National Development Identities in the Self-Differentiated Paris Climate Agreement: Implications for Multi-scalar Climate Governance
Open Access
- Author:
- Boyle, Margaret
- Graduate Program:
- Geography
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- February 19, 2021
- Committee Members:
- Brian H. King, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Brian H. King, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Lorraine Dowler, Committee Member
Bronwen Powell, Committee Member
Nancy A Tuana, Outside Member
Jia-Ching Chen, Special Member
Cynthia Ann Brewer, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- Climate Change
Governance
Paris Agreement
Sustainable Development Goals
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Food Security
South Africa
Development
Differentiation
Self-Differentiation - Abstract:
- This dissertation evaluates the significance of the nationally-driven, or self-differentiated, structure of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Paris Climate Agreement for multi-scalar climate governance, toward a more complex understanding of national development identities in international regimes. Through research in the context of international climate negotiations, as well as through a case study of an adaptation program to address climate-exacerbated food insecurities in South Africa, this dissertation makes three central claims: First, this dissertation argues for a broader conceptual understanding of self-differentiation, by identifying a number of ways, beyond written commitments and lists of developing/developed countries, that countries articulate and leverage national development identities in international climate governance. Second, this dissertation notes that while national development identities are usually homogenized at the level of the nation state, and analyzed only within one dimension of scale, they mediate and are mediated by multi-scalar governance, including subnational governance, in diverse and context-specific ways. This dissertation places particular emphasis on understanding the significance of these relationships in the context of major emerging economies experiencing high domestic inequality. Third, taking South Africa as an example illustrates some of the ways in which diverse subnational development priorities are obscured by national development identities in the context of international climate governance, with material consequences for climate adaptation and food security. Specifically, a national emphasis on agricultural productivity as a development priority and food security solution may marginalize those who do not see themselves as part of the agricultural sector. Moreover, a national emphasis on delivering food security through enhanced agricultural production often conflicts with the interests of individuals who are interested in enhancing their household food security through wage-based income from other sectors. Finally, national and international climate adaptation programs do not yet fully leverage governance mechanisms that communities have developed in response to past crises, nor the ways in which these local governance approaches simultaneously achieve multiple climate and development objectives.