ABSTRACT
Globalization is used to refer to a broad process of societal transformation that encompasses, including growth in trade, investment, travel, computer networking, and transboundary pollution. Growth in trade has consistently outpaced the expansion of the global economy since World War II. The globalization of commerce in decades has internationalized environmental issues. Trade in natural resources such as timber and fish is soaring. The global nature of both the economy and of ecological systems causes the exchange of “environmental space” among nations. Globalization in its many guises poses enormous challenges to traditional governance structures. National governments are ill suited for managing environmental problems that transcend borders, whether via air and water currents or through global commerce. The time is ripe to build the international governance structures needed to ensure that the world economy of the twenty-first century meets peoples’ aspirations for a better future without destroying the natural fabric that underpins life itself.
