In recent years, the debate on the establishment of a new international agency on environmental protection has gained substantial momentum. This book presents a balanced selection of articles of the leading participants in this debate, including both major supporters and opponents of creating such an organization.

Contents: About the authors; Foreword, Klaus Töpfer; Preface; The debate on a world environment organization: an introduction, Steffen Bauer and Frank Biermann. Global Environmental Governance Assessing the Need for Reform: The United Nations' record on environmental governance: an assessment, Lorraine Elliott; Global environmental governance: challenges for the South from a theoretical perspective, Joyeeta Gupta. The Case for a World Environment Organization: Toward a world environment organization: reflections upon a vital debate, Steve Charnovitz; The rationale for a world environment organization, Frank Biermann; Generating effective global environmental governance: the North's need for a world environment organization, John J. Kirton. The Case Against a World Environment Organization: Clustering international environmental agreements as an alternative to a world environment organization, Konrad von Moltke; Reforming international environmental governance: an institutional perspective on proposals for a world environment organization, Sebastian Oberthÿr and Thomas Gehring; Neither necessary, nor sufficient: why organizational tinkering will not improve environmental governance, Adil Najam; Conclusion, Frank Biermann and Steffen Bauer; Index.

Frank Biermann is Professor of Political Science and Environmental Policy Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He also heads the Department of Environmental Policy Analysis at the university's Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), and is the Director of the Global Governance Project (GLOGOV.ORG). Steffen Bauer is the coordinator of the MANUS research group ('Managers of Global Change: Effectiveness and Learning of International Organizations') within the Global Governance Project (GLOGOV.ORG), and a doctoral candidate in political science at the Freie Universitÿt Berlin.