The Governance of International Environmental Public Goods

This chapter considers the challenges for governance of global environmental public goods. One is to develop institutions and mechanisms of governance that operate at the right spatial and temporal scale. Another is to match the governance structure to the nature of the public good at risk. The chapter explores the characteristics of transboundary environmental public goods that need to be reflected in governance mechanisms, including their biophysical properties, their spatial and temporal scale, their technology of supply, and the net benefits they offer to different countries. Using the examples of the open oceans and global disease risks, it considers the scope for inducing cooperation in their governance. It finds that while global cooperation is easier in the case of disease risks due to the high potential cost of global pandemics, there is scope for strengthening governance of the oceans by breaking the problem into tractable pieces.