The Effects Of Globalization On The Implementation

Of Substantial Development Policies For The Environment. Essay, Research Paper

Although protection of the environment has been a topic present since the late nineteenth century, it has only come into prominence as an issue in the late twentieth century. The first time that the issue brought enough attention to bring together many great minds and governments, came in the form of the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment. This conference established the first ever North-South relationship in respect to the environment. What followed was many more conferences and agreements established to protect the earth. Agreements such as: the Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution Agreement (LRTAP, 1979), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES, 1971), in addition to many others.

In 1987 the UN s World Commission on Environment and Development, produced the Brundtland Report. This report aimed to fix the plethora of earlier environmental agreements. Earlier agreements which failed to recognize the need to harmonize development considerations when implementing its environmental protection plans.

The Brundtland Report described sustainable development as the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (Baylis, 1997, p.318) It also centered its attention on finding strategies to promote economic and social development in ways that avoided environmental degradation, over-exploitation or pollution, and [moved] away from less productive debates about whether to prioritize development or the environment. (Baylis, 1997, p.138).

Twelve years have passed, and many movements have been made concerning the well being of the environment, since the introduction of the Brundtland Report. When examining the effectiveness of the report we will be able to see the effect that globalization has had on the implementation of substantial development during the late twentieth century.

The Brundtland Report brought about a new way of thinking in the area of economics when concerning the environment. The report acknowledged that to keep serious problems in third world from worsening, nations needed to push for economic growth. This would create the capital necessary to remove poverty, improve living conditions, and move to a world with fewer inequities. This was certainly not support for growth for growth s sake but rather an impassioned cry for a better world. (Hall, J.D., 1992, p.10). The report had hoped to create lifestyles more in tune with the ecological realities of the planet (Hall, J.D., 1992, p.10). It also desired to create this form of living by encouraging nations not to overuse their natural resources, but to work to improve them and then to utilize these enhanced resource that had been created as a result.

Ignoring the depreciation of capital assets is a recipe for bankruptcy in business, and it is becoming apparent that this is the case for planet management as well. Environmental degradation incurs an enormous cost, but it has never been incorporated into national accounts. Neither do the prices of resources and environmental services such as clean air and the protection of watersheds reflect their true value, either in the economy or to society. Even worse classical economics had not recognized that there are ultimate limits to the Earth s capacity to provide biological, chemical, and geological limits. We need to live off our interest and not our capital. (Hall, J.D., 1992, p.10)

All that most conference s can do is encourage and persuade. They have no binding control over any nations that would allow them to force these standards of conduct onto these countries. One of the principles that came out of the 1972 Stockholm Conference explains the situation best. It acknowledged states sovereignty over their natural resources but stipulated that states have the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other states or areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. (Baylis, 1997, p.317) If you can read between the lines, it seems as if the principle is claiming that any nation can go about and ruin their own resources, so long as they do not affect the resources of another country. How are environmental organizations and reports from environmental conferences supposed to have any positive effects with a principle like this one.

Before we assume that the conferences and organizations have no influence whatsoever, we must examine what type of avenues they do use when they wish to affect a nations policy. In the international arena, environmental policy making involves many of the same blends of science and politics found in domestic settings, but usually without binding institutional mechanisms to force compliance once policies have been agreed on Instead of tough sanctions, the principal tools of international implementation are gentle persuasion and embarrassment caused by media exposure of noncompliance. (Hempel, L.C., 1996, p.122). The new age of influence seems to have turned toward the electronic age. All organizations and protest groups fight for coverage on the news and in the papers. Combined with a society that is now knowledgeable in the area of environmental destruction, a mention of a environmental no-no in the news will bring an uproar