Climate change presents a significant challenge to our world, requiring coordinated environmental efforts. As the issue has grown more urgent over recent decades, nations have collaborated through diplomatic means to enhance environmental management.
Staving off the effects of climate change requires various efforts and initiatives, from grassroots mobilization to global cooperation. From protecting our shared airspaces and waterways to building a world fit to withstand climate disasters, policymakers worldwide have implemented international agreements and national policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting sustainable development.
The roots of environmental diplomacy lie in the United Nations (UN) Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm in 1972, the UN’s first summit on environmental issues. Here, diplomatic representatives deliberated for 11 days, eventually producing a document of 26 principles, each corresponding to a different environmental issue. For the first time, governments were charged with environmental management on a large diplomatic scale. Stockholm marked a revolution in environmental policy by charging world leaders to consider future generations when building, buying, and developing, thereby treating the world's resources as shared assets belonging to all humanity.
According to the U.S. Department of State, the primary objectives of environmental diplomacy are “to realize economic growth, energy security, and a healthy planet.” The natural world has a robust influence on human activity, daily life, and larger-scale ideas like economic development. Therefore, U.S. policy on environmental diplomacy seeks to address a variety of core issues, including combating water insecurity, eliminating wildlife trafficking, reducing pollution, and holistically combating the climate crisis.
Today, environmental diplomacy has evolved to address contemporary challenges. The effects of climate change have become more dire in the past decade; communities around the world are experiencing extreme heat and natural disasters at unprecedented rates, access to safe drinking water has depleted, and sea-level rise threatens to extend the salinization of groundwater. The environmental diplomacy efforts of today are intended to combat these changes, through adaptation to new conditions, preparation for disasters, preservation of nature, and so much more.Issues of this magnitude necessitate substantial solutions, making comprehensive diplomatic action crucial. Documents such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Climate Accords exemplify the significance of environmental diplomacy today. Building upon the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), established in 1992 to promote global collaboration against detrimental human impacts on the climate, Kyoto and Paris further delineated specific climate objectives. The Kyoto Protocol specified the UNFCC by enumerating specific national target goals for the reduction of greenhouse gases worldwide. The agreement is binding but only for developed countries, a fact which acknowledges that developed economies contribute disproportionately to climate change.
Operating under a "five-year cycle of increasingly ambitious climate action," the Paris Accords aim to cap global warming at an average of 1.5°C. The accords also employ innovative diplomatic techniques, like a 2020 rule that now requires each participating nation to submit a climate action plan, known as a nationally determined contribution (NDC). Each consecutive NDC is intended to become more ambitious than the last, ensuring that the Paris Accords can withstand the rapidly changing nature of environmental policy.
Environmental diplomacy promotes engagement between different communities by encouraging a holistic approach to environmental stewardship. Due to this issue’s wide-reaching nature, it requires state and non-state actors from every corner of the globe to unite in the diplomatic process.
Furthermore, environmental diplomacy is unique in its obligatory nature. Governments simply must coordinate to combat the environmental threats facing society. The risks are too great to fall short on this issue. Environmental degradation would be disastrous for our world. From lives lost due to drought and famine to general halted economic activity, the issues that the climate crisis stands to worsen result in environmental diplomacy’s heightened importance.
Grassroots mobilization also plays a pivotal role in environmental efforts. These movements harness collective action, often at the local level, to drive tangible change. For instance, Wangari Maathai’s initiative in Kenya combated desertification and deforestation by planting over 30 million trees.
Additionally, grassroots organizations utilize activism as a potent catalyst for change. An exemplary case was seen in Alaska in 2002, where Gwich’in tribal leaders successfully protected the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling. Drawing on their indigenous wisdom, these leaders educated Congress extensively, ensuring widespread recognition of the Arctic's ecological significance. Furthermore, they supported local Arctic communities in developing sustainable energy sources, aiming to foster a future free from drilling activities.
Governments are starting to act in more serious measures to effectively curb the climate crisis's impacts. In November 2024, the U.S. will join the world for the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29). There is much discussion in the lead-up to this. For instance, the European Union (EU) is focused on pressuring other countries to transition away from fossil fuels.
Environmental diplomacy also answers normative questions about how exactly governments ought to coordinate to address natural threats. According to the UN Global Material Flows Database, the U.S., China, and India use more fossil fuels than the rest of the world combined, but the whole world suffers the consequences. Developing nations especially, whose economies may rely more on natural resources, and countries vulnerable due to geography, like low-lying island nations like Kiribati or even Indonesia, suffer disproportionately from environmental degradation. In the lead-up to COP29, some developed blocs, like the EU, are considering pledging more money to help developing countries fight the climate crisis.
Environmental diplomacy is an especially unique and important diplomatic avenue due to what we stand to lose if we fall short. As global temperatures and sea-levels continue to rise, as people continue pressure their elected officials to do something, it’s likely that we will continue to see the intermingling of state and non-state actors in order to build effective, stakeholder-centric climate solutions.
