Obstacles to International Cooperation on Environmental - Assignment Example

 Obstacles to International Cooperation on Environmental Problems A range of environmental problems have diversely affected our entire world resulting in diverse atmospheric imbalances. However the world is trying everything in its power so as to be able to solve this issue concerning the major problems which are as a result of the activities that are being carried out by individual and firms as they go on with their day today activities. According to the researchers, they have identified some of the major causes of these environmental problems such as the ones discussed below. Air pollution Most of the industries in both the developed and developing countries have large production of harmful gases that are released into the air causing an uncondusive atmosphere which is concentrated with dangerous gases hence leading to a huge reduction in the percentage of oxygen that is accessible in the environment. Smoke produced by these industries also affects the atmosphere and may even negatively affect the wildlife for example birds may be affected in their reproduction and expansion of future wildlife that is existent in the entire world. Acid rains Due to the huge smoke produced by the huge numerous industries the atmosphere is largely affected such that when rain falls it gets mixed up with the dangerous fumes of these concentrated gases (fumes of smoke) which cause the formation of an acidic liquid. The mixture of rain and the smoke fumes from these industries affect vegetation cover that is in existence and hence they are eventually destroyed or withered causing crisis in food shortage in the country that has been affected. Hazardous waste Productions industries are known to be among the main pollutants in the world due to their discharge or disposal of waste material whereby many companies in the world are known to dispose their waste product into the sources of water e.g. oceans and big rivers. In which with time the waste material accumulates and later become poisonous to the consumed water for the country. Industries completely assume their responsibility and are so irresponsible because they do not come with a dumping site of their waste products or even find a way of recycling these waste products. This is because poor disposal of these waste products leads to environmental degradation. Rain forest destruction Due to continuous climatic changes there has been a lot of destruction of forest cover as the forest can not survive the dry conditions that have been emerging over time. This has contributed to the environmental destruction process. Rain forest for example the equatorial forest are known to affect the climate resulting ion microclimates in these areas and hence making it possible to grow certain type of plantation that would otherwise not be possible without the existence of these forests. When these forests are destroyed the microclimates no longer exist and the economic activities that were being enabled by the existence of these microclimates are scrubbed off and the human resource is no longer productive at all. Over population The world’s population has been growing at a very high rate; higher than the available space. As such the environment and the available resources have been over used and hence have deteriorating greatly. Since the accommodation levels are way below the population that is already in existent at present, it means that as everyone tries to survive there is exhaustion of the available resources. Once exhausted the final result is low productivity levels and there is no development and there is hardly any economic growth. This has been the great environmental problem. That continues to persist on as every minute every second innocent children are being born into a world that is already overpopulated. Obstacles The International Environmental Cooperation is important in coming up with solutions to the already established environmental problems Lack of cooperation among nations has delayed the process of eliminating this disaster. The main reason is the high rate of obstacles at the international community is facing. Unless they establish, study and completely understand the root of the problem these problems will continue to persist for a very long time. These obstacles include the following: Political Instability Due to the continuous political conflicts in countries and among countries that are part of the International Environmental Cooperation, the process of coming up with solutions to the various environmental problems has been continuously delayed. If countries are having any conflict in some matters it is difficult to come up with solutions not unless they are united together towards getting the solution. The initial conflicts need to be resolved first so as to be able to their common problems on environmental degradation. These include countries like the war in Eastern Sudan and the crisis in Darfur which interrupt the coordination process of coming up with solutions. A country needs to be at peace in its personal matters in order to join the rest in coming with solutions to their common problems. This is to ensure that their full attention is on the matter at hand in this case the problems of environmental degradation. Adverse climate change Increase in adverse climate changes in terms of temperatures for example has huge negative impact on the day to day activities. These include effects such as drought due to lack of rain and as a result the environment continues to deteriorate. Prolonged sunny days result in loss of natural resources such as trees and forest which are sources of micro climates. Also as result of these climatic changes there could result high sea levels this could end up to disaster such as tsunami. Climate change may also lead to global warming which is of no usefulness to the environment. This is because with increased oxygen depletion and destruction of the ozone layer, carbon dioxide forms a big percentage of the environment. This way there is hardly anything that can grow resulting in dilapidation of the environment. These drastic climate changes in return affect the economic activities of occupants as they can no longer rely on the traditional know how of the climatic patterns. This in turn may result in loss of incomes that they usually would get from those economic activities and hence there would be no economic growth resulting in economic recession in these countries (Claussen, 2001). Carbon emission With the continuous technological advancements and industrialization, many industries have been put up. As a result of the many industrial processes there are huge carbon emissions that results from the industrial processes which are not environmental friendly. This is because they eventually result in