(TheDigitalArtist/Pixabay)
Nicole Grell*, for NINJA Collaborative Coverage at COP26
The academic debates around the governance agenda vary from the meaning of the concept to the breadth of issues involved. However, the situations pointed out as governance refer to the importance of certain actors whose interests are being analysed in decision-making and management processes.
However, governance should not be understood as a synonym for government, because it refers to a phenomenon with broader aspects, involving, simultaneously, governmental institutions and non-governmental actors, such as the private sector and NGOs.
The environmental theme, and all issues involving the climate crisis, is seen as an essential agenda within the scope of governance, due to the fact that an ecologically balanced environment is understood as a universal human right, both for this and future generations. Thus, environmental management should include the participation of different actors, since it transcends national borders, requiring the recognition of the ecosystemic interdependence between the territories of Nation-States.
The conceptual foundation of the environmental problem is the notion of a global public good, that is, a resource whose benefits go beyond borders, generations and population groups. For nature, geopolitical borders do not exist. This statement becomes clear as from the observation of several environmental elements. The Amazon Basin, for example, extends over the territory of eight countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela and France (ESTY; IVANOVA, 2005).
The climate issue has been gaining more and more space and urgency in the international agenda due to the increasingly perceptible changes with mutations in the dynamics of the winds, changes in the rainfall regime, the increase in sea levels, the changes in the rainfall regime and the unleashing of epidemics, among other phenomena. Thus, the transboundary nature of the environment may lead to conflicts incited by disputes over resources, due to disparate relations in terms of production technologies and land use, as well as consumption models adopted by rich countries (INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE, 2007).
Thus, the clash between the various actors sometimes ends up having a heated debate. The great powers and the rich countries emphasize aspects such as the need to preserve biodiversity as a strategy to mitigate the environmental impact; however, emerging and peripheral countries fear that stricter environmental regulation may compromise their economic growth.
At this juncture, the international agenda undergoes important international conferences, such as the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, in 1972, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, in 1992, among several others, such as the COP26, which began this Sunday (10/31/2021), in Glasgow, Scotland, extending its activities until November 12th, also called the United Nations Conference on Climate Change.
In this international context, the United States and China, as world powers, have played a leading role in the history of environmental negotiations, being these determinants for an effective regulation on the environment to be adhered to and put into practice at the global level. The performance of these two major countries will be highlighted in this conference, however it should be noted that even with so much influence on the international scene, the two states occupy the top two places, being China first and the United States second, in the ranking of countries that emit more CO2 in the world, according to research published by Carbon Brief, in 2019.
In this context, the discussion around the accountability on climate change mitigation will be a key agenda at the COP26 meeting. In this meeting, heads of state and their delegations will be negotiating new commitments to reach the central goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement, of which Brazil is a signatory, to keep global warming at 1.5ºC.
* Masters in Public Policy Management from USP and Bachelor in International Relations from the Catholic University of Santos.
The @MidiaNinja and @CasaNinjaAmazonia have special coverage of COP26. Follow the #ninjanacop tag on the networks!
* Mestranda em Gestão de Políticas Públicas pela USP e bacharel em Relações Internacionais pela Universidade Católica de Santos.
A @MidiaNinja e a @CasaNinjaAmazonia realizam cobertura especial da COP26. Acompanhe a tag #ninjanacop nas redes!