
• Large corps due to their high public visibility &
scrutiny, adopt a CSR approach,
• Substantial resources, ability to affect many people.
Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR approaches often fall within the following:
• Environmental practices: focus on reducing the
environmental impact of business operations
• Philanthropy: donate funds, goods, or services to
social causes
• Labour practices: treating employees and
communities in an ethical manner
• Volunteerism: sponsor/send representatives to charity
events or encourage employees to volunteer at them
Corporate Social Responsibility
Some question whether these efforts are effective or
merely ‘green washing’
• Use of deceptive/manipulative claims to portray a
superficial eco-friendly image
• Investing more resources on marketing products as
‘green’ rather than actually minimizing impact on the
environment.
Whose role do you think it is to facilitate / drive
environmentally friendly approaches to business
practices, e.g. government, individual,
businesses?
Educational Perspectives
A challenge to understanding and action is nature
deficit disorder
• Increasing gap in understanding of the real world
• Less exposure to the natural world
• Concern has prompted movements - encourage
outdoor re-engagement by younger people—Parks
Canada
Elementary and secondary level - environmental
education is increasingly recognized as vital but this os
less the case for colleges and universities
• Emphasis rather on meeting short-term economic
demands of society
• Technically competent students, seldom instill
appreciation for planet, deep moral questioning.
Personal Perspectives
• The difficulty with many environmental
challenges is the vastness of their scale.
• We tend to lack awareness because we are
sheltered from their effects.
• Most problems have long lag times and
different effects in different parts of the world
(e.g., climate change).
What do we mean by lag time?
Light Living
Tread as lightly as possible, to minimize our
ecological footprints.
• Refuse … Buying things we do not really need;
• Reduce … energy consumption, etc.
• Reuse …
• Recycle …
Accumulated actions of many people make a
difference
Influence
You can influence business through your
purchasing power as a consumer
• Consumer boycotts
• Let non-conforming producers know
• Redesign the way we live
• Encourage governments to
act
Clayoquot Sound, Great Bear
Measuring Progress
Indicators
Indicators provide information on environmental
problems that enables policy-makers to evaluate their
seriousness, develop policy and set priorities, and
monitor the effects of policy responses
• Composite indices are useful for decision-makers,
they incorporate many, often different, variables
• E.g., ecological footprint, GDP, Canadian Index
of Wellbeing
Ecological footprint: a measure of the demands that
humans place on nature in terms of supplying
materials and disposing of wastes.
Biocapacity: amount of biologically productive area
available to meet humanity’s needs (opposite of
footprint). RF- this includes capacity to adsorb the
waste we produce, e.g., municipal wastewater, GHGs,
CFCs.
What's
concerning
about this
figure?
Indicators
Indicators can be grouped according to themes to
produce indices
• The Living Planet Index— World Wildlife Fund—
quantifies the overall state of planetary ecosystems
The Happy Planet Index (HPI) assumes that most
people want to live long and fulfilling lives and that the
“best” country allows its citizens to do so without
hindering people in other countries and in the future from
doing the same
Composite indices often tell us
what is happening at the macro
level but not why:
• They may mask complex
detail decision-makers
require to make informed
decisions
DPSIR (Drivers-Pressures-State-Impact-Response)
frameworks help to develop causal linkages between
indicators. See textbook pg. 60 for details.
1. Underlying
forces, e.g., socio-
economic,
worldviews, policy.
2. Result from
drivers
3. Quantity and
quality (we’ll focus
on biophysical).
4. Impacts to
people.
5. How effective are
our actions?
Indicators are not without problems:
• Degree of aggregation of information—while
information could be useful for understanding
basics, may not be needed for decision making (or
key nuances / detail may be missed).
• Ongoing misuse of indicators when a reporting
body (e.g. a federal agency) selects only those
indicators that best convey a desirable message (is
this an objective, honest approach?).
• Auditor General reports may be more objective.
Monitoring Progress toward Sustainable
Development in Canada
Federal government: Canadian Environmental
Sustainability Indicators – to monitor
environmental sustainability.
But in the 2018 report of the Commissioner of the
Environment and Sustainable Development:
• Lack of governance structures to meet UN’s 2030
SDG Agenda
• Recommended developing a federal response and
implementation plan to achieve national sustainable
development targets
Implications
• No place on Earth has been left untouched by
human activity and these changes are likely to result
in significant challenges
• However, the message here is not all doom and
gloom: There are international, national, provincial,
and local efforts to help move toward
environmental sustainability.
• Environmental sustainability and stewardship are
not just the responsibility of governments and
larger organizations
o We all have a role to play to ensure that human and
non-human populations can survive and thrive for
generations to come.
