Global Warming and East Asia

The Domestic and International Politics of Climate Change

Paul G. Harris

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2004
• eBook ISBN: 9781134376216
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Global Warming and East Asia analyses the domestic politics, foreign policy and international relations of climate change in East and Southeast Asia, The countries of this important region are often disproportionately affected by climate change and, as they expand and develop, their contribution to the problem grows. The contributors investigate the increasingly widespread and disparate efforts to address global warming at international, national and local levels, and in so doing increase our understanding of a region vital to mitigating and coping with climate change. This unique volume includes in-depth studies of China and Japan, two of the most important countries in East Asia with regard to global warming, and examines the role of East and Southeast Asian countries, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, in combating the problem.

PART I

Perspectives on the politics of climate change in East Asia

1 Introduction

The politics and foreign policy of global warming in East Asia

Paul G. Harris

Introduction

Governments of the world have been grappling with the problem of global warming for over two decades. Warming of the Earth's atmosphere is being increased by human activities – particularly the burning of coal, oil, and other fossil fuels – resulting in the emissions of carbon dioxide and other harmful “greenhouse gases” (GHGs). Global warming in turn is causing climate change, which is manifested in rising sea levels, droughts and floods, damage to agriculture, and harm to natural ecosystems and species. (See Chapter 2 for a discussion of global warming and climate change science and predicted impacts.) As the potentially severe adverse consequences of climatic changes have become more apparent and better understood, the efforts of governments and, increasingly, nongovernmental actors to mitigate and adapt to these consequences have increased.

A milestone in these efforts was reached with the signing of the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit). Subsequent international negotiations, notably those surrounding the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the FCCC – which laid out a modest set of mandatory reductions in GHG emissions by developed countries – and subsequent deliberations on how to implement it, have been fraught with difficulties and differences among countries. The countries of East Asia (i.e. China, Northeast Asia, and Southeast Asia) have been intimately involved in these deliberations. Indeed, these countries are central to international efforts to address climate change. They include the world's second largest emitter of GHGs – China – and other major developing-country contributors with growing emissions. East Asia also includes one of the world's major economic powers and one of the largest donors of environmental aid to the developing world, particularly within the region: Japan. And East Asia contains many of the developing countries and vast populations that will be most affected by climate change.

This book includes studies that examine the implications for East Asia of global warming and climate change, as well as the global regime that has emanated from the international climate negotiations, and shows how the countries of East Asia play important roles in the international politics of climate change and the increasingly widespread and disparate efforts to address it at international, national, and local levels. We pay particular attention to the domestic and foreign policies of China and Japan. These countries are arguably the most important players in East Asia, and they represent the two extremes of countries in the region. China is a developing country with the world's largest population, many of them highly vulnerable to climate change, and it is second only to the United States in its total national emissions of GHGs. To a great extent, the future of the global atmosphere depends on the future of China. Japan is a highly industrialized country with membership in the club of the world's most developed economies. It has major financial and technological resources that can be brought to bear on the problem of climate change, and it also makes a large contribution to GHG concentrations in the atmosphere. Having said this, we also look at countries in the region that are making a smaller contribution to the problem but which have a very large stake in its present and future impacts on their ecologies and socio-economic systems.

The case studies in this book are important for a number of reasons. Many of the roots of the problem of global warming and climate change, as well as the available solutions to them, are firmly planted in East Asia. Much as the world needs the United States and other developed countries to reduce their extensive emissions of GHGs, if this problem is to be addressed with adequate vigor (at the time of this writing the prospect of this happening any time soon is rather bleak), the world must engage East Asian countries that contribute greatly to the problem through their own emissions. Just as important from the perspective of human well being, the vast populations of East Asia are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Their geographies and their often severe poverty mean that they will be greatly affected, usually in painful ways, and they will have difficulty coping with these effects. Thus, if we care about the problem of climate change, and if we care about the human suffering caused by it, we must seriously consider and understand the roles played by the countries of East Asia.

