International Environmental Policy

As understanding of global environmental degradation and the transboundary effects of pollution grew throughout the 1990s, IGCC initiated a research program in international environmental policy to respond to the need for greater scholarly and policy attention to these issues.

The IGCC research program on the environment generally falls into these main categories:

• Global environment issues such as biodiversity, ozone depletion, and protection of rainforests. IGCC helped create a UC-systemwide program on global climate change to bring objective scientific and technical expertise to the United Nations climate change negotiations.
• Transboundary environmental issues such as pollution control, water allocation, control of straddling oil fields, wildlife conservation, and the protection of common resources such as fisheries.
• Issues involving the interplay between environmental/health concerns and trade agreements and the role of these concerns in determining international lending practices.

Projects currently in development focus on coastal water quality management in Southeast Asia, conservation of biological diversity through forest managment in Malaysia, and the effects of atmospheric pollution on agricultural output.

Past Projects

IGCC projects in International Environmental Policy

Beach Water Quality and Tourism in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia is home to some of the world’s best-known beach and island resorts, which have helped make tourism the region’s fastest-growing industry. Coastal water quality is emerging as an important determinant of the industry’s future growth. Sewage and industrial effluents have degraded water quality throughout the region. At the same time, international tourists have become more aware of the potential health risks they face when vacationing at beaches.

IGCC, in partnership with the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and the World Bank, organized the 2007 international workshop "Beach Water Quality and Tourism in Southeast Asia: What Role for Public Information Programs?" which was held in Penang, Malaysia. Participants included government officials from Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, regional experts from Hong Kong and India, representatives from NGOs, the media, and the World Bank, and faculty from USM and six campuses of the University of California. The workshop objectives were to: assess the impacts of beach water quality on public health and tourism in Southeast Asia, review experience with public information programs on beach water quality in other parts of the world, and evaluate the role that such programs could play in protecting human health and promoting more sustainable, more profitable recreation and tourism industries in Southeast Asia.

Project Atmospheric Brown Clouds

The initial focus of Project ABC is Asia, where over 50 percent of the world’s population lives and where industrial and demographic growth rates are high. A primary thrust of Project ABC is to assess the impact of brown clouds on the Asian monsoon, which brings live-giving rainfall to the region. Recently, evidence has emerged that an immense and persistent cloud of aerosol pollution has already affected temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation in the region.

Environmental Fellowship Opportunities

Since 1995, IGCC has awarded doctoral dissertation fellowships for work that addresses topics such as transboundary environmental conflicts, regional relations, global environmental policy, and regional approaches to global environmental policy.

Selected Publications on International Environmental Policy

Number: Policy Paper 53
Title: European Legal Integration and Environmental Protection
Author(s): Rachel A. Cichowski
Published by: IGCC
Year of Publication: 2000

Number: Policy Paper 17
Title: Northeast Asian Cooperation Dialogue III: Regional Economic Cooperation: The Role of Agricultural Production and Trade in Northeast Asia
Author(s): Colin Carter, Hyunok Lee, Daniel Sumner
Published by: IGCC
Pages: 44
Year of Publication: 1995

Number: Policy Paper 14
Title: Promoting Regional Cooperation in the Middle East
Author(s): Fred Wehling, Lewis Dunn, Ali Ghezawi, Yoram Avnimelech, Howard Adelman, Richard Rosecrance
Published by: IGCC
Pages: 42
Year of Publication: 1995

Title: The Journal of Environment and Development
Author(s): Gordon J. MacDonald, founding editor
Published by: Sage Publications
Year of Publication: 1995

Title: Latin American Environmental Policy in International Perspective
Author(s): Gordon J. MacDonald, Marc Stern, Daniel Nielson, eds.
ISBN: 0-8133-2424-6 (paper)
Published by: Westview Press
Year of Publication: 1996

Title: Practical Peacemaking in the Middle East Volume II: The Environment, Water, Refugees, and Economic Cooperation & Development
Author(s): Steven L. Spiegel, David J. Pervin
ISBN: 0-8153-2000-0
Published by: Garland Publishing
Year of Publication: 1995

Title: International Crop Breeding in a World of Proprietary Technology
Author(s): Brian Wright
Published by: CABI Publishing
Year of Publication: 2000

Title: The Value of Plant Biodiversity for Agriculture
Author(s): Robert E. Evenson, Brian D. Wright
Published by: Johns Hopkins University Press
Year of Publication: 2000

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