International Environmental Information Resources
The world is a really big place. But you knew that.
"Big place" means big environmental problems. But you knew that too, although I imagine you don't think about the big problems much. We have a tendency to focus on problems close to home, perhaps because the news media trains us to think this way because it primarily covers stories of local relevance. Everything else is a problem that belongs to someone else, somewhere else. Most of the time we have no idea about what goes on internationally, unless we read the right media and subscribe to the right nongovernment organizations' newsletters, but as it turns out, an awful lot does go on even without our permission. The chances are, too, that even if we could read about everything that goes on, we wouldn't have the time or perspective to understand all of it. At least I don't.
If you've got the time and patience, however, you can find out a lot about a variety of international treaty and convention (not meetings; agreements) activities at a site called Yearbook of International Co-operation on Environment and Development 1998/99, from The Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway. Here, for example, you can delve into "Agreements on Environment and Development" in categories including
None of this reading is easy. Take hazardous substances, for example. The first title is a mouthful (take a deep breath before reading this all the way through): "Convention on the Ban of the Import to Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movements and Management of Hazardous Wastes within Africa." I like this next one too: "Convention to Ban the Importation into Forum Island Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific Region (Waigani Convention)." Five more like these are listed, plus 4 on atmosphere, 22 on Marine Environment, 3 on Marine Living Resources, 9 on Nature Conservation and Terrestrial Living Resources and 1 on Freshwater Resources. All these links will keep you busy for awhile.
Depending on your interests, however, you might find the site's 33 country profiles of environment and development records useful in comparing activities. Also of value is the site's list of links to other Internet resources on environment and development. Better yet is a list of 23 links to what might be otherwise elusive intergovernmental organizations that you wouldn't think of looking for without this lead. These links include a number of sites from the United Nations: U.N. Environment Program (UNEP), U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), and U.N. Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Here, too, are links to the World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO) and many others. Dig in.
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