Governing International Commons

The Amazon rainforest is a vital carbon reservoir and climate regulator, and yet global demands on its natural resources are leading to irreversible environmental damage, impacting the planet's water cycle, climate, and food security. How to balance the interests of the eight Amazon basin states with these global environmental concerns, and the ancestral rights of the over 400 indigenous peoples that live there? Building on fieldwork in Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador, this book provides a novel multi-scalar and multi-sectoral analysis of the Amazon. In doing so, it argues that the current governance of the Amazon exhibits the policy failures of polycentricity, with different authorities developing localised environmental initiatives with weak coordination. It sets out a policy paradigm shift to plurinational governance, that incorporates indigenous peoples and conservation scientists in international decision-making. This book will interest academics of environmental law, politics and governance, and policymakers and practitioners involved in global environmental governance in general and international commons and the Amazonian region in particular.