Reducing Pollution of the Rhine River: The Influence of International Cooperation

Bernauer, T. & Moser, P. (1996). Reducing Pollution of the Rhine River: The Influence of International Cooperation. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-96-007

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Abstract

This paper was written by Thomas Bernauer and Peter Moser as a commissioned study in the framework of the Regional Material Balance Approaches to Long-Term Environmental Policy Planning project (IND project). The policy part of this project - the Rhine/Black Triangle Policy Comparison - aims at a better understanding of policy options for cleaning up the Black Triangle, particularly with regard to pollution by heavy metals.

The paper examines the contribution of transboundary political and legal efforts to reducing pollution of the river Rhine by heavy metals. In doing so, it seeks to contribute to the analysis of the performance of transboundary environmental cooperation, and to gain insights that may be relevant to environmental clean-up efforts in the Black-Triangle region.

The first part of the paper reviews international and transnational agreements aimed at reducing Rhine pollution by heavy metals. The second part discusses the evolution of Rhine pollution by heavy metals. The third part analyzes the relationship between the evolution of cooperation and pollution. It does so by examining: (a) processes by which cooperation may affect the behavior of actors polluting the river; (b) actors and institutions that may have influenced such processes; and (c) background variables which need to be controlled when assessing the impact of transboundary efforts on river pollution.

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