Environmental Concerns - Research Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages... The main consequences of global warming will be natural disasters like floods, famines, reduction in agricultural output, glacier melting, emergence of new diseases, extinction of species etc (Sinn, 2007). The consequences of the global warming are universally recognized and hence serious efforts are made by all nations to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases especially CO2.The main participants in these efforts are governments and people. In this essay, the public policy actions regarding global warming, the participants in the policy actions, the evaluation of policy, political concerns etc are critically analyzed.
The excessive emission of greenhouse gases due to manmade activities can result in accumulation of heat in the earth’s atmosphere leading to a rise in global temperature. This phenomenon is called global warming (Cline, 1992). Among the greenhouse gases, all except methane are originated from manmade activities like fossil burning or electricity generation. Thus power plants are one of the main contributors of this phenomenon. The other main contributors of greenhouse gas emissions include deforestation, burning of gasoline in the engine of vehicles, use of fertilizers in agriculture, burning of organic matter, buildings that require lot of fuels etc. Due to the serious repercussions of the global warming problem concerning both developed and developing nations, it is widely recognized that an internationally integrated approach is needed to tackle this issue. The Kyoto Protocol based on the treaty on climate change in the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro,1992, called on both the developed and developing nations to formulate local initiatives to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in all nations irrespective of the costs involved in these efforts(Hass et al, 1992). Both the governments and people can be the participants in the national and regional programmes in this regard.
The historic treaty produced by the United ...Download file to see next pagesRead More