environmental degradation. There has been increased concern of the experiencing economic boom. As a result industrialization has been on the rise. The industrialization is so pronounced such that the amount of gases emitted into the atmosphere is so much leading to increased degradation. It has been suggested that countries should continue being in a state of economic regression so as to correct the environmental problem as it is assumed that there will be less industrialization. However, this is a paradox as every country’s aspiration is to have tremendous economic growth (ACF 2008; CANA 2005) Despite all these environmental problems, there were some suggested solutions. For instance with the application of neoclassical theory of economics would largely reduce the cost of reducing carbon emissions. This was largely supported by neoliberal thinkers who argued that policy makers would be in agreement with the proposal. This is because the cost of reducing carbon emissions would be beneficial in the long run when compared to the cots resultant from climatic change. (TEC 2007) There is also the suggestion that governments should encourage citizens to venture into ‘green jobs’ as is the case already applied by over 80% of South Korea. The UK also has these plans to involve people in jobs that have minimal effects on the environment (Grice 2009). There is the introduction of emissions trading system by the Kyoto Protocol and the European Union. The introduction of ETS would require that industries purchase certain permits making the costs to increase and hence fewer industries would be able to purchase the permits and eventually reducing the emissions. There is also the Green Gold Rush report by the Australian government pointed out that by 2030 there will be many industries that will be reducing the pollutants as they will be using renewable energy and solving the carbon emissions problem (ACTU/ACF 2008) However, it is clear that these proposals for example the ETS is dependent on the market which is also subject to political influence. Climate change as a problem of environmental justice Climate change is continuously becoming uncontrollable. As a result there are many negative effects that are due to these uncontrolled climatic changes. These include global warming effect such as adverse weather changes high sea levels and lack of rain. It is the greatest environmental problem and hence referred to as the problem that denies the environmental justice. This problem has in turn affected human nature and cause migrations from the negatively affected areas and is referred to as climate change refugees. Also the green house gases emitted due to the depletion of the ozone layer the environment has been degrading tremendously (Butcher & Stilwell, 2009).As such, the environment is continuously degraded. Does the EU provide a successful model of transnational sovereignty for other regions?  EU spearheads the fight against environmental degradation. It even is among the founders of United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) which is concerned with environmental conservation. EU established the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). This is due to the rising carbon emission due to industrialization. This approach has been highly supported by countries like Australia as a way of facing environmental problems such as climate change. ETS is largely supported by economists because it fits efficiently in solving environmental problems that is by cutting emissions almost completely, it will perfectly operate in an economy boom due to the assumptions of neo classical approach and hence counters the paradox of the fact that carbon emissions can only be reduced if the economy is in recession. The proposed European Union model that is the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) is a good approach but it only applies in developed countries. This is because developed countries are the countries experiencing economic boom and hence would fit in the model. In developing countries on the other hand, the level of technological advancements is way low and so is the level of industrialization. In these countries the problem of carbon emissions is not as huge as in developed countries. Also, in developing countries they are mostly usually in economic recessions and hence though possibly very good the model will not be applicable in these countries. Governments are slowly adapting the model of the EU for instance the Rudd government. The politics in a country also affect the environmental economic regulation depending on the political party in power as seen in Australia. Economic recession is almost permanent in developing countries. However in developed countries the situation of economic recession is becoming dominant because the environmental destruction reduces the economic activities that a country’s population can carry out. Lack of economic operation going on in a country usually will not exceed any economic growth which will in turn result in economic recession. All environmentalists need to come together so as to set objectives and goals on how to solve the environmental problems. Together, the scholars are likely to come up with long-lasting solutions to the problem that has been around for over a decade. Through the experiences in matters dealing with environment they are the best group of people suited to come up with the anticipated solution. Due to the unexpected climatic changes it is difficult to predict the nature of climate in the future. As such the solution that is deliberated on must take into consideration this very important factor. Our environment is of great importance and it is our responsibility to look after it as we go about carrying out day to day activities. Let us all rise up and take care of our environment and also make it as our responsibility to enlighten those individual who are still ignorant about the impacts and importance of our environment. The government should lead the public by enforcing rules and punishing anyone who disobey them. References Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), 2008. What is an Emissions Trading Scheme, Australia Burrough, W. J., 2007. Climate Change: a multidisciplinary approach’, Cambridge University Press, London. Butcher, B. S. & Stilwell, F., 2009. Climate change policy and economic recession. Cengage Learning Claussen, E., 2001. Climate change: science, strategies, & solutions. New York: BRILL Climate Action Network Australia (CANA), (2005), Position Paper on emission trading, Total Environment Center, Sydney. Pearse, G., 2007. High and Dry: John Howard, climate change and the selling of Australia’s future, Penguin Books, Melbourne. Total Environment Center (TEC), 2007. Key briefing notes on Emission trading, Total Environment Center website. Read More