ABSTRACT
The geopolitics of international environmental decisionmaking are rapidly changing as the implications of environment-related problems exceed local and national concerns. A model of environmental politics can be constructed as an upside-down pyramid with four layers representing local, national, international/multilateral, and global ecopolitical scales or stages. The major environmental role of national governments in most industrialized, capitalist countries is to regulate private industry. International environmental action is further constrained by its high price tag; disagreement over who should pay to rectify damage already done, and to prevent further degradation, can paralyze negotiations. Some national nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and Third World countries argue that the North's own historical industrialization process was unchecked by environmental regulation and that the North is thus responsible for most global environmental problems. Most environmental NGOs are focused at the local and national levels, but international affiliations of these organizations are also becoming more widespread and active as concern for global issues grows.
