The Role of International Organizations in Global Environmental Governance

Abstract

First paragraph: The organizational network of global environmental governance (GEG) mirrors the complexity of the planet's manifold and overlapping ecosystems. Bursting onto the international stage in the 1970s, environmental issues began to be addressed by a series of new international organizations, most of them affiliated with the United Nations. Some of them, such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), were given a broad mandate, whereas others like the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) concentrated on a much more precise issue-area and have gained significant authority for their respective sub-fields. After the end of the Cold War, the rise of international environmental organizations has continued unabated. Yet the new institutions came to life in an already institutionalized context: some of the urgent tasks of management and co-ordination had already been allocated, and the newcomers often contributed to a growing trend towards organizational fragmentation.