The Environment and Global Governance: Can the Global Community Rise to the Challenge?
by Uma Lee, Aaron Zazueta, and Benjamin Singer, 2010 Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Working Paper
This paper addresses the nature and magnitude of the global environmental challenge and the response of the international organizations responsible for environmental issues to that challenge. It assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the current global environmental policy and aid architecture by drawing upon evidence from independent evaluations of international organizations concerned with the global environment. The paper offers support for three key propositions: First, despite a shift from RED to REDD to REDD+, the focus of REDD+ has largely remained on forest carbon storage as a mitigation strategy and is not inclusive of other forest values, including biodiversity, watershed protection, forest production, income generation, social and cultural values. Second, even with efforts on all these fronts, attention to mitigation in brown sectors (i.e., housing, transport, and energy) in all countries must be an important complement to REDD+. Third, stressing mitigation in developing countries alone risks being a disincentive to mitigation in developed countries. The paper also concludes that funded activities reflect donor priorities, that the allocation of donor funds through fragmented and multiple channels reduces overall efficiency and makes systematic evaluation and learning from experience difficult, and that funding is inadequate relative to needs.
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