International Organizations in Question of Global Climate - Research Paper Example

 International Organizations in Question of Global Climate Global climate change is a phenomenon that has been happening through millions of years and is still happening up to date. The climate of the earth is growing warmer and warmer as years go by and indications of the climatic change are so vivid in our day to day life. Human activities such as deforestation and burning of relic fuels majorly contribute to the earth’s climatic change. Rising of the sea level and extreme weather patterns are some of the effects of global warming. A recent occurrence that resulted due to global climatic change is the Hurricane Sandy which happened towards the end of October 2012. It devastated parts of the Caribbean, Eastern Canada, Northeast of United States and Mid- Atlantic. It has been termed as the second most costly hurricane of Atlantic after Hurricane Katrina. Losses that have arisen due to Hurricane Sandy have been estimated to be about 50 billion US dollars. In the seven countries that fell in the path of the storm, it was found out that at least 209 people were killed. As a result of such occurrences, the regional and global, international organizations, which are involved in both the political and economic aspects of life, should be able to arrange a global response that is effective (Weiss, Forsythe, Coate, & Pease, 2009, p. 19). So far, very little has been done as these effects of global climatic change are so rampant and occur frequently compared to previous centuries. These international organizations face a number of weaknesses that hinder them from effectively dealing with problems such as global climatic change, civil wars, poverty and disease. As most organizations, the international organization has two major kinds of stakeholders. These include the stakeholders who act as the core of the organization, with members who control it formally. The second type of the stakeholders are those persons who are external to the organization and do not have any form of authority concerning the decisions made, though they are affected directly by any actions or decisions of the organization. International organizations have a great deal of responsibilities in the countries which are elements of their membership. Unfortunately, there is little room for citizens in each of these countries to make their contribution in concerning decision making. It is had also been found out that of all nations that are in membership with international organizations, darned few nations participate in the making of decisions. This is a major weakness because there is a belief that the inhabitants of a given nation are very well familiar to the problems of their nation more than an outsider is, and they are able to tackle it in their own way (Finnemore & Barnett, 2004, pp. 6-7). These organizations should ensure that each and every nation that is in the organization should be involved in the crucial stage of decision making. In conjunction with this, another problem is that some of the country representatives who are elected fail to perform their roles at national levels. Furthermore, some international organizations do not have a formal way in that allows the various elected representatives from each nation to participate when it comes to the international levels. This shows that at both the national and international levels, very few elected representatives area able to participate in various important activities such as decision making. Due to this, international organizations should come up with mechanisms that will enable external stakeholders to be allowed to participate especially in decision making. This will ensure that decisions made would be able to cater for the needs of the people served by the organization (Burall & Neligan, n.d., p. 10). Some international organizations offer some of their members more supremacy in the processes of decision making, while others do not. For instance, taking an international organization like World Bank into consideration, countries such as France, US, Germany, UK, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and China, have direct representatives at the executive board of World Bank. This makes each of them attain a single vote while the other nations involved with the organization are grouped in constituencies. Here, the constituencies differ in terms of size and each one of them has an executive director who holds one vote. From this, the forty six African countries that claim membership with the organization are grouped into only two constituencies, making than only have two representatives in the whole continent at the global level (Rittberger & Zangl, 2006). Lack of adequate funds is another major weakness of most international organizations. Most countries rely on international organizations in fighting various difficult problems and situations, most of which require a whole lot of budget to get rid of them. An example is how many countries that are affected by the AIDS pandemic are struggling to help people with treatment with the aid of funds by donors. Most of these countries are developing African countries including Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique (Weiss, Forsythe, Coate, & Pease, 2009). Research has found out that this year; Malawi has an approximation of one million people who are infected with the HIV-virus and about three hundred thousand people are getting the antiretroviral treatment. This year, the health budget of the country is about ninety million US dollars, and the antiretroviral treatment programme cost is about sixty million US dollars. To battle AIDS amongst other diseases like malaria and tuberculosis, Malawi immensely relies on Global Funds (Burall & Neligan, n.d.). Not only Malawi, but also other countries also rely on Global Funds, to fight diseases, civil wars