Whither MEAs?

The document argues that international environmental management is a complex system of regimes that should be strengthened through institutional improvement rather than a centralized 'World Environment Organization'. It proposes clustering MEAs by problem structure—such as the conservation, global atmosphere, hazardous substances, marine pollution, and extractive resources complexes—and pooling resources for shared institutions like science assessment and implementation review. The author emphasizes that the trade regime's hierarchical structure is ill-suited for environmental issues, which require subsidiarity and diversified governance. Key recommendations include creating a Standing Conference on Trade and Environment, reforming the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and addressing the 'Achilles heel' of technology transfer through better integration of intellectual property rights and sustainable investment.

• The effectiveness of a multilateral environmental agreement (MEA) depends on the 'fit' between the problem structure of the environmental issue and the institutions employed to address it, making a single organizational template (like the WTO) inappropriate for all environmental regimes.
• The author proposes clustering MEAs into five complexes based on problem structure: the Conservation Complex, the Global Atmosphere, the Hazardous Substances Complex, the Marine Pollution Complex, and the Extractive Resources Complex.
• Natural resource extraction regimes are identified as the most environmentally problematic and the most likely to create challenges for the international trade regime.
• Unlike the trade regime, environmental regimes rely on 'subsidiarity,' where action occurs at the lowest jurisdictional level consistent with effectiveness, often involving subnational governments.
• The author argues against a comprehensive World Environment Organization (WEO) that covers all issues, suggesting instead that UNEP be strengthened and potentially transformed into a specialized UN agency to coordinate specific functions like science assessment.
• Technology transfer is described as the 'Achilles heel' of international environmental management, complicated by the conflict between intellectual property rights (IPR) and the need for sustainable innovation in developing countries.
• To manage the interface between trade and environment, the author suggests creating a 'Standing Conference on Trade and Environment' to structure environmental interests in trade policy without managing resources directly.
• The document suggests that environmental disputes are fundamentally different from trade disputes; they often involve private parties or domestic implementation failures and are better handled through negotiation or citizen complaints than through adjudication.

APA

von Moltke, K. (2001). Whither MEAs? International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/trade_whither_meas.pdf

Chicago

von Moltke, Konrad. Whither MEAs? International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2001. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/trade_whither_meas.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=von Moltke |first1=Konrad |title=Whither MEAs? |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=July 2001 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/trade_whither_meas.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{vonmoltke2001whither, author = {von Moltke, Konrad}, title = {{Whither MEAs?}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2001}, month = jul, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/trade_whither_meas.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }