The Environmental issues

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION Ecology can be defined as the branch of biology that deals with the relations between living organisms and their environment. Ecology holds that we can never do (only) one thing in a natural environment since actions often have unintended consequences. Globalization process played a significant role within the insertion of the “ecology” term into the international community’s agenda.

Environmental Security Threats to global life systems such as global warming, ozone depletion, deforestation are just as important as the threat of nuclear catastrophe. States cooperate with IGOs and NGOs to cope with environmental challenges.

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION Environmental degradation can be summarized as following; 1. Greenhouse-Induced Global Warming The great majority of scientists who have studied the problem of “global warming” believe that human activities, particularly those involved with the burning of fossil fuels, are altering the world’s climate. Greenhouse gases (such as carbon-dioxide and other substances released from burning fossil fuels) prevent atmosphere to reflect excessive energy coming from the outer space, especially from the sun. Automatically, energy that is trapped within the atmosphere warms up the earth. 5

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION 2. Ozone Depletion Next to the earth’s atmosphere, ozone layer acts as a filter for harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. A second layer of ozone has been created by the industrial revolution. Chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), used in manufacturing furnitures, refrigerators, and air conditioners, are entering the atmosphere and will remain there for decades. In 1985, scientists discovered a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. In 1987, 154 states signed Montreal Protocol calling for the elimination of the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION 3. Atmospheric Pollution Poor air quality in many of the world’s cities affects people’s health. The Pollutions Standards Index is used to measure the pollutants in the air. The World Health Organization and the World Bank estimate that 2.7 million people die each year as a result of air pollution.

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION 4. Loss of Agricultural Land, Desertification, and Erosion In the lexicon of ecology, the carrying capacity of the earth could be increased to feed the world’s people. Unfortunately, agricultural land is finite, and it is decreasing due to both natural and human-made causes. 5. Deforestation Economic development indirectly creates some implications on forests. Local owners of forest resources want to capitalize on their holdings, and they sometimes ignore the future effects (i.e. %15 of Brazilian rain forests vanished).

Sustainable Development The achievement of continued economic and social development without detriment to the environment and natural resources.

Tragedy of the Commons A collective action problem (self-interest) Exploitation of collective goods (free-riding)

WHAT HAS BEEN AND CAN BE DONE? The problems described above are vital, and the international community has noted and addressed a number of the direct and indirect issues related to population growth, environmental degradation, and economic development. The United Nations, for example, has sponsored a number of conferences regarding these issues. At least, these conferences have served a “consciousness raising” function in order to alert the world’s population. In some cases, these conferences have provided programs of action.

United Nations Conferences on Environmental Issues Stockholm, Sweden, 1972 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992 KYOTO, JAPAN, 1997 Buones Aires, Argentina, 1998 Copenhagen, Denmark, 2009 PARIS, FRANCE, 2015

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Often the international debate concerning environmental degradation and protection turns into a fruitless debate between those from advanced-industrial states who point their fingers at developing countries, accusing them for not doing enough to limit the causes of environmental degradation, and those from developing countries who argue that concern about the environment is a luxury of rich countries since developing countries are concerned with the survival of their states and citizens.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT A number of economists and scientists have called for development that can be sustained by the international community. The idea of sustainable development emphasizes moderate consumption patterns, technologies that are appropriate to the societies in which they are employed, and the use of resources balanced with their renewal.

The term – SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - was used by the Brundtland Commission in 1983 (chaired by Gro Brundtland – former PM of Norway) which coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."[