CBSE Notes | Class 12 | Political Science | Contemporary World Politics | Chapter 8 - Environment

And Natural Resources

The Chapter Introduces student Environmental Concerns In Global Politics. It also highlights the
common Property resources and the rights of the indigenous people. The chapter also mentions the
global commons and their relevance in the contemporary world politics.
Environmental Concerns In Global Politics

What are the current environmental concerns?

Until recently, 'global politics' was only considered in a limited sense: wars and treaties, the rise and fall of
state authority, the connection between governments that represent their countries in the international arena,
and the role of intergovernmental organisations.
We already broadened the definition of world politics to include topics such as poverty and diseases.
That may not have been a tough step to take, because we all believe governments are in charge of these
things.
In that sense, they are part of international politics.

How do you think these concerns fall within the scope of contemporary world politics?
Cultivable land is scarcely expanding globally, while a significant amount of existing agricultural land is
losing fertility. Grasslands and fisheries have been overgrazed. Water bodies have been drastically depleted
and polluted, putting a serious constraint on food production.
According to the United Nations Development Programme's 2006 Human Development Report, 1.2 billion
people in poor countries lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion lack access to sanitation, resulting
in the death of almost three million children each year.
Natural forests — which help to stabilise the climate, regulate water supplies, and house the majority of the
world's species on land — are being degraded and people displaced. The loss of biodiversity continues as a
result of habitat destruction in species-rich places.
Consistent declines in the overall amount of ozone in the Earth's stratosphere (often referred to as the ozone
hole) pose a serious threat to ecosystems and human health.
Globally, coastal pollution is also increasing. While the open sea remains relatively clean, coastal waterways
are becoming progressively contaminated, primarily as a result of land-based activities. If left unchecked,
the intensive human settlement of coastal zones worldwide will result in continued deterioration of the
marine environment's quality.
If various governments take action to halt the aforementioned environmental damage, these issues will have
political ramifications. The majority of them are so complex that no single government can adequately solve
them.
As a result, they must integrate themselves into 'global politics.' Environmental and natural resource issues
are, in a broader sense, political.
 Who is responsible for environmental degradation?
 Who bears the cost? And who is ultimately accountable for corrective action?
 Who gets to use how much of the Earth's natural resources?
All of these issues raise the question of who possesses the most power. As such, they are profoundly
political issues.
Although environmental issues have a long history, from the 1960s onward, knowledge of the environmental
repercussions of economic growth took on an increasingly political dimension.

Earth Summit
In 1972, the Club of Rome, a global think tank, produced a book titled Limits to Growth, which highlighted
the probable depletion of Earth's resources in the face of a fast-rising global population.
Worldwide organisations, such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), began convening
international conferences and sponsoring in-depth studies in order to achieve a more coordinated and
effective response to environmental concerns.
Since then, the environment has risen to prominence as a major issue in world politics.
The growing importance of environmental issues in global politics was firmly established at the United
Nations Conference the Environment and Development in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
This event was also known as the Earth Summit.
The conference drew 170 states, thousands of non-governmental organisations, and numerous international
enterprises.
Five years earlier, the 1987 Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, warned that old economic growth
patterns were unsustainable in the long run, particularly in light of the South's desires for additional
industrial development.
At the Rio Summit, it was clear that the established and wealthy countries of the First World, collectively
referred to as the 'global North,' had a different environmental agenda than the impoverished and developing
countries of the Third World, collectively referred to as the 'global South.'
Unlike the Northern states, which were concerned about ozone depletion and global warming, the Southern
states were concerned about the relationship between economic development and environmental
management.
The Rio Summit resulted in the adoption of treaties on climate change, biodiversity, and forestry, as well as
the recommendation of a list of development principles dubbed 'Agenda 21'.
However, it left significant disagreements and challenges unaddressed. There was agreement on the
importance of balancing economic expansion with environmental stewardship.
This method of growth is frequently referred to as sustainable development.'
However, the issue was how this was to be accomplished. Certain critics have argued that Agenda 21 was
skewed toward economic growth rather than ecological preservation.

