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Dragon Dust: Atmospheric Science and Cooperation on Desertification in the Asia and Pacific Region

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2016

Ken Wilkening
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Abstract

Are scientific or nonscientific factors most influential in initiating international cooperation on newly emerging transboundary environmental problems in the Asia and Pacific region? In a case study of long-range atmospheric transport of dust, which is linked to desertification in China and Mongolia, the relative influence of scientific versus nonscientific factors in promoting cooperation in the region is analyzed. The study examines two dimensions of the problem—Northeast Asia and North America—and demonstrates that similar to the distance-dependence of the problem (i.e., dust concentrations decrease the greater the distance from the sources), cooperation follows a parallel relationship (i.e., motivation to cooperate decreases the greater the distance from the sources). Scientific cooperation in Northeast Asia is being institutionalized, but North America has not joined this effort. A synergy between factors must be invoked to explain this situation. In both cases, obvious and often dramatic negative impacts of massive dust storms are an enabling factor allowing more subtle science-related factors to come to the fore.

Keywords

desertificationlong-range transport of dustscience and policyinternational environmental cooperation
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , December 2006 , pp. 433 - 461
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

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References

Notes

I wish to thank the following individuals for consenting to be interviewed or for providing me with information: Tom Cahill, University of California, Davis; Greg Carmichael, University of Iowa; Sunling Gong, Environment Canada; Rudy Husar, Washington University; Carey Jang, US Environmental Protection Agency; Barry Huebert, University of Hawaii; Ikuko Mori, National Institute for Environmental Studies (Japan); Toshiyuki Murayama, Tokyo University of Mercantile Marine; Masataka Nishikawa, National Institute for Environmental Studies (Japan); Soon-Ung Park, Seoul National University; Russ Schnell, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Tony VanCuren, California Air Resources Board; Sen Wang, Canadian Forest Service; Martin Williams, University of Adelaide; Lian Xie, North Carolina State University; Jentai Yang, US Environmental Protection Agency; and Kebin Zhang, Beijing Forestry University. In addition, I profited from comments and insights offered by Stephan Haggard and two anonymous reviewers. I thank them for their careful reading of my manuscript. Research for this study was funded in part by grants from the US Environmental Protection Agency (GX82944101) and the University of Northern British Columbia. A preliminary version of this article was presented at the 45th Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, March 17–20, 2004, Montreal, Canada.Google Scholar

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