Personal, Local, or National Issue; Climate Change

¶ … Personal, Local, or National Issue;

Climate change has become one of the most debated subjects that mark the current political agendas throughout the world. The international community, the international and regional NGOs as well as the public opinion are constantly flagging more and more issues on the negative impact the lack of sustainable development has on the environment. Among other perspectives, one that has been rather often considered in relation to this subject is the role international organizations and in particular the ones at the level of the United Nations have mitigating the risks of climate change at the global level. This is in my opinion an important matter to discuss from several points-of-view; firstly, the issue of climate change affects the world at a global level and its perspectives are grim in comparison to the efforts made by every state individually in addressing the particularities of the situations; secondly, international organizations have the mobilization capacity that states do not possess and their role is thus essential; thirdly, the political force of the international organizations and especially the United Nations system is essential because it sets an important pace for action and sends a more visible message to the world on the importance of dealing with climate change issues.

Climate change has often been seen as a result of inconsistent and unsustainable development. Scientists have proven that the limited attention to environmental issues such as reckless deforestation or use of land without proper knowledge has led to diminishing land qualities which, in turn, affect long-term crops and eventually impact the lives of the communities that depend on that small scale economic practice. However, this perspective is replicated at the global level by affecting the natural habitat in large areas of the world. For instance, the Amazonian rains forests has been for a long time now the subject of illegal deforestations which lead to a disruptive natural cycle that includes changes related to the climate, to precipitations or animal habits. Seeing that the Amazonian forests are not the responsibility of only one state, the role of international organizations in protecting such natural habitats is crucial. The possibilities of states individually can hardly cover the actual needs in terms of financial costs and legal implications that the protection of the Amazonian forests taken as example require. In this sense, the United Nations Environment (UNEP) together with the Global Environment Fund have created the protected areas system that have enabled parts of the forests to be considered restricted from human intervention. Such initiatives have been taken at a global level through such international organizations including Europe and Africa in particular.

Secondly, the essence of international organization is the free will of the member states and at the same time the binding nature of the Constituent Act, be it a Charter, a Constitution, or any other international law document. Therefore, once a state becomes a member states, its obligations include, among other particular issues, the respect for the international law or the Conference documents. Therefore, from the very beginning the action grounds are common. In the case of the organizations or agencies in the UN system such as UNEP, states are automatically mobilized and requested to take action as a result of their membership to the system as well as to the acts that are taken at the level of the UNEP.