What are environmental benefits of joining European Union - Essay Example

Section/# Environmental Benefits of Inclusion within the European Union Although few individuals realize it,environmental protection, and the standards of the European Union, has the potential to affect a great benefit on those countries that joined the European Union and subsequently engage with the standards that it demands. As a function of understanding how these standards can both benefit the environment and benefit the nation in question, the following brief discussion will be concentric upon these two points.

Through such a discussion, the reader can come to a more informed understanding with respect to the way in which EU membership can be both economically and environmentally beneficial in the long run.Firstly, scholars have noted that the environmental standards that the European Union promotes can potentially save between 50,000 and 150,000 lives in countries that adopt EU standards; due to reduced levels of air pollution alone (Daly, 2012). With such a drastic reduction in death associated with air pollution, the society itself is not only better off and more healthy, they are able to defray a great many expenses that are associated with the long term healthcare of those individuals that suffer from this pollution.

Estimates from scholars put the total cost savings that are associated with the above issue at tens of billions of pounds annually. Such a change can clearly be denoted with respect to the vastly positive shift in air purity that was represented within Romania’s air pollution index after European Union inclusion. Additionally, people in rural areas can be connected to municipal waste management systems; thereby reducing the pollution that takes place within the countryside as a result of illegal dumping.

The power that this particular requirement has is oftentimes misunderstood or under-stated. However, by standardizing and centralizing the waste management of these nations, the entire ecosystem is preserved from the harm that many smaller and less stringent dumping sites would necessarily reflect (Kingston, 2010). The European Union also promotes a series of new requirements on nature protection; these will help to preserve the natural habitat of many creatures and a great many forest and swamp lands for future generations to enjoy (Bertram & Rehdanz, n.d.).

Although such a consideration is oftentimes not the first concern of those individuals that wish to promote a further level of economic growth and independence, it is necessary for the preservation of the nation’s resources to consider the long term impacts that further destruction of virgin land denotes. Likewise, Poland saw vast swaths of its territory preserved from economic development by inclusion within the European Union and the framework of conservation that it supported in many regions throughout the second largest nation within the European Union (Çortoglu, 2013).

Finally, the European Union helps to promote and create standards for renewable energy that must be met by key dates. This helps in reducing the dependence on foreign sources of energy and creates a more resilient domestic economy that employs more individuals in the energy sectors. Whereas the other issues that have been noted are concentric upon a level of environmental protection domestically, this particular standard is one that greatly benefits the domestic region as it addresses issues of environmental protection, employment, and the future economic and energy needs that a given nation might exhibit.

By placing required benchmarks each and every year, integration with these standards promotes a situation in which not only the environmental standards can be maximized, the resiliency of the nation’s energy sector and the overall level of employment associated with it can e maximized at the same time.BibliographyBertram, C, & Rehdanz, K n.d., On the environmental effectiveness of the EU , Marine Policy, 38, pp. 25-40, Social Sciences Citation Index, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 February 2014.ÇÖRTOĞLU, F 2013, THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY INTEGRATION (EPI) ON THE EU , Akdeniz University Faculty Of Economics & Administrative Sciences Faculty Journal / Akdeniz Universitesi Iktisadi Ve Idari Bilimler Fakultesi Dergisi, 13, 25, pp.

242-261, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 February 2014.Daly, E 2012, Constitutional Protection for Environmental Rights: The Benefits of Environmental Process, International Journal Of Peace Studies, 17, 2, pp. 71-80, SocINDEX with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 February 2014.Kingston, S 2010, Integrating Environmental Protection and EU Competition Law: Why Competition Isnt Special Integrating Environmental Protection and EU Competition Law European Law Journal, European Law Journal, 16, 6, pp.

780-805, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 February 2014.