and poverty. Using such an example, many international organizations, have huge burdens in their hands that require financial support. The battle of international organizations with the ever rising global economy is a great one and hinders them greatly in performing some of their duties (Weiss et al., 2009). In conjunction with lack of funds, international organizations experience difficulty in extending their membership to third-world countries. This is because most third-world countries not only need stimulation to gain membership, but they also need financial support. This is a major problem because it is seen that these developing countries do not have membership in international organizations and, therefore, suffer a great deal of problems including poverty, diseases and adverse weather conditions (Finnemore & Barnett, 2004). They, therefore, remain backward in terms of both economy and technology since they do not have any support in their development. For instance taking global warming in consideration, it is the duty of international organizations to educate people on how global warming comes by, its effects, it causes and how we can be able to reduce its alarming rate of manifestation. In some developing countries, people still practice deforestation, leaving a land once known as green and fertile to become a semi desert. This leads to drought, hunger and also poverty. These problems are like a chain as one leads to the other. International organizations should, therefore, come up with ways to manage their budget so that they may be able to spread their wings to developing countries together with the required stimulation and financial support they need (Burall & Neligan, n.d., p. 16). Another weakness that is experienced by most of the international organizations is the issue of corruption. This is where those members who are in power abuse their authority for private gain. This hurts those who are under the rule of the corrupt person in authority. This is where funds that were budget for various activities get lost, and seemingly nobody can trace them. As a result of corruption, many international organizations are faced with limited funds and resources; poor leadership alas one buys himself or herself to top positions and it also leads to untrustworthy amongst members. Corruption leads to favors, where some nations are favored in relation to others. Through corruption, funds that were meant to aid a certain country will end up being used for selfish gain. All organizations should practice transparency in order to fight corruption. Transparency is the easiest way in which an organization can develop pressure on politics, with information that is relevant to activities and policies of the organization. This will enable the internal, as well as the external stake holders, to take in hand an organization that they are able to account for effectively. Since transparency is the major coalition against corruption, it is important to know what kind of information should be available to members and what type of information is sensitive hence not good for the public. A power balance is needed, for these reforms to take place effectively, and it is obvious to find some members who will resist these transparency reforms (Burall & Neligan, p. 16). It is essential for international organizations to attain greater transparency from various governments by showing exemplary governance conditions to the loans they have. Most of the members in most international organizations are from governments of democracy, and they usually take decisions on behalf of their elected representatives. A study done by the One World trust showed that almost all international organizations do not apply this principle in which information has to be accessed inside the decision making bodies of the respective organization (Weiss et al., 2009). It was found out that very few organizations make public agendas as well as minutes of its board of governors’ meetings. All international organizations should ensure that; they have adequate disclosure policies concerning the types of document information in which they will disclose as well as those they will not. For those that they would not disclose, they should have a vivid criteria that would be used to explain the reason for not disclosing them. The organizations should ensure that stakeholders should not be able to tamper or change information that is disclosed. International organizations have a responsibility to enable all stakeholders to access the information that has been provided (Rittberger & Zangl, 2006). This includes translating the information in different languages with respect to the countries in membership and this will prompt the organizations to have a comprehensible initiative of who their stakeholders are. As a whole, it is important for international organizations to provide reliable access to their executive meetings and governing body. There should be advance availability of this information to stakeholders who want a chance to express their views. This should not happen to board minutes and papers that have very sensitive information such as those with issues of the security of the nation. References Burall, S., & Neligan, C. (n.d.). The Accountability of International Organizations. GPPi. Finnemore, M., & Barnett, M. (2004). Expertise and Power at the International Monetary Fund. Rules for the World: International Organizations in Global Politics. Cornell: Cornell University Press. Rittberger, V., & Zangl, B. (2006). PART II: Policy-Making in International Organizations. International Organization: Polity, Politics and Policies. New York: Macmillan Publishers. Weiss, T. G., Forsythe, D. P., Coate, R. A., & Pease, K.-K. (2009). Part Two. Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. The United Nations and Changing World Politics (6th ed.). New York: Westview Press. Read More