Global environmental issues

A debate not just for zany ecologists and ‘alternatives’

One physical environment – its global and it can be ruined

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the unveiling of the face of the earth

exploration ; by human   Earthrise" seen first from lunar orbit by the crew of Apollo 8 in December 1968 and then, in July 1969, by the astronauts of Apollo 11 from a dusty base in the lunar Sea of Tranquility We now possess an accurate, as well as highly symbolical, image of our home in space. This image does not represent one country or nation: It is an image of Spaceship Earth, of the "cloud-whorled blue planet," of the "emerald globe in a black sea."

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‘the graphite core of a nuclear power station has a half-life of 5,700 years

the changing of the face of the earth   This reveals the ecological vulnerability of the planet. The enormous appetite of the industrial way of life for natural resources, combined with a significant increase of environmental degradation turned George Perkins Marsh's warning that the earth might become "an unfit home for its noblest inhabitant"into a close call a hundred years later.  The widespread fears of deadly fallout and pollution were most effectively articulated in Rachel Carson's "fable,"

Silent Spring

, in 1962.

Our world

 the monitoring of the changing face of the earth  a fairly new activity

The ‘environment’

 the interpretation of scientific data about the changing face of the earth  reveals the mischievous structure of ecological communication in the absence of hard or uncontroversial facts  The debates about our ecological options will not be decided by neutral data but by a synergy of facts, arguments, and power

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.“ (1987)

Brundtland Report the Brundtland definition implies a very important shift from an idea of sustainability, as primarily ecological, to a framework that also emphasizes the economic and social context of development. (1998)

1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development recommended

seven critical actions

needed to ensure a good quality of life for people around the world: Revive growth Change the quality of growth Meet essential needs and aspirations for jobs, food, energy, water and sanitation Ensure a sustainable level of population Conserve and enhance the resource base Reorient technology and manage risk Include and combine environment and economics considerations in decision-making

Produce differently - apply concepts of eco-efficiency and sustainable livelihoods Consume differently Organize ourselves differently increase public participation while reducing corruption and perverse subsidies

Globalization of environmental problems

 the globalization of environmental degradation has been massively accelerated by a number of factors:   fifty years of extraordinary resource-intensive, high-pollution growth in the OECD;     the industrialisation of Russia, Eastern Europe and the ex Soviet states; the breakneck industrialisation of many parts of the South; and a massive rise in global population. we are now able to perceive risk and environmental change with much greater depth and accuracy.

International environmental organisations: United Nations Environment Programme

UNEP

UNECE is the UN Economic Commission for Europe Multilateral environmental agreements Under the topic "Milestones" the history of important international meetings & agreements UNEP has an office in Europe, Geneva - Environment House there hosts also other environmental organisations: www.environmenthouse.ch

Stockholm Conference, 1972

  landmark event marking the emergence of environmentalism it conferred a legitimacy to environmental issues by placing them on the international political agenda.

    113 countries and 19 intergovernmental panels were represented.

Agreed principles, strengthened framework for future environment cooperation Out of this UNEP and CITES set up Broader political and institutional changes – e.g. Ministeries for the Environment and international networks of NGOs

Earth Summit – Rio Conference 1992

 Specific conventions    Framework convention on Climate change Convention on biological Diversity Convention to Combat Desertification  Two key documents   Rio Declaration: a statement of agreed principles Agenda 21 – detailed programme of action for sustainable development

Implementation…?

  ‘lack of legally binding commitments to limit emissions’ ‘early progress in implementation commitments in the climate convention was striking’ ( Baylis and Smith:406)

The Earth Summit: Sept 2002

 “The Earth Summit should have been about protecting the environment and fighting poverty and social destruction. Instead it has been hijacked by free market ideology, by a backward looking, insular and ignorant US administration, by a timid and confused European Union, and by the global corporations that help keep reactionary politicians in limousines. So, after nine days of waffle and posturing and horse-trading in corridors we have only two significant new targets to protect the environment and fight poverty and deprivation. (Ricardo Navarro, Chair of Friends of the Earth International)

Kyoto Protocol

  Agreed 1997 - this introduced legally binding commitments by industrialized states to limit their greenhouse gas emissions Flexible mechanisms introduced – Joint implementation, Emission Trading and Clean Development Mechanism

Kyoto Protocol

  Canada's ratification of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change brings the treaty's total membership to 100 and it now requires only Russia's seal of approval to enter into force early in 2003.

The protocol commits developed countries to reducing their collective emissions of six key greenhouse gases by 2008-12. The individual targets include 8 per cent for the EU  Within months of taking office, Bush withdrew from an international climate treaty negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, that required the United States and other industrial nations to reduce by 2012 greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming to levels below what they were in 1990.

Ireland?

 Ireland's emissions of carbon dioxide - the main greenhouse gas - rose by 32.7 per cent, the highest increase recorded for any EU member-state. This is seen as a reflection of the failure to "decouple" emissions and economic growth.  Ireland exceeded every other EU member-state apart from Spain in the rate of increase in its emissions of greenhouse gases during the 1990s,

Agenda 21

 A programme of action for sustainable development  Institutions established to promote its overall implementation and hoped that these would stimulate international and domestic proceses  Commission for Sustainable Development – part of the UN sustem, to promote and review progress on implementation and to help co-ordinate activities of UN agencies in this context  Global Environment Facility – to provide ‘agreed incremental costs’ to help developing coutnries implement aspects of the programme

• Why was it possible to construct an international regime to respond to Ozone Depletion

Montreal Protocol ( 1987)

– Immediate scope and tangibility of the problem – Small set of CFC producers Industry interested in product change -Relatively Low Cost to Industry -No net economic impact on states -Developed - Developing states rift healed by funding

A Success:

by 1999, 95 ozone-depleting controlled by the Protocol; CFC consumption, reduced from 1.1 million tonnes in 1986 to 150,000 tonnes per year. Over 160 Parties to the Protocol.