Protection of the Global Commons

What are 'Global Commons'?
The term 'commons' refers to community-owned resources rather than privately held ones. A 'community
room,' a 'community centre,' a park, or a river could all be examples.
Similarly, some parts of the world are not under the sovereign jurisdiction of any single country and hence
require international community control.
Humanitas res communis, or global commons, is the term used to describe these areas. Examples include the
earth's atmosphere, Antarctica (see Box), the ocean floor, and outer space.
It is difficult to work together on global commons challenges. The 1959 Antarctic Treaty, the 1987 Montreal
Protocol, and the 1991 Antarctic Environmental Protocol are just a few of the ground-breaking agreements
that have been drafted.
The challenge of obtaining consensus on shared environmental agendas based on imprecise scientific facts
and time frames is a key issue that underpins all ecological issues.
In this way, the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole in the mid-1980s revealed both the benefits and risks
of dealing with global environmental issues.
Similarly, the history of outer space as a global commons illustrates that disparities in the management of
these domains have a significant impact.
The primary focus here, as with the earth's atmosphere and ocean floor, is technical advancement and
industrial development. This is crucial since the benefits of exploitative space operations for current and
future generations are far from equal.
Responsibilities are shared but differentiated.
There is a difference in how countries in the north and south tackle environmental issues.
The affluent countries of the North want to address the current situation of the environment and want
everyone to share equally in the responsibility for ecological conservation.
The developing countries of the South feel that wealthier countries' industrial progress is to blame for a
major percentage of the world's environmental degradation.
They must face a higher share of the burden of reversing the harm today if they have contributed to greater
degradation.
Furthermore, developing countries are becoming more industrialised and should not be subjected to the
same restrictions as developed countries.
As a result, in the creation, application, and interpretation of international environmental law laws, the
special needs of developing nations must be taken into account.
The concept of shared but differentiated responsibilities' was supported in the Rio Declaration at the 1992
Earth Summit.
"States shall engage in the spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect, and restore the Earth's
ecosystem's health and integrity," according to the relevant portion of the Rio Declaration.
In light of the many contributors to global environmental deterioration, states have common but distinct
responsibilities.
Given the stresses, their societies exert on the global environment and the technological and financial
resources at their disposal, the industrialised countries recognise their responsibility in the international
pursuit of sustainable development."
Furthermore, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) of 1992 specifies
that parties should act "on an equitable basis and in accordance with their shared but distinct responsibilities
and various capabilities" to maintain the climate system.
Industrialised countries accounted for the lion's share of historical and current global greenhouse gas
emissions, according to the parties to the Convention.
Furthermore, it was acknowledged that emerging countries' per capita emissions remain low. As a result, the
Kyoto Protocol's stipulations were waived for China, India, and other emerging countries.

What is Kyoto Protocol?

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement that sets greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for
developed countries. Certain gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons, are thought to
be at least largely responsible for global warming, a rise in global temperature that threatens life on Earth.
On the basis of the UNFCCC's principles, the protocol was adopted in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan.

Common but Differentiated Responsibilities

 There were differences between the countries of the North and the South over environment issues.
 The Northern countries want everyone to be equaliy responsible for ecological conservation.
 The developing countries of the South believes that the ecological degradation is the product of
industrial development undertaken by the developed countries.
 In the Rio summit, 1992, it was accepted that special needs of the developing countries must be
taken into account in the development and interpretation of rules of international environmental law.
 The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) also provides that
the parties should act on the basis of equity.
 It was accepted that a large amount of greenhouse gas emission has originated in developed countries
and per capita emissions in developing countries are relatively low.
  Developing countries like India and China were exempted from the requirements of the Kyoto
Protocol.
 The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement setting targets for industrialised countries to cut
their greenhouse gas emissions.

Commons Property Resources

 It represents common property for the group but with a rule that members of the group have both
rights and duties with respect to the nature, levels of use of a given resource.
 But issues like privatisation, agricultural intensification, population growth and ecosystem
degradation have caused common property to dwindle in size.

India’s Stand on Environmental Issues

 India has signed and ratified Kyoto Protocol (1997) in August 2002. Developing countries like India
and China were exempt from the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol.
 At the G-8 meeting in June 2005, India pointed out that the per capita emission rates of the
developing countries are a tiny fraction of those in the developed world.
 The Indian Government is already participating in global efforts through a number of programmes
like Energy Conservation Act (2011), Electricity Act of 2003 and so on.
 In 1997, a review of the implementation of the agreements at the Earth summit in Rio was
undertaken by India.
 India suggested that the developing countries must get financial resources and clean technologies
from the developed countries in order to meet UNFCCC commitments.

Environmental Movements

 Some of the most significant responses to the challenge of environmental degradation has come from
groups of environmentally conscious volunteers working in different parts of the world.
 The forest movements of the South, in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, Continental
Africa and India are faced with enormous pressures regarding forest clearing.
 Another example is of the group which is working against mineral extraction company as it leads to
displacement of communities etc.
 Another groups of movements are those involved in struggles against mega-dams. In India, Narmada
Bachao Aandolan is one of the best known of these movements.

