The Impact of International Treaties on Climate Change in SEE Countries

Abstract

The paper is divided in three parts. In the first one, the climate change issue is presented and a brief analysis of the major international treaties on climate change is provided. A special focus is placed on the concept of the combination between mitigation and adaptation activities which is required to deal effectively with climate change.

The second part deals with the link between climate change and environmental security, stressing in particular the contribution that climate change may give to worsen the already occurring environmental crisis at a global level, acting as a “threat multiplier”. In order to prevent the effect of such a possible combined negative effect of climate change and environmental security, a serious and sharp series of climate change mitigation and adaptation activities must be performed in the years to come in an even more constant and incisive way compared to the last two decades.

The third part addresses more specifically the issue of how to reduce environmental security risks in SEE through the implementation of climate change treaties. In such a context, in particular, two specific scenarios are proposed and analysed.

Firstly, under option A, the simpler possibility for SEE countries to implement the existing major climate change treaties, namely the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, is considered. The formal implementation of such treaties should be accompanied by the development of appropriate national mitigation and adaptation policies to effectively tackle climate change and prevent climate change related risks. Depending on the seriousness and effectiveness of such national policies, the outcomes of the domestic actions in each of the SEE countries may finally prove more or less successful.

Secondly, under option B, a more sophisticated integrated approach is proposed for the SEE countries, based on the track indicated by the 2005 Energy Community South East Europe Treaty (ECSEE Treaty), which aims inter alia at reducing environmental risks by establishing a single and comprehensive regulatory framework for trading energy across SEE. Such a treaty imposes to the contracting parties, as a prerequisite for its effective enforcement, the implementation of the most relevant acquis communautaire in the environmental, energy and competition fields. Moreover, it calls for the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, thus linking within a broad comprehensive legal framework the major climate change, environmental, energy and competition issues in an integrated way.