Non-State Actors and Environmental Assessment: North American Acid Rain and Global Climate Change

Abstract

Rather than as a form of interdisciplinary science-policy integration, assessment is defined as a dynamic process involving the interaction of diverse agents that co-evolve over time and is based on both cognitive and moral tenets. Non-state actors are examined as assessment agents and concepts are developed to consider issue salience, timing, actor structure and cultural setting as important factors in determining assessment participation strategies and tracing influence. Cases for acid rain (the US-Canada Air Quality Accord, 1991) and global climate change (greenhouse gas emissions trading under the Kyoto Protocol) are examined. Tentative conclusions indicate that these two cases share strong similarities in the way various non-state actors (environmental groups, businesses, scientists, etc.) evolve, interact and influence the assessment process over longer time periods.