Resource Geopolitics

 Resource geopolitics means who gets what, when, where and how.
 Throughout the cold war the industrialised countries of the North adopted a number of methods to
ensure a steady flow of resources.
 Oil countries to be the most important resource in global strategy. The immense wealth associated
with oil generates political struggles to control it.
 West Asia, specifically the Gulf region, accounts for about 30 per cent of global oil production.
 Another important resource relevant to global politics is water. Regional variations and scarcity of
freshwater in some parts of the world is a leading source of conflicts in the 21st century.
 A number of studies show that countries that share rivers and many countries do share rivers are
involved in military conflicts with each other.
The Indigenous People and their Rights

 As per the United Nations, indigenous population comprises the descendants of peoples who
inhabited the present territory of a country at the time
when persons of a different culture arrived there from other parts of the world.
 Indigenous people voices in world politics to treat them equally with other communities.
 The areas occupied by indigenous people include Central and South America, Africa, India and
South-East Asia.
 The indigenous people appeal to governments to come to terms with the continuing existence of
indigenous nations as enduring communities with an identity of their own.
 In India, indigenous people applies to the scheduled tribes who constitute nearly 8 per cent of the
population of the country.
 Issues related to the rights of the indigenous communities have been neglected in domestic and
international politics for very long.

FACTS THAT MATTER

1. Environmental concerns in Global politics cover losing fertility of agricultural land, and grazing,
depletion of water resources as well as loss of bio-diversity, real danger to eco-system and coastal pollution,
deteriorating of marine environment,
2. Environmental consequences of economic growth acquired a political shape from 1960s onwards,
following a book published in 1972 namely Limits To Growth and Initiatives taken by United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) to promote co-ordination and effective response on environment at global
level.
3. The Earth Summit held in Rio-de-Janerio, Brazil in 1992 revealed different views i.e. global north (the
first world countries) and global south (the third world countries). Global North was concerned with the
issues of ozone depletion and global warming and global south focused on economic development and
environment management by Agenda 21.
4. Global commons refer to the areas or regions which require common governance by international
community on major problems of ecological issues i.e. discovery of ozone hole over Antarctic, earth’s
atmosphere and ocean floor associated with technology and industrial development.
5. The Rio Declaration at the Earth Summit in 1992 adopted the principle of common but differentiated
responsibilities ‘refering special needs of developing countries in the fields as development, application and
interpretation of rules of international environmental law to protect environment by both developing nations
in a responsible manner.
6. The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) also emphasised
toprotect the climate system on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated
responsibilities and capabilities.
Example-Largest and current global emissions of greenhouse gases originated in developed nations, hence
low emissioned developing countries like India and China have been exempted from Kyoto Protocol held in
Japan in 1997.
7. Common property resources refer to a group who have both rights and duties with respect to nature, levels
of use and the maintenance of a given resource with mutual understanding and practices i.e. management of
sacred groves on state owned forest land.
8. India plays a dominating role on the environmental issues as it signed and ratified 1997 Kyoto Protocol in
August 2002 to follow common but differentiated responsibilities and India is a wary of recent discussions
with UNFCCC about introducing binding commitments. India participated in global efforts by introducing
National Autofuel Policy, Electricity Act, 2003 and National Mission on Biodiesel. Besides, India supports
to adopt a common position by SAARC countries on major environmental issue to have a greater say
regionwise.
9. Environmental movements are the movements of groups which are environmentally conscious to
challenge environmental degradation at national or international level aiming at raising new ideas and long
term vision i.e. in Mexico, Chille, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, India faced enormous pressure.
10. Environmental movements are categorised as forest movements, movements against mining and mineral
industry for creating Water Pollution and Anti Dam Movement.
11. ‘Resources Geopolitics’ is all about who gets what, when, where and how? The practices of neo-
colonialism spread on a large scale and throughout a cold war, industrialised countries adopted methods to
ensure a steady flow of resources by deployment of military forces near exploitation sites and sea-lanes of
communications, the stock pilling of strategic resources and efforts to prop up friendly governments.
12. The global economy relied on oil as a portable and essential fuel. The history of petroleum is the history
of war and struggle. Water is another important resource relevant to global politics. Regional variations and
increasing scaring of fresh water may also lead to conflicts in the world to play politics.
13. Indigenous people bring the issues of environment, resources and politics together. Indigenous people
live with their social, economic, cultural customs in particular areas who speak of their struggle, agenda, and
rights to have equal status i.e. Island states in ocean region, Central and South America, Africa, India and
South East Asia.
14. The issues related to rights of indigenous communities have been neglected in domestic and international
politics for long. The World Council of Indigenous People was formed in 1975 which became first of 11
indigenous NGOs to receive consultative status in the UN.

WORDS THAT MATTER

1. Earth Summit: A conference held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in June 1992 on Environment and
Development to deal with various environmental problems.
2. Agenda 21: The Earth Summit recommended a list of practices in reference of development to attain
sustainability, called Agenda 21.
3. Kyoto Protocol: An international agreement setting targets for industrialised countries to cut their
greenhouse gas emissions was agreed to in 1997 in Kyoto in Japan, based on principles set out in
UNFCCC.
4. UNFCCC: The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change provided that
parties should act to protect the climate system with common but differentiated responsibilities.
5. Indigenous People: Indigenous people comprise the descendants of peoples who inhabited the
present territory of a country at the time when persons of different culture arrived there from
different parts of the world.