Climate change has been described as a malign, wicked, and super wicked problem. I focus on key characteristics that make international collective action challenging: asymmetry, fear of free riding, scientific uncertainty, and inherent interdependencies. I argue that an institution designed to tackle such a complex problem requires a key set of features: leadership, linkage, quality information, differentiated obligations, monitoring/enforcement, transparency, and flexibility. I assess the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Kyoto Protocol to determine what aspects are missing. I then ask why the European Union (EU), with incentives to the contrary, set broad unilateral goals. I argue that the framework of political and economic integration made deep cooperation possible. Lastly, I consider whether this experience is specific to the EU and ask whether regional trade networks have a role in the global arsenal of climate change solutions.

[pt] Este estudo tem por objetivo analisar a capacidade do Regime Internacional da Biodiversidade (RIB) em resolver o problema de perda da diversidade biológica. Considerando que regimes são efetivos quando servem para solucionar os problemas que motivaram sua criação, este exercício se fundamentou no cruzamento de dois modelos de avaliação: o modelo pressão-estado-resposta, e o modelo de avaliação da efetividade de regimes ambientais. Como resultado, argumenta-se que é possível dar uma visão instrumental ao Regime da Biodiversidade de modo que ele seja visto como um indicador de sustentabilidade ambiental, através de seu grau de efetividade. Neste sentido, utilizando-se do caso exemplar da Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável de Mamirauá, discutiu-se a contribuição dos diferentes atores envolvidos na implementação do RIB e, em que medida os mecanismos de cooperação internacional e financiamento propiciam o fortalecimento institucional necessário para a implementação do Regime. Na conclusão, observou-se que o RIB viabiliza o arcabouço institucional diversificado que contempla a flexibilidade administrativa necessária para gestão e captação de recursos na solução da perda de diversidade biológica. Sua efetividade, entretanto, está diretamente ligada a um processo político onde através do diálogo entre atores estatais e sociedade civil global é possível estabelecer um fluxo continuado de experiências, entre o local/global, que em muito contribui para redução da perda de diversidade biológica, ampliando estoques de recursos naturais e, conseqüentemente, contribuindo para a promoção do desenvolvimento sustentável. / [en] The goal of this study is to analyze the capacity of the International Biodiversity Regime (IBR) to resolve the problem of the biology diversity loss. Considering that regimes are effective when they serve to solve the problems that caused his creation, this exercise was based on the crossroad of two models of evaluation: the model pression-state-answer and the model of evaluation of the effectiveness of the environmental regimes. As the result, it is argued that is possible to give an instrumental vision to the Biodiversity Regime, in way, throught his degree of effectiveness, it is seen as an indicator of environmental sustainability. In this sense, using the exemplary case of the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve, there was discussed the contribution of the different actors wrapped in the implementation of the IBR and in which measure the mechanisms of international cooperation and financing can favor institutional strengthening necessary to the Regime implementation. In the conclusion, it was observed that the IBR make practical the institutional diversified outline that contemplates administrative necessary flexibility for management and resources collectation in the solution of the biology diversity loss. His effectiveness, however, is straightly connected with a political process, where throught the dialog state actors and civil global society is possible to settle a continuated flow of experiences, between the local and the global, which in much contributes to the reduction of the biological diversity loss, enlarging the natural resources stocks and consequently, contributing to the promotion of the sustainable development.

International governance is increasingly defined by multilevel governance; with short-term projects, transnational cooperation between different groups, and unclear institutional space. In this situation, a key issue is the resilience of governance arrangements or the ability of governance arrangements to respond to political and ecological shocks to the system. Using international biodiversity governance, this study explores the question: What social and political processes produce resilient governance? This study argues that the key to understanding resilient governance is the network structure within and outside of the governance arrangement. Modular network structures are able to generate ideas from multiple sources, able to solve political problems on small scales, and able to insulate institutions from political contagion. Centralized network structures, in contrast, often result in top-down learning, politicization of the entire governance arrangement, and inability to adapt in response to problems. Those governance arrangements with limited network structures are unlikely to learn at all. The network structure theory argues that network dynamics are shaped by the structure and result in different learning and different adaptive outcomes. This argument is made in the context of international biodiversity governance which presents has a number of cases of resilience in difficult to explain cases. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 look at the network impacts in 10 different international biodiversity governance arrangements. Chapter 4, Chapter 5, and Chapter 6 explore these dynamics in the context of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC) and the Caribbean Challenge. These empirical cases present a complex and robust analysis showing that network structures, more than the governance institutions or national context, shape the resulting impact of governance arrangements. The implication of this finding is that effective institutions also need resilient modular networks in order to have lasting environmental impacts. Strong institutions can be constrained by centralized networks which limit learning opportunities following shocks. This study thus complements studies of effectiveness in international relations by providing a crucial dynamic piece of the overall situation. Response to shocks is shown to be shaped by network structure and importantly by early learning and network connections. Without these, effectiveness can be disrupted by political or environmental shocks.

[pt] Esta dissertação trata do processo de construção social da norma internacional, na área de segurança química. Partiu- se de uma realidade local --- a ocorrência de um acidente industrial ampliado --- e de seus impactos sobre o ambiente internacional. Nesse sentido, foi fundamental perceber aquela realidade local como um fato social, construído por meio de uma conscientização ambiental ou anuência coletiva mais ampla. Daquele processo de construção social, aliás, faz parte a constituição dessa consciência coletiva quanto às ameaças ambientais, fortalecida politicamente pelo aval da comunidade de Nações, quando das Conferências de Estocolmo (1972) e do Rio de Janeiro (1992). Por isso, seguindo parâmetros teóricos construtivistas, optou-se pela análise da forma como se deu o processo de construção ideacional e normativa mais abrangente, em matéria ambiental, nas relações internacionais contemporâneas; para, posteriormente, abordar a construção social do acidente e da norma gerada, parte daquele processo. Quanto à organização e à mobilização da sociedade civil, bem como quanto à influência dessa mobilização sobre os Estados, atribuiu-se destaque especial aos agentes de propagação de idéias, referidas à proteção ambiental e à segurança química, bem como a suas plataformas organizacionais. Para tanto, dada sua relevância social e empírica, escolheu- se, como objeto de estudo, o acidente industrial ampliado, ocorrido em 1984, na cidade de Bhopal, Índia; e a Convenção 174 da Organização Internacional do Trabalho para a prevenção de acidentes industriais ampliados. / [en] This paperwork deals with the social construction process of the international norm in the chemical safety realm. The point of departure was a local reality -- the occurrence of a major industrial accident --- and its impacts on the international environment. The perception of that reality as a social fact, constructed from a wider environmental awareness or collective acquiescence, was essential. The constitution of that collective awareness is part of the referred social construction process and was politically strengthened by the international community when it assembled in the Stockholm Convention (1972) and the Rio Convention (1992). Following certain constructivist theoretical parameters, the wider ideational and normative scenario, related to environmental questions in the contemporary international relations, was first analysed. Afterwards, the focus was directed towards the social construction of the accident and the norm negotiated. In relation to the civil society organisation and mobilisation, as well as to its influence on state behaviour, it was given emphasis on the role of agents of environmental protection and chemical safety ideas and its organisational platforms. As per its social and empirical importance, it was chosen as object of analysis the major industrial accident, occurred in 1984, in Bhopal, India, and the Convention 174 of the International Labour Organization concerning the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents.