An overview of international institutional mechanisms for environmental management with reference to Arctic pollution

Evidence is mounting of the environmental impact in the Far North of economic and industrial activity elsewhere in the world. While the sources of pollutants found in the Arctic are many and widespread, it is up to just a few countries - notably Canada,t he former Soviet Union, Finland, Norway and G...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Perkins, Patricia E. (Ellie)
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 1995
Subjects:
Online Access:https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/handle/10315/37076
Description
Summary:Evidence is mounting of the environmental impact in the Far North of economic and industrial activity elsewhere in the world. While the sources of pollutants found in the Arctic are many and widespread, it is up to just a few countries - notably Canada,t he former Soviet Union, Finland, Norway and Greenland - to assestsh e damagea nd deal with the impacts.T his paper discussetsh e issueo f Arctic pollution in the context of trends in world economic growth, globalization of economic activity, international trade and related institutional arrangements (such as trade and environmental agreements)T. he importance of tracing the sourceso f particular contaminantsi s stressedt;h is is a first step towards internalization of environmental costs of production, and is also politically a key in efforts to control emissionsT. rade and investmenta greementsc ommonlyd iscussru les for cross-borderf lowso f goods,s services, personnel and investment capital, as well as matters specific to particular economic sectors. Cross-border flows of pollutants and other ‘bads’ also merit detailed sectoral attention. This linkage would make explicit the connections between production and pollution (making possible the ‘polluter pays’ approach), and also widen the scope for redistribution of economicr esourcest o equilibrate the situation (via trade and investmentm easuresa, mongo others) if flows of goods are related directly to flows of ‘bads’. The paper examinest he outlook for addressing Arctic pollution via international environmental agreements (along the lines of the Base1 Convention, the Montreal Protocol, CITES, etc.), existing and future trade agreements( such as GATT), or new institutional approaches.