Toward this end, this book brings together into one volume some of the important research and thinking on the domestic and international politics and political economy of climate change in East Asia. This kind of research is available elsewhere in individual book chapters and journal articles, of course – although much of the thinking found here is original. But there are far too few books that bring this kind of work together under a single title. As such, this book is intended to make knowledge on the politics of climate change in East Asia readily accessible to scholars, policymakers, environmental and economic stakeholders, and students of environmental politics and policy. In the process of doing this, I have purposely sought to combine the research and perspectives of Western scholars with that of people from the region. This is critical, I think, because people from (and in) the region will have different interpretations of which issues are important, what actions are necessary to address this problem, and precisely which forces and actors are involved in the policy-making processes of East Asian countries. Western scholars in turn bring their own perspectives, derived from their personal paradigms and their research in the region. Collectively, the perspectives of the contributors to this volume make important and unique additions to the socialscience literature on climate change.

Climate change and East Asia: domestic politics, foreign policy, and international relations

Bearing in mind the importance of East Asia for efforts to address global warming and climate change, what general lessons can we draw from this book's analyses of countries within the region? There are many, some rather broad and applicable to most countries and their relations with the world beyond their borders; others quite specific, often idiosyncratic, but which influence international relations in the region and beyond. From a broad perspective (which we might think of as systemic forces), we must be cognizant of the environmental processes and effects themselves: global warming, resulting climatic changes, and the effects of these changes on the countries and peoples of East Asia. That is, climate change itself affects all other forces influencing the domestic and international politics of climate change in East Asia. Furthermore, perceptions of how climatic changes will affect national interests like economic development and human wellbeing are drivers of policy. This highlights the important role played by science as the stimulus for political negotiations and policy responses, as well as the more general importance of knowledge and expertise (such as understandings of the economic impacts of climate change and possible responses to it) in shaping domestic and international policy. Thus, at least at an initial level of analysis, countries of East Asia most affected by climate change (e.g. the Philippines and Indonesia) can be expected to take a great interest in international negotiations and mitigation measures.

However, there are other broad forces that influence political debates and policy processes. Among these are the disparities in wealth among countries, the different historical responsibilities for current atmospheric concentrations of GHGs, and associated considerations of international (in)justice and (in)equity. These are very important concerns for the countries of East Asia, and they can divert attention away from the actual and perceived impacts of climate change, in the process politicizing the international policy process. Questions of international justice and equity highlight the important role for international assistance between richer and poorer countries. For example, China has shown that it is possible to take concrete steps to address GHG emissions; its emissions, according to some new research, have not increased significantly in recent years, despite the rapid growth of its economy. Even if its actual emissions are growing, they are not increasing at anywhere near the rate of economic growth. To be sure, this can be explained in large part by China's efforts at transition to less-polluting fuels for reasons that go beyond combating climate change. Nevertheless, China expects much more help from wealthier countries to help it use energy more efficiently and in cleaner forms, and it expects the developed countries to set an example before it takes even more action to specifically address atmospheric pollution related to climate change. Other developing countries in the region hold similar views.

Much of the financial aid to support the kinds of development in East Asia that are less harmful to the global atmosphere is coming from within the region; Japan has provided major development assistance to its neighbors. But the motivation for Japan's assistance is arguably not always, or even frequently, linked directly to global warming and climate change, let alone climate change justice. Instead, Japan's policies are often associated more with the bureaucrats' perceptions of national and industrial interests, or aid for sustainable development is viewed as a way to bolster Japan's international standing. In addition to highlighting some of the nuances associated with North-South aid in the context of climate change, this shows that motivations for policies related to climate change are not as predictable and straightforward as cursory thinking would anticipate. Broad considerations regarding climate change – many largely unrelated – therefore influence national policies.

Looking more closely at individual cases, further lessons can be learned. For example, what role does the desire among countries for international reputation and leadership play? Some countries, China and Japan for example, want to be and are international leaders in various issue areas. But their desire to lead has restrictions. China, for example, wants to lead the developing world, and in so doing it resists the demands of the industrialized countries to take on firm commitments to limit its GHG emissions, and it resists multilateral efforts to shape its emissions policies. It has, nevertheless, been successful in limiting its emissions voluntarily, and it readily joins with other countries (notably Japan) in bilateral efforts to move its economic development path in an environmentally sustainable direction. This is because it can control such efforts more readily, take advantage of international financing associated with climate change, and otherwise promote its particularistic national interests more easily. Japan wants to lead as well, and it clearly cares about its image globally. But its climate change diplomacy may not be motivated greatly by the problem of climate change per se, which helps explain why its desire to lead is partly directed at shaping its regional neighbors' views of Japan and Japanese foreign policy.

