The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations to be hosted in Durban later this year, with this round of talks commonly referred to as COP 17, must not be seen in isolation of the troubled waters gnawing at the knees of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs).
Things aren’t working like they used to or perhaps never really worked. The rupture between environmental values and economic growth has always been there and bodes ominously for the future of our planet.
Climate negotiations have also somewhat been bastions of hope for the resurrection of troubled MEAs. But Copenhagen showed us how delusional we were. MEAs are in deep trouble. Climate negotiations represent the last front in the fight to bring the omnipresent weight of a broader environmental agenda into the mainstream.