Chapter Notes

Environmental Concerns in Global Politics

Traditionally, world politics focused on issues like wars, treaties, and the power of states. However, the scope of world politics has expanded to include environmental concerns because they have serious political consequences and require international cooperation.

Environmental issues are deeply political because they raise fundamental questions about power and responsibility:

• Who is causing environmental damage?
• Who suffers the consequences of this degradation?
• Who is responsible for taking corrective action?
• How should the Earth's natural resources be distributed and used?

While environmental concerns have existed for a long time, they gained significant political importance from the 1960s onwards. A key moment was in 1972 when a global think tank, the Club of Rome, published a book called Limits to Growth, which highlighted the potential depletion of Earth's resources due to a growing world population. This led international agencies like the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to organize conferences and studies to coordinate a global response.

The Earth Summit, 1992

The turning point for environmentalism in global politics was the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992. This event, also known as the Earth Summit, was attended by 170 states, thousands of NGOs, and many multinational corporations.

The summit revealed a major divide between the perspectives of the developed and developing countries:

• The Global North: Rich, developed countries were primarily concerned with issues like ozone depletion and global warming.
• The Global South: Poorer, developing countries were more focused on the relationship between economic development and environmental management. They argued that their need for industrial development must be considered.

This divide was anticipated by the 1987 Brundtland Report, titled Our Common Future, which warned that existing patterns of economic growth were not sustainable in the long term.

The main outcomes of the Rio Summit were:

• Conventions dealing with climate change, biodiversity, and forestry.
• A list of recommended development practices called ‘Agenda 21’.

However, the summit did not resolve all differences. Some critics argue that Agenda 21 was biased in favor of economic growth rather than ecological conservation.

The Protection of Global Commons

'Commons' are resources that are not owned by any single individual but are shared by a community.

Similarly, 'global commons' are regions of the world that are outside the sovereign jurisdiction of any single state and require common governance by the international community. They are also known as res communis humanitatis.

The global commons include:

• The Earth's atmosphere
• Antarctica
• The ocean floor
• Outer space

Cooperation over the global commons is challenging. However, there have been significant agreements, such as:

• The 1959 Antarctic Treaty
• The 1987 Montreal Protocol (addressing ozone depletion)
• The 1991 Antarctic Environmental Protocol

Managing the global commons is often affected by the North-South divide. The crucial issues are technology and industrial development, as the benefits from exploiting these areas (like outer space) are not equally shared among countries or generations.

Common but Differentiated Responsibilities

The debate over environmental protection reveals a fundamental disagreement between the countries of the Global North and the Global South.

• The North's Position: The developed countries argue that everyone is equally responsible for ecological conservation and should follow the same rules.
• The South's Position: The developing countries argue that the developed world is historically responsible for most of the ecological degradation through its industrial development. Therefore, the North should take more responsibility for fixing the damage. They also argue that developing countries are still in the process of industrialization and should not be subjected to the same strict restrictions.

This argument was formally accepted in the Rio Declaration at the Earth Summit in 1992 and is known as the principle of 'common but differentiated responsibilities'.

The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) also upholds this principle. It acknowledges that the largest share of historical and current greenhouse gas emissions has originated in developed countries.

The Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement agreed to in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. It set targets for industrialized countries to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane, which are linked to global warming.

Based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, developing countries like China and India were exempted from the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol.

Common Property Resources

Common property resources are resources managed by a group, where members have both rights and duties regarding their use and maintenance.

However, factors like privatization, agricultural intensification, and population growth have led to a decline in the size and quality of common property resources available to the poor worldwide.

India's Stand on Environmental Issues

India's position on global environmental issues is guided by the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. India signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol in August 2002.

Key aspects of India's stand include:

• Historical Responsibility: India maintains that the primary responsibility for curbing emissions lies with developed countries, which have accumulated emissions over a long period of industrialization.
• Per Capita Emissions: India points out that its per capita emission rate is a tiny fraction of those in the developed world.
• Development Needs: India emphasizes that economic and social development are the "first and overriding priorities" for developing countries. It opposes imposing binding commitments on rapidly industrializing countries like itself, Brazil, and China, as this would hinder their development.
• Proactive Measures: The Indian government is participating in global efforts through various programs, including:
  • National Auto-fuel Policy for cleaner fuels.
  • The Energy Conservation Act (2001) to improve energy efficiency.
  • The Electricity Act (2003) to encourage renewable energy.
  • A National Mission on Biodiesel.
• Paris Agreement: India ratified the Paris Climate Agreement on 2 October 2016 and has one of the world's largest renewable energy programs.
• Call for Support: India insists that developed countries must provide developing nations with financial resources and clean technologies to help them meet their environmental commitments.

Environmental Movements: One or Many?

Some of the most significant responses to environmental challenges have come from social movements led by environmentally conscious volunteers, rather than from governments. These movements are diverse, vibrant, and powerful.

• Forest Movements: In the Global South (e.g., Mexico, Brazil, India), movements fight against deforestation, which continues at an alarming rate.
• Movements against the Minerals Industry: These movements resist the environmental damage caused by mining companies, including pollution of waterways, land clearance, and displacement of communities. A notable example is the campaign against the Western Mining Corporation (WMC) in the Philippines.
• Anti-Dam Movements: Often described as pro-river movements, they advocate for sustainable and equitable management of river systems. While the first major anti-dam movement was in the North (Australia in the 1980s), such movements are now widespread in the South. In India, the Narmada Bachao Andolan is one of the best-known examples.

Resource Geopolitics

Resource geopolitics is about who gets what, when, where, and how in terms of natural resources. Throughout history, access to resources has been a key motive for international rivalry and power expansion.

During the Cold War, industrialized nations used military force, support for friendly governments, and international agreements to ensure a steady supply of strategic resources.

Oil and Water as Strategic Resources

• Oil: Oil has been the most important resource in global strategy for the 20th century. The immense wealth and dependency associated with oil have led to political struggles and wars to control it.
  • West Asia (the Gulf region) is critical, accounting for about 30% of global oil production but holding about 64% of the planet's known reserves.
  • Saudi Arabia is the world's single largest producer, with a quarter of the total reserves.
• Water: Freshwater is another crucial resource, and its increasing scarcity points to the possibility of future conflicts, sometimes called 'water wars'.
  • Disagreements often occur over shared rivers between upstream and downstream states regarding issues like pollution, dam construction, or excessive irrigation.
  • Examples of water-related conflicts include those between Israel, Syria, and Jordan in the 1950s-60s, and tensions between Turkey, Syria, and Iraq over dams on the Euphrates River.

The Indigenous Peoples and Their Rights

The issues of environment, resources, and politics are closely linked in the struggles of indigenous peoples.

The UN defines indigenous populations as descendants of the original inhabitants of a territory before people of a different culture or ethnic origin arrived and overcame them. Today, there are approximately 30 crore indigenous peoples worldwide.

Key Concerns and Demands

• Equal Standing: Indigenous peoples demand to be recognized as equals within the world community, with their own distinct identities and cultures.
• Connection to Land: Their worldviews are deeply tied to their ancestral lands. The loss of land means the loss of their economic base and threatens their very survival.
• Development and Displacement: In India, Scheduled Tribes (who make up nearly 8% of the population) are considered indigenous peoples. They have often been displaced by large development projects since independence, paying a high price for national development without receiving many of its benefits.

Growing international contact among indigenous leaders led to the formation of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples in 1975, which gave them a platform to voice their common concerns at the UN.