Book Reviews
Mayer, Benoît. 2016. The Concept of Climate Migration: Advocacy and Its Prospects.
Cheltenham, UK, and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Reviewed by Saleh Ahmed
Boise State University
The interface between climate and society demonstrates the increasing complex-
ity of human dimensions of global environmental change. Despite some levels
of disagreements on anthropogenic causes of climate change, people around the
world are facing various climate stresses, such as sea level rise, increased inten-
sity and frequency of tropical cyclones, droughts, rainfall variability. People in
vulnerable geographical regions are generally most exposed to adverse climate
impacts. Many of them are forced to take the decision to leave their places of
residence and migrate somewhere else as their responses to climate change im-
pacts. Often this process of mobility is difficult because of tremendous social,
economic, political, cultural, and emotional costs.
Climate migration thus requires social, political, and economic responses
to ensure justice and the rights of displaced populations. Mayer’s The Concept of
Climate Migration: Advocacy and Its Prospects is a timely intellectual contribution
to the discussion of climate migration. The author provides interdisciplinary in-
sights into the prospects of various political narratives on climate migration and
the possibility for renewed global governance on this issue.
Even though climate–induced migration is not an entirely new phenom-
enon in many parts of the world, major gaps remain in knowledge, policy, and
governance. This book provides what it refers to as “narratives—different fram-
ings for governance on climate migration—and assesses their prospects and rel-
evance. Mayer argues that although such narratives might influence global
governance, those narratives might not necessarily achieve intended targets. De-
spite the urgency, climate migration is likely to lead to repressive policies against
migration. In some parts of the Global North, many people and politicians
perceive climate–induced migration from climate-affected regions as a national
security threat.
Mayer stresses the importance of analyzing climate migration not in iso-
lation but rather in broader social, political, and environmental contexts, since
this is a complex issue and systems-level thinking is necessary to address the
level of complexity. An interdisciplinary and integrated perspective can poten-
tially help readers to understand and consider local and regional contexts,
including the interactions, synergies, and tradeoffs among sub-components at
multiple levels. In addition, the adverse consequences of climate change are
Global Environmental Politics 19:4, November 2019
© 2019 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
139
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140 (cid:129) Book Reviews
often augmented by existing structural challenges such as poverty and margin-
alization. Therefore, in most cases poor and marginalized people are the major
victims of climate change and subsequent migration. Mayer asks whether and
how the political momentum created by climate migration can spur progressive
change in global governance to support those in various challenging situations.
Based on these arguments, Mayer organizes the book in five major sec-
tions. Chapter 1 provides a thorough discussion of climate migration, highlight-
ing the ways climate migration and global governance are closely interlinked.
He argues that there is a lack of international cooperation for realizing the eco-
nomic and social rights of the most marginalized and vulnerable populations
who are exposed to adverse climate change impacts. Mayer also points out the
disproportionate and unfulfilled responsibility of greenhouse gas emitters to the
global community. The subsequent chapters each highlight the prospects of one
of specific narratives Mayer has identified related to climate migration: the hu-
manitarian narrative, the migration narrative, the responsibility narrative, and
pragmatic narratives.
In Chapter 2, the humanitarian narrative is framed by arguments related to
human rights, global justice, and the limits of humanitarian reason. Mayer
stresses the importance of not imposing further (humanitarian) obligations
on states whose response capacities to climate migration are already compro-
mised because of impending adverse climate impacts. In the following chapter,
the migration narrative suggests that forced human mobility under climate
change circumstances should be perceived as a social phenomenon, and the vul-
nerability of migrants should be addressed through adequate measures of social
protection and the rights of migrants. But the rise of political narratives against
refugee protection more generally raises the question of how much can be ac-
complished at the national or international level. Mayer therefore rightly high-
lights the importance of global governance and international cooperation at
both a national and cross-national scale. Chapter 3, which talks about the respon-
sibility narrative, is framed with the classic example of who is most responsible
for the rapid change in global climate systems, since now it is widely accepted
that not all people, societies, or countries are equally responsible for the anthro-
pogenic causes of climate change. In most cases, impacted people, who bear the
largest burden of climate change impacts and themselves are climate migrants in
most cases, are least responsible for any climate-related impacts. In this chapter,
Mayer asks how these aspects of responsibility should translate to the sharing of
responsibility for climate migrants on the ground.
The final chapter, the pragmatic narratives, suggests that both human rights
protection and climate change responsibility can be realized through an alter-
native construction of states’ interests under complex and dynamic world
system. Global governance is a complex process. Many factors, including inter-
dependence, interrelations, and mutual interests, can influence the overall out-
comes. There is no straightforward global governance framework that can
address climate challenges in a more coherent manner. At the end, Mayer also
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Andrew B. Kirkpatrick
(cid:129) 141
echoes a similar sentiment, saying, “the conclusions remain abstract in nature”
(p. 301).
