Sabbatical Presentation

Unfulfilled Promise of Environmental Governance

Sabbatical Presentation by Dr. Felix Edoho, Professor of Business and Management, Lincoln University of Missouri

The purpose of the presentation is to examine the unfulfilled promise of environmental governance. Dr. Edoho argues that the promise of environmental governance cannot be fulfilled until mechanisms are incorporated to hold transnational corporations (TNCs) accountable for their environmental behavior in developing countries. Because of their environmentally unfriendly behavior that poses existential threats to livelihood, community groups have mounted serious challenges against TNCs. Consequently, TNCs face legitimacy crisis that threaten their operations in many developing countries, particularly Nigeria.

Although environmental governance has been touted as the panacea for environmental protection, there has not been modus operandi for corporate environmental accountability in multilateral environmental treaties. Yet, environmental governance is often presented as the solution to environmental despoilation. The belief in the efficacy of environmental governance is informed by the assumptions that establishing a robust institutional framework, legal architecture, and techno-social infrastructure would provide a system to curtail the excesses of polluters, facilitate environmental protection, and drive sustainability as the desirable goal for humanity.

However, after decades of environmental governance and avalanche of multilateral environmental treaties, our environment is no better now than it was then. By certain indicators, the rate of environmental deterioration is accelerating, and humanity lives on borrowed time. This presentation highlights the danger of status quo and the need to rethink environmental governance.