Environmental Concerns in Global Politics
- There have been many environmental issues that are concerns of the global politics.
- There is a decline in the availability of cultivable land and a substantial portion of existing agricultural land is losing fertility.
- Around 1.2 billion people in developing countries have no access to safe water and 2.6 billion have no access to sanitation according to the Human Development Report, 2006.
- The loss of biodiversity continues due to destruction of habitat in areas which are rich in species. The act of deforestation takes place for personal gains, removing the natural inhabitants.
- Another danger to ecosystems and human health is a steady decline in the total amount of ozone in the Earth’s stratosphere. Even the coastal waters are becoming increasingly polluted due to land-based activities.
- The environmental consequences of economic growth acquired an increasingly political character from the 1960s onwards.
- International agencies like the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), started holding international conferences to deal with environment issues.
- Earth summit or Rio summit was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 1992 which produced conventions dealing with climate change, biodiversity, and forestry recommended a list of development practices called ‘Agenda 21’.
The Protection of Global ‘Commons’
- ‘Commons’ are the resources shared by the community as a whole not individually.
- In the world, there are some areas which are located outside the sovereign jurisdiction of any one state and hence require common governance by the international community.
- This is known as Global Commons. They include Earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica, the ocean floor, and outer space.
- A number of agreements were signed which includes the Antarctic Treaty (1959), the Montreal Protocol (1987) and the Antarctic Environmental Protocol (1991).
- The history of outer space as a global common show that the management of these areas is thoroughly influenced by North-South inequalities.
Common but Differentiated Responsibilities
- There were differences between the countries of the North and the South over environment issues.
- The Northern countries want everyone to be equally responsible for ecological conservation.
- The developing countries of the South believes that the ecological degradation is the product of industrial development undertaken by the developed countries.
- In the Rio summit, 1992, it was accepted that special needs of the developing countries must be taken into account in the development and interpretation of rules of international environmental law.
- The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) also provides that the parties should act on the basis of equity.
- It was accepted that a large amount of greenhouse gas emission has originated in developed countries and per capita emissions in developing countries are relatively low.
- Developing countries like India and China were exempted from the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol.
- The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement setting targets for industrialized countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.
Commons Property Resources
- It represents common property for the group but with a rule that members of the group have both, rights and duties with respect to the nature, levels of use of a given resource.
- But issues like privatization, agricultural intensification, population growth and ecosystem degradation have caused common property to dwindle in size.
India’s Stand on Environmental Issues
- India has signed and ratified Kyoto Protocol (1997) in August 2002. Developing countries like India and China were exempt from the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol.
- At the G-8 meeting in June 2005, India pointed out that the per capita emission rates of the developing countries are a tiny fraction of those in the developed world.
- The Indian Government is already participating in global efforts through a number of programmes like Energy Conservation Act (2011), Electricity Act of 2003 and so on.
- In 1997, a review of the implementation of the agreements at the Earth summit in Rio was undertaken by India.
- India suggested that the developing countries must get financial resources and clean technologies from the developed countries in order to meet UNFCCC commitments.
Environmental Movements
- Some of the most significant responses to the challenge of environmental degradation have come from groups of environmentally conscious volunteers working in different parts of the world.
- The forest movements of the South, in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, Continental Africa and India are faced with enormous pressures regarding forest clearing.
- Another example is of the group which is working against mineral extraction company as it leads to displacement of communities etc.
- Other groups of movements are those involved in struggles against mega-dams. In India, Narmada Bachao Aandolan is one of the best known of these movements.
Resource Geopolitics
- Resource geopolitics means who gets what, when, where and how.
- Throughout the cold war the industrialized countries of the North adopted a number of methods to ensure a steady flow of resources.
- Oil countries to be the most important resource in global strategy. The immense wealth associated with oil generates political struggles to control it.
- West Asia, specifically the Gulf region, accounts for about 30 per cent of global oil production.
- Another important resource relevant to global politics is water. Regional variations and scarcity of freshwater in some parts of the world is a leading source of conflicts in the 21st century.
- A number of studies show that countries that share rivers and many countries do share rivers are involved in military conflicts with each other.
The Indigenous People and their Rights
- As per the United Nations, indigenous population comprises the descendants of peoples who inhabited the present territory of a country at the time when persons of a different culture arrived there from other parts of the world.
- Indigenous people voice in world politics to treat them equally with other communities.
- The areas occupied by indigenous people include Central and South America, Africa, India and South-East Asia.
- The indigenous people appeal to governments to come to terms with the continuing existence of indigenous nations as enduring communities with an identity of their own.
- In India, indigenous people apply to the scheduled tribes who constitute nearly 8 percent of the population of the country.
- Issues related to the rights of the indigenous communities have been neglected in domestic and international politics for very long.
WORDS THAT MATTER
- Earth Summit: A conference held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in June 1992 on Environment and Development to deal with various environmental problems.
- Agenda 21: The Earth Summit recommended a list of practices in reference of development to attain sustainability, called Agenda 21.
- Kyoto Protocol: An international agreement setting targets for industrialized countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions was agreed to in 1997 in Kyoto in Japan, based on principles set out in UNFCCC.
- UNFCCC: The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change provided that parties should act to protect the climate system with common but differentiated responsibilities.
- Indigenous People: Indigenous people comprise the descendants of peoples who inhabited the present territory of a country at the time when persons of different culture arrived there from different parts of the world.
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