10.3.2.6 Links to other Conventions
Figure 10.5: Linkages among environmental issues (Watson et al., 1998). |
Awareness of the complex system of interrelated cause-and-effect
chains among climate, biodiversity, desertification, water, and forestry has
been growing in recent years. Now it is widely recognized that global environmental
problems and the ability to meet human needs are linked through a set of physical,
chemical, and biological processes. Climate change, for example, alters the
global hydrological cycle, affects the boundaries and functioning of ecological
systems, and accelerates land degradation and desertification (Figure
10.5). These negative impacts in turn reinforce each other through feedback
loops, which results in a serious threat to land productivity, food supply,
fresh-water availability, and biological diversity, particularly in vulnerable
regions (Watson et al., 1998).
Global environmental problems are addressed by a range of individual instruments
and conventions—UN Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Biological
Diversity, Convention to Combat Desertification, and Forestry Principles. Each
of the instruments focuses on a specific issue and has its own defined objectives
and commitments, with the exception of Forestry Principles, which has no binding
legal agreement. A great deal of interaction exists among the environmental
issues that these instruments address, and there is also a significant overlap
in the implementation of the instruments. They contain similar requirements
concerning (UNDP, 1997):
- common, shared, or co-ordinated governmental and civil institutions to enact
the general objectives;
- formulation of strategies and action plans as a framework for country-level
implementation;
- collection of data and processing information;
- new and strengthened capacities for both human resources and institutional
structures; and
- reporting obligations.
Table 10.4 summarizes the actions and commitments
of the parties under the different instruments. The requirements represent a
significant burden, especially on developing countries, in terms of human and
financial resources. Table 10.4 illustrates the
wide scope for overlaps between the instruments and the risks that their implementation
will lead to a duplicative effort.
It is recognized (UNDP, 1997) that global conventions and instruments “can
be more efficiently implemented through a greater understanding of the commonalities
and overlaps between them and a co-ordinated and harmonized approach to their
implementation at the local, national, and international levels. In other words,
creating synergy among the instruments and their requirements”. Indeed,
linkages between instruments provide opportunities to implement them in a mutual-reinforcing
manner, avoiding duplication. At least three clusters of activities are likely
to gain advantage from potential synergies in implementing the conventions:
the development and strengthening of organizational structures, capacity-building
interventions, and data collection and information processing.
Implementing the conventions involves the participation of institutional structures
with different responsibilities and concerns, their policy agendas are generally
limited in scope, and frequently their immediate objectives diverge. Further,
environmental issues are in general broadly diffused through different government
agencies, endowed with uneven resources in terms of both authority and material
resources. This institutional fragmentation, especially in developing countries,
results in a lack of co-ordination and duplication of activities in areas where
common organizational procedures, flows of information, and a set of coherent
individual institutional actions are required for effective policy actions.
Reporting to the respective conferences of the parties, setting up appropriate
legislation, and formulation and periodical updating of national action plans
are stipulated in the conventions. These need to move towards convergence on
overlapping issues, seeking consensus, and agree on policy frameworks within
which the ultimate goals can be achieved with greater effectiveness. Therefore,
the opportunities for synergies can be exploited by enhancing and strengthening
linkage mechanisms between institutions, either at the implementation of specific
tasks or functions or through the creation of more formal and permanent links
between different actors. The types of linkage mechanisms that might be most
successful will depend on institutional, political, and economic factors in
each specific case.
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