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Helpful Organizations: Membership in Inter-Governmental Organizations and Environmental Quality in Developing Countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2011

Abstract

Does membership in intergovernmental organizations help developing countries enhance their environmental performance? This article argues that IGO membership can improve the environmental performance of developing countries, by linking different issues, promoting the general idea of environmental sustainability and providing a channel through which these countries receive technologies and resources necessary to reduce pollution. This argument has been tested on panel data for 114 developing countries in 1970–2000. The results confirm that, controlling for a country's income and its political system, IGO membership is indeed associated with a reduction in both air pollution and greenhouse gases. To understand the mechanisms behind this result better, IGO membership is disaggregated according to both function and the degree of institutionalization of the respective organization.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

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59 Results are available from the author upon request.

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69 Since the dependent variable is pollution emissions, a negative coefficient sign implies a reduction in emissions and therefore an increase in environmental quality.

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72 African Union, ‘African Union in a Nutshell’, http://au.int/en/about/nutshell (2009); African Union, ‘Capacity Building for an Africa-Wide Biosafety System’, http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/AUC/Departments/HRST/biosafety/AU_Biosafety_1b.htm, (2009).

73 The Cartagena Protocol ‘seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology’ (ConventiononBiologicalDiversity, ‘Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety’, http://www.cbd.int/biosafety/background.shtml, 2009).

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76 UNIDO, ‘Energy and Environment’, http://www.unido.org/index.php?id=905 (2009).

77 IAEA, ‘Pillars of Nuclear Cooperation’, http://www.iaea.org/OurWork/ST/index.html (2009).

78 IAEA, ‘National Projects’, http://www.iaea.org/OurWork/ST/index.html (2009). Of course, it is also important to note that nuclear IGOs such as IAEA or the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE) mostly promote the use of nuclear energy production. By relying on nuclear energy production instead of energy production based on fossil fuels, countries that opt for nuclear energy production emit less SO2 and CO2. However, this does not reflect the fact that nuclear energy production produces nuclear waste, which itself constitutes a major environmental problem.

79 It is, however, important to note that this result does not necessarily imply that environmental regimes in general are ineffective. In the present analysis only those regimes that are considered to be an international organization are included, implying that they need to possess an international secretariat. This is only true for a very limited number and for only a very specific set of environmental regimes. For example, the set of environmental IGOs includes organizations such as the International Commission of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries, now called the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization; the International Whaling Commission; the Joint Anti-Locust and Anti-Aviarian Organization, which aims to control the damage arising from locust and aviarian pests; the International Seabed Authority, which regulates deep seabed mining and aims to protect the marine environment; or Bionet, whose purpose it is to classify natural species. Many of these organizations, however, pursue goals such as combating locust pests in Africa that are not related to any of the measures of environmental quality used in this analysis. Hence, even if these organizations were effective for the purpose for which they were created, they would not affect air quality or greenhouse gas emissions because of their specialization. In contrast, other important environmental regimes such as the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution are not included in this sample because they are not considered to be an international organization. Therefore, the results of this analysis cannot be interpreted as evidence against the effectiveness of environmental regimes in general.

80 Pevehouse, Nordstrom and Warnke, ‘Intergovernmental Organizations, 1815–2000: A New Correlates of War Data Set. Version 2.1’.

81 Alvarez, Cheibub, Limongi and Przeworski, ‘Classifying Political Regimes’.

82 Bueno de Mesquita, Smith, Siverson and Morrow, The Logic of Political Survival.

83 Cao, ‘Networks of Intergovernmental Organizations and Convergence in Domestic Economic Policies’; Simmons and Elkins, ‘The Globalization of Liberalization: Policy Diffusion in the International Political Economy’.

84 Antweiler, Copeland and Taylor, ‘Is Free Trade Good for the Environment?’; Mani and Wheeler, ‘In Search of Pollution Havens?’

85 Neumayer, ‘Do Democracies Exhibit Stronger International Environmental Commitment?’; Deacon, ‘Dictatorship, Democracy, and the Provision of Public Goods’.