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10 Int'l Env't Agreements: Pol. L. & Econs. 1 (2010)

handle is hein.journals/intenve10 and id is 1 raw text is: Int Environ Agreements (2010) 10:1-14 DOI 10.1007/s10784-009-9105-y Exploring the consequences of soft law and hard law: implementing international nutrient commitments in Norwegian agriculture Jon Birger Skjorseth Accepted: 8 July 2009/Published online: 13 August 2009 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 Abstract The study of hard law and soft law in international environmental cooperation has mainly focused on why, and under what conditions, states choose one form of law in preference to another. This article develops an analytical framework for exploring the consequences of such choices. This framework is applied to implementation of interna- tional nutrient commitments in Norwegian agriculture from 1987 until 2007. Agriculture is the most important source of nitrogen inputs and eutrophication problems in the marine environment in Norway and Europe. It is concluded that, first, the consequences of hard and soft international law depend heavily on how they interact with changing national conditions. Some of these conditions can be deliberately changed to facilitate synergetic interaction between national conditions and international law. Secondly, under favorable conditions soft law can have a significant impact even when costly action is required, and resistance from target groups are strong. These observations are particularly interesting in light of the recent decision to end the soft law North Sea Conference process. Keywords International environmental cooperation Domestic implementation Soft law - Hard law - Agriculture - Marine pollution Nutrients 1 Introduction The relationship between hard law and soft law is an important institutional feature in international environmental governance. Most academic contributions have so far focused on why, and under what conditions, states choose one form of law over another (e.g., Abbott and Snidal 2000; Raustiala 2005). A number of advantages of soft law have been pointed out, particularly their flexibility and speed in adoption. Other advantages have been assigned to hard law, particularly their credibility and capacity, to facilitate implementa- tion and compliance. Binding rules are negotiated more thoroughly and scrutinized more carefully by those which are responsible for implementation thus better reflecting what J. B. Skjorseth (E) The Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Lysaker, Norway e-mail: jon.b.skjaerseth@fni.no Springer

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