event

Engaging Countries: Strengthening Compliance with International Environmental Accords

Mon. October 25th, 1999

October 25, 1999

Edith Brown Weiss, Professor, Georgetown University Law School,

Harold Jacobson, Professor, University of Michigan

Edith Brown Weiss and Harold Jacobson shared insights from their book, Engaging Countries: Strengthening Compliance with International Environmental Accords.Brown Weiss and Jacobson attempted to answer two central research questions within their book: (1) To what extent do countries comply with the international environmental accords to which they are parties?; and (2) What can be done to strengthen their compliance?

The purpose of the book is to discover the factors that lead to improved implementation of and compliance with treaties that cover environmental issues. This study, in particular, focuses on the changing processes of implementation and compliance within the international system, examining new methods of distributing power through non-hierarchical mechanisms (NGOs, the private sector, and the effects of new information technologies).

Countries and the Treaties Chosen for the Study:

  • Eight political units: Brazil, Cameroon, China, Hungary, India, Japan, the Russian Federation, and the United States. The EU was also included as a group of countries. These countries are crucially important to the effective implementation of broad international environmental accords. They are also representative of a variety of different economic and political systems.
  • Five treaties: Natural Resource Treaties: 1. The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. 2. The Washington Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. 3. The International Tropic Timber Agreement. Pollution Control Treaties: 4. The International Maritime Organization Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (The London Protocol). 5. The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer/The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer.

Defining the Key Terms?Implementation, Compliance and Effectiveness:

  • Implementation refers to measures that states take to make international accords effective in their domestic law.

  • Compliance refers to two main concepts.

First, compliance involves whether countries in fact adhere to the provisions of the accord. This is seen with procedural obligations (e.g. reporting) and substantive obligations (e.g. targets and timetables). Compliance involves assessing the extent to which governments have followed through on the steps they have taken to implement accords.

Second, compliance involves whether countries uphold the spirit of the treaty. Although a country may adhere to the letter of a treaty, its actions might be in conflict with the actual intent of the treaty.

  • Effectiveness is related but not identical, to compliance. Effectiveness is ultimately measured by the solving of a particular problem. Compliance with a treaty might result in the cessation of an activity that led to pollution, but it could also lead to an increase of pollution by other activities. Thus, a treaty may have full compliance, yet still be ineffective.

The Secular Trends Toward Strengthened Implementation and Compliance: The overall trend since 1995, at least for the treaties and countries in this study, has been towards strengthened implementation and compliance.

  • On the international level, more countries have become parties to treaties, there has been greater attention overtime to implementation and compliance and to strengthening supervisory mechanisms, parties have deepened their commitments to treaties, and NGOs have helped with membership, resources, and participation.
  • On the national level, there have been institutional changes that have facilitated greater implementation and compliance, research institutes and advisory boards have been established, and national NGOs have assisted in monitoring compliance.

Comparisons Among Treaties and Political Units/Explanations of Compliance Behavior:

Differences: Within this study, there were some differences among the treaties and countries in regards to compliance and implementation.

  • Among the five treaties, implementation and compliance seemed to be stronger in the Montreal Protocol and the London Convention. Among the countries, the EU, the US, and Japan did better than the other political units.
  • Markets also had a mixed effect. In some treaties, markets assisted in implementation efforts. In the Montreal Protocol, the emergence of markets for substitute chemicals facilitated greater compliance. While in treaties such as CITES, the market for endangered species products hurt implementation and compliance efforts.

Similarities: Despite these differences, several common themes emerged amongst the agreements within the study:

  • Treaty commitments expanded
  • Regional implementation centers were established
  • Non compliance procedures developed
  • Implementation Strategies
    *Toward integrated environmental management
    * More attention to training and capacity building
    * More Responsive Secretariats
    * Greater Role for NGOs
    * Increased Transparency, Public Awareness, and Communication
  • More Financial Incentives
  • Greater Concern with Monitoring and Compliance
    * Budgets and Staffing
    * Reporting and On Site Evaluations

Characteristics of the Activity Involved:

  • The study confirms the conventional wisdom that the fewer actors involved in the activity, the easier it is to regulate. Thus, ozone depletion (Montreal Protocol), which has a limited number of actors, was relatively easier to control than the millions of individuals who engage in the illicit trade of endangered species (CITES).

  • Location of the activities was also important. If the activities were concentrated in a smaller area, compliance was easier to monitor. Activities that were widely dispersed could make compliance more difficult.
  • The economic value of the activity, the ability of nations to monitor and regulate, and the organization of the activity (large multi-lateral organizations or small firms or individuals) were all found to be important factors.

