published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

Reprint from The University of Arizona Arid Lands Colloquia 1959-1960, 1960-1961

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This thesis is concerned with the role of fairness in international environmental law and, by way of example, focuses specifically on the perspective of developing countries in the context of the climate change regime. A brief analysis of underlying conceptions of fairness in general international law serves as the backdrop for an evaluation of both procedural and substantive aspects of fairness within the climate change regime. This evaluation includes a detailed consideration of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol to that Convention. The thesis concludes that the role of fairness in the climate change regime, and in international environmental law more generally, has become significant in recent years. It is likely that this trend will continue through further articulation of claims, by developing countries and others, in the context of an ongoing fairness debate. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This thesis presents an assessment of the effectiveness of the compliance mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol in promoting compliance with the obligations under the Protocol. First, theoretical approaches to compliance are explored in order to understand the reasons for which states comply, using both international legal and international relations theory. This not only contributes to a greater understanding of compliance, but also helps to establish a framework of criteria for the assessment. Second, practical experience with the compliance mechanisms of the Montreal Protocol is used to develop further assessment criteria. Following a detailed description and analysis of the compliance mechanisms, the insights from theory and practice are applied. The results show that the Kyoto Protocol's compliance mechanisms present an innovative balance of managerial and incentive strategies and integrate important elements emphasised by constructivist approaches to international law. They are thus designed effectively to promote compliance with the Kyoto Protocol.

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The principal aim of the thesis is to determine the Late Quaternary glacial history of the South Patagonian Icefield at Torres del Paine (51°S, 73°W), Chile. The secondary aim is to compare this glacial history with palaeoclimatic records from elsewhere to test the theory that climate change over the last glacial-interglacial cycle was synchronous between the two polar hemispheres. Synchronous climate change cannot be explained as an atmospheric response to insolation changes unless fundamental ocean-atmosphere reorganisations occurred (Broecker and Denton, 1990). Empirical glacial-geologic data from southern South America is therefore used to test recent models of global climate change. The global pattern of climate change over the last glacial-interglacial cycle is assessed by reviewing proxy palaeoclimate records including isotope records from polar ice cores and deep sea sediment cores, and glacial geologic records from the southern Andes. Conclusions from this review form the basis for hypotheses about what 'should' have happened at Torres del Paine. To test these hypotheses glacial geologic investigations were undertaken on site. Geomorphological evidence is used to define eight icesheet, deglaciation and valley glacier stages; ice extended ca.50km east of the modern South Patagonian Icefield margin during the last glaciation. Basal dates from peat bogs provide dating control for some glacial stages. Pumice fragments associated with glacial deposits were derived from an eruption of Volcan Reclus ca.12,000 yr BP and therefore constrain the Lateglacial depositional sequence. Models of the glacial history are constructed. Evidence that climate change at Torres del Paine was synchronous with other sites is equivocal. However, significant results are: (a) evidence of a Late-Lateglacial ('Younger Dryas') advance - the first such site in Patagonia; (b) evidence that deglaciation occurred slowly; and (c) evidence that the greatest extent of ice did not necessarily coincide with the coldest part of the last glaciation.

Thesis (Ph.D) -- Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 2000. / Adviser: William Moomaw. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 295-309). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;