The Concept of Climate Migration: Advocacy and Its Prospects provides a rich
synthetic analysis from multiple disciplines, ranging from international law and
international relations to some elements of argument studies and psychology.
Interdisciplinarity perspectives presented here provide diverse political argu-
ments about the concept of climate migration and help readers to understand
the complexity of global governance on climate migration issues. Even though
readers might not always get straightforward answers or directions, Mayer gives
a useful overview of one of the most pressing challenges of our time—climate
migration—an issue that demands nuanced understanding and requires coordi-
nated efforts for possible solutions. The book sheds light on broader questions
about the evolving role of global governance in the twenty-first century, and
should be of interest to academics and policymakers whose research includes cli-
mate change, climate migration, international relations, and global governance.
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Brooks, Stephen, and Andrea Olive, eds. 2018. Transboundary Environmental Governance
Across the World’s Longest Border. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press.
Reviewed by Andrew B. Kirkpatrick
Christopher Newport University
Canada and the United States have only been on the same page in terms of
environmental policy for fifteen months out of the last decade-plus: a brief
window from October 2015 to January 2017 when the Obama and Trudeau
governments were both committed to combating shared environmental threats.
Before that window, the United States was interested, but Canada under Harper
was not; since the Trump Administration took office, the positions have flipped.
Yet, as the authors of Transboundary Environmental Governance across the World’s
Longest Border make clear, this situation has not stopped progress on shared
transboundary issues. From migratory species to watersheds to airborne pollut-
ants, and from the Pacific to the Great Lakes, the two states are working together,
frequently at subnational and local levels.
Once one gets west of the Great Lakes, the United States-Canada border is
fairly arbitrary, cutting across numerous watersheds and ecological regions. By
necessity, this means the two states must cooperate, and they have, on canals,
hydroelectric projects, emissions of air pollutants and water pollutants, and
distribution of river water. But the arbitrariness of the border also means that
neither the United States nor Canada has the upper hand; other than issues in-
volving mining in Yukon near rivers that feed into Alaska, there is no permanent
upstream/downstream dynamic. Both sides are reliant on the other for resources
at various times.
142 (cid:129) Book Reviews
This book, with contributions from a range of authors from across North
America and both the academic and policy worlds, seeks to look at the interna-
tional border holistically, and examine all issues facing it. Contributors were
asked to assess the Canada–United States relationship in their issue areas (Great
Lakes fisheries, prairie rivers, etc.) along with the environmental impact of ex-
isting regimes and institutions and the chances for reform or improvement.
There has been a renewed focus on transboundary environmental governance
in North America in recent years, and a corresponding increase in literature,
though most of it has been focused on a single topic: only water, or climate
change, or the Great Lakes. The book starts in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence re-
gion, then moves west before concluding with chapters on energy governance
and climate change policy from sea to sea.
One key point the book highlights is the sheer complexity of the trans-
boundary relationship, which goes back to at least 1909. Today, negotiations
may take place between the two federal governments, between US states and
Canadian provinces, within river boards made up of local stakeholders, between
the federal governments, subnational units, and Indigenous groups, or a variety
of other combinations. Agreements have been made between states and prov-
inces that may not be strictly constitutional but are followed nevertheless. The
authors also make an important point that doesn’t always come out in discus-
sions of other riparian negotiations: water quantity in many of these watersheds
is as important as, if not more so than, water quality.
Two subjects are omnipresent throughout the chapters: The International
Joint Commission (IJC), founded in 1909 by the Boundary Waters Treaty, is the
oldest and still the most important body in this issue area. Though a plethora of
new treaties and organizations have risen up since the 1960s, the IJC still has at
least some hand in every issue discussed in the book. The other subject is the
specter of climate change and what it will do to these carefully negotiated
regimes. The area between eastern Montana, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and
North Dakota (discussed in chapter 5) may be most affected; the rivers there
are already fully allocated and overstressed during times of drought, and if the
climate gets hotter and drier, as predicted, there will not be enough water to
go around. There’s a refreshing willingness to go beyond current headlines
and flashpoints (the Keystone XL pipeline gets only two short mentions),
and over the course of the book, nearly every major environmental problem
of the last seventy-five years is mentioned: water/air pollution, dams, acid
rain, climate change, and invasive species (the sea lamprey was the impetus
for the creation of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission in the 1950s), among
others.
It would have been better if the book contained more maps (though the
one by Donald K. Alper on mining and water relations in the Pacific West is a
welcome exception); the detailed descriptions of various rivers, lakes, and
fisheries that straddle the United States and Canada would be strengthened
by some visual supplements. And much more time in the chapters is spent on
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Miranda V. Chase
(cid:129) 143
explaining the “what” of cross-border environmental relations than the “why,”
though the facts and descriptions in and of themselves are valuable. Some issues
are barely mentioned, such as the disputed Beaufort Sea territory between
Alaska and the Yukon, or the differing stances on the Northwest Passage once
it becomes ice-free in the near future, or shared fishing stocks in the Pacific and
Atlantic.
