1. Global Environmental Policy
Trans-Boundary Environmental Problems
Hari Srinivas
Room: I /

2. Defining TEP Trans boundary Environmental Problems
TEPs broadly refer to cases in which pollution created in one country “moves” across national boundaries .
Such TEPs have negative implications for
living standards in one or more countries in the region or the world in general.
across, beyond
national borders
Trans boundary
Environmental
Problems

3. What are TEPs?
Some environmental problems span a country’s borders and are felt regionally and globally, e.g. ozone layer depletion, loss of biodiversity, and climate change.
Population growth, industrialization and globalization are adding these global or trans-boundary environmental problems and their impacts on countries

4. What are TEPs? Examples of transboundary environmental challenges:
Air and water pollution
Shared natural resources (river systems, forests coasts etc.)
Large ecosystems
Toxic Waste management
Movement of refugees
Spread of disease/pests

5. Environmental Problems/Impacts

6. Transboundary Environments
Migratory birds and other migratory animals are a significant component of transboundary environmental resources
The map illustrates global migratory bird routes and shows that Africa has the highest concentration of such routes
Major migratory bird routes of the world

7. A global map of nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
Image shows the locations of high levels of nitrogen dioxide worldwide
High concentrations of NO2 tend to be associated with large urban or industrial Areas
Lower, but widespread, concentrations of the gas—produced by biomass

8. Transboundary ecosystems
Three shared national parks between Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
Kenya
Uganda
Wildebeest crossing shared rivers and ecosystems of the three countries
Tanzania

9. Nile Basin Initiative
The Nile river and its tributaries run through a total of 10 countries (Burundi, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda) before it flows into the Mediterranean sea

10. Nile Basin Initiative
The “Nile Basin Initiative” is a transboundary programme that covers the entire river system
The Initiative provides an institutional mechanism, a shared vision, and a set of agreed policy guidelines to provide a basin-wide framework for cooperative action.
Some of the projects carried out:
Institutional Strengthening
Community-Level Land, Forests, and Water Conservation:
Wetlands and Biodiversity
Water Quality Monitoring
Environment Education and Awareness

11. Forest Fires/Haze in South East Asia

12. Regional Haze Action Plan
From July to October 1997, ASEAN countries in particular Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, were badly affected by smoke haze caused by land and forest fires
ASEAN Environment Ministers have agreed on a “Regional Haze Action Plan”, which sets out co- operative measures needed amongst ASEAN member countries to address the problem of smoke haze in the region arising from land and forest fires.

13. Regional Haze Action Plan
The primary objectives of the Plan are :
to prevent land and forest fires through better management policies and enforcement;
to establish operational mechanisms to monitor land and forest fires
to strengthen regional land and forest fire-fighting capability and other mitigating measures

14. Monitoring Impacts of TEPs
A key tool for TEPs is Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) – used at the regional level
It covers issues of (a) notification, (b) prior consultation and (c) agreement
The information that an Transboundary EIA generates is used for conflict resolution and sustainable development
Examples:
EU Law
United States, Canada, and Mexico
ASEAN members

15. Understanding TEPs
There are two key issues to be considered in understanding TEP:
The duty to cooperate in international law - sovereignty vs. trans-boundary environmental problems
Beyond the duty to cooperate – international environmental law obligations 1 2

16. TEPs and MEAs
Transboundary environmental problems can be solved only by multilateral environmental agreements
Most UN Agencies work on transboundary issues using MEAs
Transboundary Environmental Issues
Multilateral Environmental Agreements
PROBLEM
SOLUTION

17. UN and Environmental Policy
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)
Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development (IACSD)
Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs)
UNDP, FAO, WMO, IMO, UNU etc.

18. What are MEAs? International legal instruments that:
have a goal of environmental protection
are concluded between a large number of states or international organizations as parties
are concluded in written form
are governed by international law
can be embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments (framework agreements)

19. Class website: http://www.gdrc.info/gep
Next class …
We will explore the topic of Multilateral Environmental Agreements in more detail
Class website: