Interlinkages and the Effectiveness of Multilateral Environmental Agreements

A major reason for the worsening global environment is the failure to create institutional responses that fully address the scope, magnitude, and complexity of environmental problems. Much of the criticism directed at global institutions has focused on the necessity for greater coordination and synergism among environmental institutions, policies, and legal instruments, and the need for approaches that take better account of the interrelationships between ecological and societal systems. This book seeks to fill the existing gap in knowledge and policymaking that exists, particularly in international law. It examines assumptions made about interlinkages and multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), provides a framework for measuring the effectiveness of MEAs, and shows how the effectiveness of MEAs can be improved by interlinkages. Moreover, the book demonstrates how environmental agreements that cooperate with treaties in other sectors of sustainable development can improve their effectiveness.