ISSUE 49: MAY-JULY 2008

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New from UNU Press

Interlinkages and the Effectiveness of 
Multilateral Environmental Agreements

By W. Bradnee Chambers

A major reason for the worsening global environment is the failure to create institutional responses capable of addressing the scope, magnitude and complexity of environmental problems.

Much of the criticism directed at the global institutions has focused on the need for greater coordination among environmental institutions, policies and legal instruments and for approaches that take account of the inter-relationships between ecological and societal systems. 

This book examines the assumptions made about interlinkages and multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), provides a framework for measuring the effectiveness of MEAs and shows how their effectiveness can be improved by interlinkages. It demonstrates how MEAs can improve their effectiveness by cooperating with treaties outside the environment in other sectors of sustainable development.

• W. Bradnee Chambers is Senior Programme Officer of the UNU Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), Yokohama, and Senior Legal Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Development Law. Previously he worked at UNCTAD in Geneva.

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Institutional Interplay: Biosafety and Trade

Edited by Oran R. Young, W. Bradnee Chambers, 
Joy A. Kim and Claudia ten Have

International institutions and the consequences of their interplay are emerging as a major agenda item for research and policy. As governments enter into an ever-increasing number of international agreements, questions arise about the overlap of issues, jurisdiction and membership. 

Of particular interest to practitioners and analysts is how this mélange of institutions at the international level intersects and interrelates to influence and affect the content, operation, performance and effectiveness of a specific institution, as well as the functioning of the overall global governance context. Biosafety, which is an issue that is relevant to numerous institutions, offers an excellent case study for exploring and applying interplay in practical terms.

• Oran R. Young is Professor and Co-Director of the Program on Governance for Sustainable Development at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.
• W. Bradnee Chambers is Senior Programme Officer of the UNU Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), Yokohama.
• Joy A. Kim is Senior Policy Analyst of the Trade Policy Linkages Division, OECD Trade Directorate, Paris.
• Claudia ten Have is a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellow at UNU-IAS.

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Climate Change in Asia: 
Perspectives on the Future Climate Regime

Edited by Yasuko Kameyama, Agus P. Sari, 
Moekti H. Soejahmoen and Norichika Kanie

Beyond the Kyoto Protocol's first containment period, an intense and growing international debate over the future climate change regime has emerged. Countries in Asia have particularly high stakes in this regime given the region's high population, growing greenhouse gas emissions, burgeoning economies and vulnerabilities to the impact of climate change. Limited capacity, however, has hampered the participation of many Asian countries in the international debate.

This book is the result of a two-year study of domestic institutional processes in Asia to address climate change issues, national circumstances that impede countries from fully participating in the international debate and elements of a plausible climate regime from an Asian perspective. It serves to identify the institutional dimensions of climate change and, importantly, identifies linkages between climate change and sustainable development.

• Yasuko Kameyama is Senior Researcher at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan.
• Agus P. Sari is Country Director for Indonesia and Regional Director for Southeast Asia at Ecosecurities.
• Moekti H. Soejachmoen is Executive Director of Yayasan Pelangi, Indonesia.
• Norichika Kanie is Associate Professor in the Department of Value and Decision Science at the Graduate School of Decision Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan.

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International Water Security: 
Domestic Threats and Opportunities

Edited by Nevelina I. Pachova, Mikiyasu Nakayama and Libor Jansky

Managing water is a challenging task, particularly in shared water basins that host more than half of the world's population. 

National sovereignty and security considerations have long constrained the reasonable, equitable and sustainable utilization of international water courses. With post-Cold War democratization and globalization on the rise, domestic actors have an increasingly important role to play in national decision-making and traditional foreign policy debates.

This volume explores both these threats and opportunities through the presentation of case studies that analyze the multi-faceted and dynamic nature of the interplay between domestic and international water security.

• Nevelina I. Pachova is Programme Associate at the UNU Vice-Rectorate in Europe.
• Mikiyasu Nakayama is Professor of the Institute of Environmental Studies at the Graduate School of Frontier Science, University of Tokyo.
• Libor Jansky is Senior Academic Programme Officer at the United Nations University's Vice-Rectorate in Europe.

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