CIESIN Thematic Guides A common technique for evaluating the efficacy of national environmental policy instruments is to require periodic formal reports that force some level of evaluation of the "state of the environment" with regard to particular issues. Comparison of similar national reports can provide an international perspective. Comolet (1990) discusses the utility of such reports, which varies widely depending on the techniques used to prepare them, in "How OECD Countries Respond to State-of-the-Environment Reports."
National approaches to global environmental change policy are typically discussed on a case-by-case basis. For example, Rayner (1993) examines "Prospects for CO2 Emissions Reduction Policy in the USA"; Perlack, Russell, and Shen (1993) address "Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in China"; Jasonoff (1993) covers "India at the Crossroads in Global Environmental Policy"; and Petrich (1993) surveys "Indonesia and Global Climate Change Negotiations."
For a regional and comparative perspective, see Wynne's (1993) "Implementation of Greenhouse Gas Reductions in the European Community" and Pernetta's (1992) "Impacts of Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise on Small-Island States." Further information on how global environmental change affects small island-states is offered by the Internet mailing list SIIN-L, through subscription to SIIN-L or through a free text search of past postings to SIIN-L.
Understanding national GEC policies in some nations--especially those with strong federal systems--requires an understanding of GEC policy at the subnational level. In Cool Tools, the Center for Global Change at the University of Maryland College Park (a CIESIN member institution) reports the results of a survey of U.S. state initiatives responding to global environmental change in the areas of energy, procurement, utility regulation, transportation, land use planning, and tax (Wexler 1992). The Center for Global Change is a partner in CIESIN's current project to develop an integrated database of subnational, national, and international policy instruments related to global environmental change. Anton, Kohout, and Pain (1993) provides an interesting examination of the interplay between subnational, national, and international environmental issues in Australia, a nation with a federal system but no national environmental protection agency, in "Nationalizing Environmental Protection in Australia." The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), an organization aimed specifically at supporting the response of municipalities to global environmental change, is described in ICLEI Local Agenda 21 Initiative.