Other lessons come from the case studies that follow. History and environmental experiences are sometimes crucial in international cooperation and policy making in East Asia. (Such findings are not new, to be sure, but they have been given too little treatment in existing literature addressing environmental diplomacy and sustainable development in the region.) For example, the history of war and occupation, perhaps surprisingly, greatly impacts climate change policy in East and Southeast Asia. China remains weary of outside influences and pressures as a consequence of its domination by Western powers, particularly in the nineteenth century. This affects its willingness – or rather unwillingness – to be bound by environmental standards set by international organizations, even if it has a hand in shaping those policies, and even more so limits its willingness to allow outsiders to dictate and run development projects related to climate change. Furthermore, China and the countries of East Asia have not forgotten Japan's occupations and atrocities in the last century. Consequently, they expect Japan to provide aid as a form of retribution, and Japan has agreed to do so, often in the context of development assistance to combat pollution contributing to global warming (among other, more clearly self-interested, rationales for its aid).

Environmental history is also important. Japan has learned some important lessons from its national experiences with terrible environmental pollution, and this has affected its policies on climate change, both domestic and international. Thus it has had substantial success in addressing its environmental problems, although a fixation on domestic issues has often distracted it from taking on a more proactive role in dealing with global environmental problems. China's experience with longstanding ecological scarcities and widespread environmental pollution is equally appalling, if not more so, especially considering the very large number of people adversely affected. This recent history, and its continuing manifestations, are pushing China toward much more action to combat the pollution that causes global warming, in so doing addressing some of the country's worst national ecological issues.

Other lessons that come from the research described in this book highlight the often highly pluralistic nature of climate change politics. In international forums, many actors are able to affect policy. The usual actors remain the most important, notably governments and their diplomatic representatives, as well as the international organizations and the officials working for them. But other actors are increasingly very important in international policy processes, notably international financial institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and commercial entities. Similarly, a host of actors are at work at national and local levels. These range from state-level officials, bureaucracies, and local politicians, to a variety of actors in civil society, such as scientists, environmental activists and transnational groups, international organizations, and the communities and individuals most affected by climate change at the local level.

One interesting finding of some of the contributors to this volume is that the level of pluralism at the domestic level is not what it might at first appear to be. For example, Japanese democracy is shown to be often rather unresponsive to the interests of the Japanese people (that Japanese citizens have usually not tried harder to pressure government is of course an important consideration). Thus, Japanese policy on climate change is largely the result of bargaining among statelevel actors (i.e. bureaucrats and the ruling party) in association with Japanese industry. Perhaps surprisingly, however, China's climate change policy process is quite pluralistic. A myriad of actors at all levels of society are involved. Communist Party officials are of course able to influence the shape of policy, but so too are scientists (many with conceptions of preferred policy derived from close contact with foreigners), bureaucrats of all stripes, local officials, and increasingly tolerated environmental activists – among many other actors. These cases show that an understanding of climate change politics in East Asia, and the resulting policies, require us to look inside the “black box” of domestic politics, and also to look at how what goes on there is influenced by forces from the outside.

These are only some of the most obvious conclusions and lessons that can be drawn from the chapters that follow. What comes from them is a better understanding of East Asia's important role in ongoing international efforts to limit global warming and manage its effects, as well as the importance of considering how decisions taken farther afield affect the region and its peoples. Hopefully they also raise new questions that will be explored by others, in so doing heightening awareness of how East Asia can and does contribute to this problem and, more importantly, to its solutions.

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Environmental Politics Routledge Research in Environmental Politics
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• List of contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• PART I Perspectives on the politics of climate change in East Asia
• PART II China and the politics of climate change
• PART III Formulating climate change policy in Japan
• PART IV The costs and opportunities of climate change in Southeast Asia
• Index