ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the critical qualities of environmental negotiations and to assess their effect on the outcome. An international negotiation can be describes as a process, involving at least two parties, in which conflicting values and objectives are combined to form a joint decision over a given issue. The composition of the agenda represents another dimension of complexity of international negotiations. The character of a negotiation process varies considerably depending on the parties, the substance of the agenda, and the special characteristics of the external context in which it evolves. The highest level of understanding, negotiation may be regarded as a particular type of conflict resolution and collective decision making which has many significant process properties. In international negotiations on the environment, the issues on the agenda often prove to be quite different: multiple and interrelated in complex ways.
