ABSTRACT
Solving the problem of how global environmental protection is to be financed plays a crucial role in virtually all stages of global environmental policy (Chapter C). While national environmental policy is implemented principally through sovereign jurisdiction, global environmental policy is characterized by the principle of consensus, in other words, the implementation of global environmental policy depends to a large extent on agreement being reached by all countries. Because many measures to protect global environmental resources are more efficient in developing countries (e.g., lower costs associated with improving energy efficiency to avoid greenhouse gas emissions), or indeed are only possible in developing countries (e.g., conservation of the tropical rainforest), getting developing countries to agree to international conventions on the environment is frequently dependent on wealthier industrial nations assuming at least some of the costs of implementing these conventions. The developing countries are thus gaining increasing negotiating power, and this manifests itself especially in the say that they have regarding the use of funds (Biermann, 1998b).
