Effective Forms of Environmental Diplomacy (Routledge Focus on Environment and Sustainability)

This book holistically covers the issue of environmental diplomacy by building a firm foundation for readers to understand the different dimensions of the topic.

The book begins by exploring the progress the world community has made in understanding the importance of diplomacy in preserving the environment for humankind's survival, peace, and security. Then, it critically analyses the existing system of international environmental treaties and highlights its political and legal gaps. It further examines specific case studies on multilateral diplomacy as well as both formal and informal diplomacy in cases from Europe and the United States to evaluate the diplomatic models followed by different stakeholders in the field. Through this case study analysis, the book develops theoretical and empirical frameworks that can be applied to study how international and regional organisations and NGOs maintain and put forward environmental agendas at an international level. It also examines the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the environment to highlight the challenges to reach an effective and equitable environmental governance and draw conclusions around effective versus ineffective forms and tools of environmental diplomacy.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental diplomacy and environmental law and governance, as well as practitioners working in this important field.

Leila Nicolas, PhD, is a Professor of International Relations at the Lebanese University in Beirut and Lebanese Army Staff and Command Academy. She is the founder of the NGO "Lebanese for Democracy and Good Governance" and has 21 years of civil society experience in conflict resolution, peacebuilding, justice, and the rule of law. As a MENA expert, Dr. Nicolas writes weekly political articles and serves as an expert commentator for several media outlets. She is an author of eight Arabic books on contemporary international relations, Great Powers' politics, and grand strategies and MENA politics. Her book, The Arab World in Transition: The Rough Road to Justice, was published in 2020.

Elie Kallab is the Deputy Project Lead for the Local Pathways Fellowship at UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network-Youth. He is a graduate and member committee of research and valorisation for the Oeil sur la Cite blog for Sciences Po Aix (Institute of Political Studies) in France. Elie has Master’s degree in Conflict Management and Humanitarian Action from the University of Siena in Italy. He is equally a member of the steering committee for a research school on mobilisation and gender; CORMED. Elie has co-authored a book chapter in Harness it: Renewable Energy Technologies and Project Development Models Transforming the Grid.