Acid rain cooperation

EU and LRTAP institutions have been instrumental in keeping acid rain on the policy agenda of CEE states in the period of difficult economic transition. This international influence materialized through a number of mechanisms. Most importantly, in both EU and LRTAP institutions, the linkages between acid rain cooperation and broader foreign policy objectives for East-West cooperation have played an important role. The EU conditionality and pressure was particularly important in pushing acid rain policies forward in post-communist Europe after political attention shifted to more urgent economic problems. 

In a relatively small continental area such as Europe, there is not much difference between what would be considered the regional scale and the continental scale. However, on most other continents there would be a difference between what is considered regional and what continental. Perhaps of greatest concern on the continental scale is that the air pollution policies of a nation are likely to create impacts on neighboring nations. Acid rain in Scandanavia has been considered to have had impacts from Great Britain and Western Europe. Japan has considered that part of their air pollution problem, especially in the western part of the country, has origins in China and Korea. Cooperation in the examination of the North American acid rain problem has existed for a long time between Canada and the United States. 

To control acid rain requires international cooperation and much effort has gone into crafting agreements between countries... 

The struggle to improve air quality has persisted for many years. Although many cities still have air pollution episodes that are classified as unhealthy, stricter emission controls mean that the air over most major cities is cleaner today than it was in the mid-twentieth century. Even so, issues such as acid rain and ozone depletion continue to pose serious environmental challenges that require cooperation between science and policy, see also Air Pollution. 

Scandinavian and European studies, including the Norwegian Interdisciplinary Research Programme Acid Precipitation—Effects on Forest and Fish, and the study by the European Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, elucidated the effects of acid rain on fish and forests and long-distance transport of pollutants in Europe. 

Since the late 1980s, acid rain politics has been a matter taken up increasingly aggressively by the European Communities, the pillar of the European Union that addresses economic and environmental cooperation. The European Council of Environmental Ministers and the European Commission have come to play increasingly important roles in shaping acid rain policy measures in Europe. The European Council of Environmental Ministers brings together the environmental ministers of the member states to set the... 

In addition, a separate European Environment Agency (EEA), located in Copenhagen, that includes all of the members of the EU plus several other countries that cooperate closely with the EU economically, such as Norway and Switzerland, has the role of information gathering and dissemination related to acid rain and other European environmental problems. Many of the reports assessing the progress of Europe in meeting its acid rain goals have been conducted by the EE A. 

The Greening of Germany A Turning Point for European Cooperation on Acid Rain Abatement... 

In 1988, however, Thatcher began to be more amenable to cooperating with Europe on acid rain abatement, transboundary air pollution control, and climate change mitigation. This may have had to do in part with the success of her efforts to weaken the coal industry through the promotion of the use of natural gas as well as the privatization of the Central Electricity... 

In Bulgaria, the third country examined here, acid rain policies of the 1990s represent the all-too-familiar case in international cooperation of a dissonance between the goals of international regimes and the immediate domestic priorities and capacity. This resulted in slow air pollution reforms and eventually the formal adoption of international rules, with delayed implementation. I call this a wait-and-see approach to international regulations, as the country postpones compliance waiting for circumstances that could reduce the cost of international regulations to make them more palatable to domestic constituencies. 

Levy, M. (1995). International Cooperation to Combat Acid Rain, Green Globe Yearbook An Independent Publication on Environment and Development, pp. 59-68. 

Acid Rain Politics in North America Conflict to Cooperation to Collusion... 

Cooperating through Domestic Acid Rain Programs... 

In addition to enshrining commitments both to reduce acid rain and to cooperate on scientific and other matters (specifics of which will be discussed below), the Agreement had a broader goal. It was the vision of at least some if not most of those involved in the negotiations that the AQA would become a central tool or key regime in the management of air quality in North America. The Agreement was not to be merely an acid rain... 

The AQC did address transboundary ozone and led the effort to incorporate a new ozone annex into the Agreement. It has also begun to address the problem of airborne particulates. While these successful efforts at cooperation are to be applauded they relate only indirectly to scientific and technical cooperation on acid rain. The ozone annex is at http //www.ec.gc.ca/ cleanair- airpu r/ C AOL/ air/can u sa e. h tml... 

Naturally, I can t know in detail how these risks were balanced in the minds of all participants in the political struggle over TOSCA, acid rain, or other issues. Whatever these internal considerations, however, the results usually show a definite pattern of swinging from one approach to facts and measurements to the other. A not unfamiliar pattern in the political system is that of initial fact and measurement manipulation and exploitation to stake out position, and later intelligent use to build reasonable positions after the fatigue and futility of adversary "fact" games have set in. A common variation is that of initial cooperative work with a common base of fact and measurement among technical colleagues, which switches to the adversary position when... 

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