Characteristics of the Accord:

  • The study maintains that if an agreement appears more equitable to its members, the greater the chance of implementation and compliance.
  • The study supports the claim that the more precise the obligations of international accords, the easier it is to assess and promote compliance. This does not necessarily mean, however, that obligations stated in vague terms lead to weaker compliance. The phrasing of obligations depends on the character of the problem being addressed and the state of agreed knowledge about it.
  • Reporting is also a necessary, yet problematic, aspect of treaty obligations. A strong and efficient central secretariat has shown to be helpful in reporting. An assigned role for NGOs, the existence of provisions for on-site inspections, and the flexible use of sanctions and incentives, have all improved treaty compliance and implementation.
  • On the national level, there have been institutional changes that have facilitated greater implementation and compliance, research institutes and advisory boards have been established, and national NGOs have assisted in monitoring compliance.

The International Environment:

  • The actions of other states in implementing and complying with the accord can affect a state?s own compliance with an agreement.
  • International momentum can also improve implementation and compliance. The important factors in creating momentum have been major international conferences, the worldwide media and the public, international NGOs, the number of parties adhering to the accord, other international organizations besides the treaty regime, and international financial institutions.

Factors Involving the Country:

  • The research showed that countries whose cultures traditionally were concerned with an issue were more successful in implementing and complying with treaties (Japan and the US both have history of protecting natural resources, etc.)
  • The research also supported the belief that richer and more democratic countries adhere to treaties better than poorer and less democratic countries.
  • Administrative capacity also proved to be a crucial factor contributing to country performance, although it is relative to the demands placed upon it.
  • Economic factors were important, but rather indirectly. While GNP had little positive effect upon compliance and implementation, economic collapse did have a profoundly negative affect.
  • Large, decentralized (or federalized) countries have a more complicated task of enforcing compliance than smaller nations.
  • Political stalemate (or chaos, as seen in Russia) has a negative effect on compliance and implementation.
  • Democratic governments overall contribute to improved implementation and compliance?their open, transparent structures have a positive affect.
  • NGOs (such as Greenpeace, TRAFFIC, and the Worldwide Fund for Nature) in the study proved to play a crucial role in implementation and compliance.
  • Individual leaders also make a crucial difference in the implementation and compliance of accords. For example, former Brazilian President Fernando Collor advanced many environmental causes within his country.

Explanations of Compliance Behavior: Dynamic Processes:

  • Research shows that having a leader country is important for the implementation and compliance of international agreements. The EU, the US, and Japan used their economic and political strength to play a key role in the formation of environmental accords.
  • Capacity to comply, as mentioned above, is also very important in understanding a country?s compliance levels.
  • Compliance can change over time because of economic turmoil (less capacity), new leadership, external assistance, and external pressure.
  • Intention to comply, however, is the necessary prerequisite for any sort of compliance. A country and its citizens must realize that it is in their best interests to comply with a treaty.

Strategies for Strengthening Compliance: There are three broad strategies that can be employed to improve compliance:

  • Sunshine methods: These techniques, intended to bring targeted actors? behaviors into the open for public scrutiny, include national reporting; peer scrutiny of reports; on-site monitoring; access to information by NGOs and NGO participation in monitoring compliance; media access and public awareness; monitoring of behavior through regional workshops; private-sector networks; and informal pressures by outside parties.
  • Positive Incentives: Incentives can provide assistance to build the capacity to comply, and can also shape the intention of the country to comply. Incentives may take the form of special funds for financial or technical assistance, training programs and materials, access to technology, and finally bilateral or multilateral assistance outside the framework of the convention from governments, international financial institutions, or the private sector.
  • Coercive Measures: Sanctions, penalties, and measures such as the withdrawal of privileges under the convention, are important weapons of last resort. Their utilization is especially important in treaties where free-riding is possible and could carry significant rewards.

Linking Compliance Strategies with Countries:

  • Joining Strategies with Intention and Capacity: There are four groups of countries who match up with different compliance strategies:

    * Strong Intention/Strong Capacity: Sunshine methods are appropriate and effective. Actors can use them to monitor behavior and urge parties to comply.
    *Strong Intention/Weak Capacity: In this situation, the use of positive incentives is the best strategy to employ. Incentives will build capacity and may affect the priority the country gives to complying with an agreement.
    * Weak Intention/Strong Capacity: Some form of coercive methods may be appropriate, whether they are multilateral or unilateral.
    * Weak Intention/Weak Capacity: All three strategies are necessary for successful implementation and compliance.

Countries must be properly engaged for effective treaty implementation and compliance. Engagement can be any mixture of the four possible strategies; engagement should try to incorporate the media, NGOs, and the private sector. The strategies needed for compliance by a given country with a specific treaty will change over time.

Prepared by Jonathan Blavin, Junior Fellow.

Economy
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Chantal de Jonge Oudraat

Associate

P.J. Simmons

Associate