Abstract: Scholars have sought to explain the development of successful environmental regimes, but comparatively little attention is given to international forest law. The literature that does concern forests is primarily focused on why there still remains no forest convention in the catalog of multilateral environmental agreements or whether the vast conglomerate of hard and soft law for forests constitutes a regime complex. Following the recommendation of Giessen, this article focuses on an unexplored facet of forests and aims to determine the winners of the International Forest Regime Complex (IFRC) utilizing literature, state government and UN documents. I assert the benefactors of the IFRC transcend the traditional framework of the Global North and South as the fragmented nature of the regime complex unites the interests of states who economically and politically profit from business-as-usual (BAU) deforestation practices. The United States and Malaysia are used as empirical case studies. These cases are particularly notable considering the two states represented the opposing sides of North and South in the failed negotiations for a forest convention in 1992. I conclude by discussing the implications for future international forest policy and policy makers addressing climate chaos.

Keywords: Environmental Issues, Environmental Policy, Global Warming, Sustainable
Development, Forests, Climate

About the Author:  Emma Cox holds a B.S. of Political Science and English from Towson University where she graduated with Magna Cum Laude Latin Honors and played Division I golf. She is highly interested in the confluence of agriculture and conservation and plans to practice environmental law.