So many initiatives associated with holding conferences/forums, establishing organizations, elaborating programs, and agreements have been woven through the century-long history of global environmental cooperation.1 Many of those international organizations are currently still active (at most, their mandate has been changed/widened), some of the programs are ongoing now and/or have been renewed, and numerous such agreements have remained in force (but in many cases, with an expanded scope, more stringent goals and additional means of implementation). However, their simple existence (either when they were ‘born’ or later prolonged/strengthened) does not mean that they are sufficient, that is, that their current mandate, scope, concrete goals, and provisions are adequate to address the respective environmental hazards as known by the science of the time or to contribute better to their resolution as scientific awareness increases.2 Therefore, an evaluation of the current state of environmental governance – based on the effectiveness of its main components and actual ‘performance’ – can help with judging what the international community should do more of to mitigate increasingly adverse widespread environmental impacts and avoid potential new ones in due time.