The Roads from Rio ─ Lessons Learned from Twenty Years of Multilateral Environmental Negotiations

At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, popularly known as the Rio Earth Summit, the world’s leaders constructed a new "sustainable development" paradigm that promised to enhance environmentally sound economic and social development. Twenty years later, the proliferation of multilateral environmental agreements points to an unprecedented achievement, but is worth examining for its accomplishments and shortcomings.
This book provides a review of twenty years of multilateral environmental negotiations (1992-2012). The authors have participated in most of these negotiating processes and use their first-hand knowledge as writers for the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin as they illustrate the changes that have taken place over the past twenty years. The chapters examine the proliferation of meetings, the changes in the actors and their roles (governments, nongovernmental organizations, secretariats), the interlinkages of issues, the impact of scientific advice, and the challenges of implementation across negotiating processes, including the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention to Combat Desertification, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Commission on Sustainable Development, the UN Forum on Forests, the chemicals conventions (Stockholm, Basel and Rotterdam), the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the Convention on Migratory Species and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

Pamela Chasek is a Professor of Political Science and director of the International Studies program at Manhattan College in New York.


Lynn Wagner is the Manager/Editor of knowledge management projects for IISD Reporting Services.

1. An Insider’s Guide to Multilateral Environmental Negotiations since the Earth Summit, Pamela S. Chasek and Lynn M. Wagner PART 1: EVOLUTION OF PROCESS 2. Raising the Tempo: The Escalating Pace and Intensity of Environmental Negotiations Joanna Depledge and Pamela S. Chasek 3. Earth Negotiations on a Comfy Couch: Building Negotiator Trust through Innovative Processes Deborah Davenport, Lynn M. Wagner and Chris Spence 4. Informing Policy: Science and Knowledge in Global Environmental Agreements Pia M. Kohler, Alexandra Conliffe, Stefan Jungcurt, Maria Gutierrez, and Yulia Yamineva PART 2: EVOLUTION OF ACTORS 5. Global Alliances to Strange Bedfellows: The Ebb and Flow of Negotiating Coalitions Lynn M. Wagner, Reem Hajjar and Asheline Appleton 6. Singing the Unsung: Secretariats Global Environmental Politics Sikina Jinnah 7. Witness, Architect, Detractor: The Evolving Role of NGOs in International Environmental Negotiations Stanley W. Burgiel and Peter Wood PART 3: EVOLUTION OF ISSUES 8. What’s in a Name? Pamela S. Chasek, Maria Gutierrez and Reem Hajjar 9. Trade and Environment: Old Wine in New Bottles? Kati Kulovesi, Sabrina Shaw and Stanley W. Burgiel 10. Climate Change Bandwagoning: Climate Change Impacts on Global Environmental Governance Sikina Jinnah and Alexandra Conliffe 11. Implementation Challenges and Compliance in MEA Negotiations Elisa Morgera, Elsa Tsioumani, Soledad Aguilar and Hugh Wilkins CONCLUSIONS 12. The Road from Rio: Lessons Learned from Twenty Years of Multilateral Environmental Negotiations Pamela S. Chasek, Lynn M. Wagner and Peter Doran