Still, Transboundary Environmental Governance is useful for scholars, as
well as undergraduates or graduates studying comparative environmental
politics. The culture of cooperation that has developed between the two
countries on this issue isn’t immediately recognizable if one only looks at
Washington-to-Ottawa contacts. The authors’ deeper dive is of much use to
the rest of us.
Moore, Scott M. 2018. Subnational Hydropolitics: Conflict, Cooperation, and Institution-
Building in Shared River Basins. New York: Oxford University Press.
Reviewed by V. Miranda Chase
University of Massachusetts Boston
For a long time, the literature on water politics has focused on the possibility of
water wars between countries. Scott Moore calls attention to the fact that no
such major war has yet happened, and that most international conflicts over
water have been resolved diplomatically, thanks to several international organi-
zations that have facilitated formal cooperation agreements between countries.
Curiously, despite the work of these organizations, conflicts over water persist,
most of them within national borders. These subnational water conflicts are not
only common but often entrenched and hard to solve. Subnational jurisdictions
find numerous ways to secure their own interests and often find it hard to build
cooperative agreements with their own central governments and other water-
sharing neighbors. The book investigates core features of these subnational
water conflicts, and the author underlines three variables that explain why some
conflicts are harder to solve than others: decentralization, sectional identity, and
political opportunity structure.
According to Moore, the more decentralized a country’s political system,
the more likely are conflicts over water. Sectional identity refers to the grievances
that exist between different social groups (urban vs rural, racial divides, religious
cleavages, etc.), and Moore argues that the stronger the grievances, the more
likely water conflicts are to persist over time. Another factor that matters is
how easy it is for civil society groups to enter and participate in political processes.
If the political opportunity structure is open, nongovernmental organizations can
join negotiations, and their participation leads to more cooperative agreements. If
the political opportunity structure is closed, civil society participation is limited
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144 (cid:129) Book Reviews
and conflicts over water become more entrenched. To better understand how the-
se variables operate in the dynamics of water conflict, Moore presents case studies
analyzing water management institutions in the United States, India, China, and
France.
The case of the Colorado River basin in the United States is an iconic ex-
ample of interstate water conflict, most of it fueled by sectional identity politics
(farmers vs. urban users, upstream vs. downstream users, etc.) These conflicts
started to ameliorate after Native American groups began to take advantage of
the open political opportunity structure and campaigned for more holistic water
management practices. Moore compares these conflicts with more cooperative
US institutions, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Delaware River
Basin Commission. He concludes that political actors in these cases have suc-
ceed in establishing robust institutions due to the commitment and continued
participation of third parties.
The Krishna River basin in India is also characterized by interstate conflict
over water. Indian states are divided along ethnolinguistic borders, which fosters
even more conflictual sectional identity cleavages between upstream and down-
stream users. India’s political opportunity structure is rather closed, making it
hard for third parties to build cooperative efforts among states involved. In
the short term, a successful case of cooperation occurred in the Damodar Valley,
where the central government initially played a role fostering the creation of a
collaborative water management institution, but this initiative eventually
withered due to the lack of civil society participation, indicating that the polit-
ical opportunity structure there is rather closed.
An internal contradiction in the book is the connection Moore tries to
draw between conflict outcomes and the extent of centralized political systems.
He argues that decentralization leads to more conflicts. But most of the case
studies presented do not support this claim. The cases in the United States
and India (federal countries with decentralized political systems) feature both
conflict and cooperation over water resources, which are explained by a mixture
of sectional identity and political opportunity structure. These cases show that
decentralization can feature both cooperative and conflictual outcomes. Moore
argues that “without a significant degree of decentralization, there is little incen-
tive or ability for subnational leaders to engage in water conflict” (6). But he
later shows that local leaders in highly centralized political systems such as in
China still have incentives to pursue their own interests and to disobey central
orders: “Local officials frequently warp or ignore central policy directives, while
neighboring subnational jurisdictions engage in competition for water and
disputes over the construction of water infrastructure” (158). He argues that
a centralized system such as China’s is still highly conflictual. The only case
that supports his argument is France, which involves a centralized system with
cooperative outcomes. He argues that conflictual and/or cooperative outcomes
in all cases across these four countries can be explained by a combination of
sectional identity and political opportunity structure. This explanation is
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Miranda V. Chase
(cid:129) 145
convincing, but the connection with the extent of political system centraliza-
tion seems weak.
The book nonetheless makes important contributions to the field of envi-
ronmental governance. It debunks the idea that conflict is caused by geograph-
ical or physical characteristics such as up- or downstream positions, water
scarcity, pollution, and flooding, arguing instead that “these physical factors
represent simply a set of initial conditions” (206). Water conflicts are driven
by a combination of ideational factors and political institutions, an insight that
certainly deserves further consideration by scholars in the field.
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