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Combating Ineffectiveness: Climate Change Bandwagoning and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification

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  • Alexandra Conliffe

    (Alexandra Conliffe is a Visiting Research Associate at the University of Oxford, where she obtained a doctorate from the School of Geography. Her research examined the combined impacts of political and environmental change on agricultural livelihoods in Central Asia. She has presented research on approaches to climate change adaptation in post-Soviet contexts. As a consultant to the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Conliffe has attended key UN negotiations on desertification and climate change since 2005.)

Abstract

This article examines the role of linkage politics in revitalizing the largely ineffective UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). I argue that the UNCCD Secretariat has taken a leadership role in driving a regime linkage agenda that has focused disproportionately on linkages to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). By comparing the UNCCD Secretariat's attempts to build desertification-mitigation and desertification-adaptation linkages, I propose three criteria for predicting whether regime linkages are likely to benefit source regimes (here the UNCCD): the linkage's contribution to source governance goals; the credibility of knowledge presented by the source regime; and the linkage's political feasibility for the target regime. This analysis shows secretariats to be important actors in linkage politics whose actions can lead to both beneficial and harmful outcomes for the regimes they are intended to serve. Finally, by asking whether desertification issues that overlap with climate change might be better addressed under the UNFCCC, I question when regime overlap indicates regime redundancy and warrants regime death. © 2011 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexandra Conliffe, 2011. "Combating Ineffectiveness: Climate Change Bandwagoning and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 11(3), pages 44-63, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:tpr:glenvp:v:11:y:2011:i:3:p:44-63
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    Cited by:

    1. Linda Mederake & Barbara Saerbeck & Alexandra Goritz & Helge Jörgens & Mareike Well & Nina Kolleck, 2022. "Cultivated ties and strategic communication: do international environmental secretariats tailor information to increase their bureaucratic reputation?," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 481-506, September.
    2. Tobias Böhmelt & Gabriele Spilker, 2016. "The interaction of international institutions from a social network perspective," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 67-89, February.
    3. Barbara Saerbeck & Mareike Well & Helge Jörgens & Alexandra Goritz & Nina Kolleck, 2020. "Brokering Climate Action: The UNFCCC Secretariat Between Parties and Nonparty Stakeholders," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(2), pages 105-127, May.
    4. Nina Hall, 2015. "Money or Mandate? Why International Organizations Engage with the Climate Change Regime," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 15(2), pages 79-97, May.

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