The Development of an International Agenda for Climate

0,14

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Change: Connecting Science to Policy

43

stron

2367

ID

Harvard University

1998

rok

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION1

2. CONNECTING SCIENCE TO POLICY IN CLIMATE CHANGE.1

3. THE AGENDA.3

4. SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS, FRAME CHANGES, AND INTERNATIONALIZATION4

4.1 SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS5

4.2 ISSUE FRAMING.6

4.3 INTERNATIONALIZATION 7

5. WAS VILLACH DIFFERENT? .7

6. WHAT ACCOUNTS FOR VILLACH'S CONCLUSIONS? .12

7. WAS VILLACH IMPORTANT? .18

7.1 NATIONAL AGENDAS19

7.2 THE UNITED NATIONS AGENDA 20

7.3 SCIENTISTS' AGENDA AND INITIATIVES.22

7.4 THE TORONTO CONFERENCE: A CLIMATE AGENDA FOR NATIONAL DELEGATES, THE

MEDIA, AND THE

PUBLIC24

8. CONCLUSION.27

ENDNOTES .30

ABSTRACT

The observation has been made that the climate change issue broke onto the international policy

making agenda in the mid 1980s, between 1985 and 1988. The issue moved from the realm of

science to the realm of politics. As such, this period provides fertile ground for exploration of the

relationship between science, knowledge, and action on international environmental issues. This

relationship is the emphasis of this study, as it provides an account of the transition of climate

change to the international policy agenda. This study explores the often made claim that it was the

development of a scientific consensus, a reframing of the climate debate, and attention from an

international group of scientists that pushed the issue into the international political spotlight by the

late 1980s. The Villach 1985 conference is often cited as the source for these claims. This study

contends that the 1985 Villach conference did not represent a significant change in scientific

conclusions about the problems of climate change. Rather, a new emphasis on certain scientific

facts, the unique quality of the international group of scientists, and new perceptions of the

opportunity for action on international environmental problems led the Villach group to reach a new

set of political and policy conclusions which emphasized the urgency of action. Several policy and

science entrepreneurs advocated action to address problems of global environmental change.

Their conclusions coincided with a number of other developments, including extreme weather in the

United States and the successful negotiation of an international agreement to protect the ozone

layer, which pressed in the direction of further international attention to environmental problems.

By 1988, a variety of international players were involved in shaping the debate about responses to

climate change.