"Unequal Use of the Global Commons": GCI Submission to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group Three (WG3) & the First Conference of the Parties (COP1) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

"Unequal Use of the Global Commons" is a paper that was prepared for the IPCC WG3 workshop on "Equity and Social Considerations" in Nairobi, 1994. It discusses the effects of climate change on countries and regions of the globe that have taken an active role in contributing to global warming, as compared to the effects resulting in countries that have not contributed substantial emission to the atmosphere. The paper refers to the atmosphere and climate as a "global common" to which each country has a right, and it evaluates the environmental impacts of several different countries as within or overstepping their rights to exploit the commons.