Environment and Natural Resources · Environment and Natural Resources 119 becoming increasingly polluted largely due to land-based activities. If unchecked, intensive human settlement

OVERVIEWThis chapter examines the growingsignificance of environmental as wellas resource issues in world politics.It analyses in a comparativeperspective some of the importantenvironmental movements againstthe backdrop of the rising profile ofenvironmentalism from the 1960sonwards. Notions of commonproperty resources and the globalcommons too are assessed. We alsodiscuss, in brief, the stand taken byIndia in more recent environmentaldebates. Next follows a brief accountof the geopolitics of resourcecompetition. We conclude by takingnote of the indigenous peoples’voices and concerns from themargins of contemporary worldpolitics.

Chapter 8

Environment andNatural Resources

The 1992 Earth Summit has brought environmental issues tothe centre-stage of global politics. The pictures above showrainforest and mangroves.

Contemporary World Politics118

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

IN GLOBAL POLITICS

In this book we have discussed‘world politics’ in a fairly limitedsense: wars and treaties, rise anddecline of state power, therelationship between thegovernments that represent theircountries in the internationalarena and the role of inter -governmental organisations. InChapter 7, we expanded the scopeof world politics to include issueslike poverty and epidemics. Thatmay not have been a very difficultstep to take, for we all think thatgovernments are responsible forcontrolling these. In that sensethey fall within the scope of worldpolitics. Now consider some otherissues. Do you think they fallwithin the scope of contemporaryworld politics?

Throughout the world,cultivable area is barelyexpanding any more, and asubstantial portion of existingagricultural land is losingfertility. Grasslands have beenovergrazed and fisheries over-harvested. Water bodies havesuffered extensive depletionand pollution, severelyrestricting food production.

According to the HumanDevelopment Report 2006 of theUnited Nations DevelopmentProgramme, 1.2 billion peoplein developing countries have noaccess to safe water and 2.6billion have no access tosanitation, resulting in thedeath of more than threemillion children every year.

Natural forests — which helpstabilise the climate, moderatewater supplies, and harboura majority of the planet’sbiodiversity on land—arebeing cut down and people arebeing displaced. The loss ofbiodiversity continues due tothe destruction of habitat inareas which are rich inspecies.

A steady decline in the totalamount of ozone in the Earth’sstratosphere (commonlyreferred to as the ozone hole)poses a real danger toecosystems and humanhealth.

Coastal pollution too isincreasing globally. Althoughthe open sea is relatively clean,the coastal waters are

Politics in forests,politics in water,politics inatmosphere! What isnot political then?

Around the Aral Sea, thousands of people have had to leave theirhomes as the toxic waters have totally destroyed the fishing industry.The shipping industry and all related activities have collapsed.Rising concentrations of salt in the soil have caused low crop yields.Numerous studies have been conducted. In fact locals joke that ifeveryone who’d come to study the Aral had brought a bucket ofwater, the sea would be full by now. Source: www.gobartimes.org

119Environment and Natural Resources

becoming increasingly pollutedlargely due to land-basedactivities. If unchecked,intensive human settlement ofcoastal zones across the globewill lead to furtherdeterioration in the quality ofmarine environment.

You might ask are we nottalking here about ‘naturalphenomena’ that should be studiedin geography rather than in politicalscience. But think about it again.If the various governments takesteps to check environmentaldegradation of the kind mentionedabove, these issues will havepolitical consequences in thatsense. Most of them are such thatno single government can addressthem fully. Therefore they have tobecome part of ‘world politics’. Issuesof environment and naturalresources are political in anotherdeeper sense. Who causesenvironmental degradation? Whopays the price? And who isresponsible for taking correctiveaction? Who gets to use how muchof the natural resources of theEarth? All these raise the issue ofwho wields how much power. Theyare, therefore, deeply politicalquestions.

Although environmentalconcerns have a long history,awareness of the environmentalconsequences of economic growthacquired an increasingly politicalcharacter from the 1960s onwards.The Club of Rome, a global thinktank, published a book in 1972entitled Limits to Growth,dramatising the potential depletion

of the Earth’s resources against thebackdrop of rapidly growing worldpopulation. International agencies,including the United NationsEnvironment Programme (UNEP),began holding internationalconferences and promotingdetailed studies to get a morecoordinated and effective responseto environmental problems. Sincethen, the environment hasemerged as a significant issue ofglobal politics.

The growing focus onenvironmental issues within thearena of global politics was firmlyconsolidated at the United NationsConference on Environment andDevelopment held in Rio deJaneiro, Brazil, in June 1992.This was also called the EarthSummit. The summit was

Collect newsclippings onreportslinkingenvironmentand politicsin your ownlocality.

Global Warming © Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Why do you think the fingers are designed like chimneys and theworld made into a lighter?


attended by 170 states, thousandsof NGOs and many multinationalcorporations. Five years earlier,the 1987 Brundtland Report, OurCommon Future, had warned thattraditional patterns of economicgrowth were not sustainable in thelong term, especially in view of thedemands of the South for furtherindustrial development. What wasobvious at the Rio Summit wasthat the rich and developed

countries of the First World,generally referred to as the ‘globalNorth’ were pursuing a differentenvironmental agenda than thepoor and developing countries ofthe Third World, called the ‘globalSouth’. Whereas the Northernstates were concerned with ozonedepletion and global warming, theSouthern states were anxious toaddress the relationship betweeneconomic development andenvironmental management.

The Rio Summit producedconventions dealing with climatechange, biodiversity, forestry, andrecommended a list of developmentpractices called ‘Agenda 21’. Butit left unresolved considerabledifferences and difficulties. Therewas a consensus on combiningeconomic growth with ecologicalresponsibility. This approach todevelopment is commonly known as‘sustainable development’. Theproblem however was how exactlythis was to be achieved. Somecritics have pointed out thatAgenda 21 was biased in favour ofeconomic growth rather thanensuring ecological conservation.Let us look at some of thecontentious issues in the globalpolitics of environment.

THE PROTECTION OF GLOBAL

COMMONS

‘Commons’ are those resourceswhich are not owned by anyonebut rather shared by a community.This could be a ‘common room’, a‘community centre’, a park or ariver. Similarly, there are some

Are there different perspectives from which the rich and the poorcountries agree to protect the Earth?

© A

res,

Ca

gle

Ca

rtoon

s In

c.


areas or regions of the world whichare located outside the sovereignjurisdiction of any one state, andtherefore require commongovernance by the internationalcommunity. These are known asres communis humanitatis orglobal commons. They include theearth’s atmosphere, Antarctica(see Box), the ocean floor, andouter space.

Cooperation over the globalcommons is not easy. There havebeen many path-breakingagreements such as the 1959Antarctic Treaty, the 1987Montreal Protocol, and the 1991Antarctic Environmental Protocol.A major problem underlying allecological issues relates to thedifficulty of achieving consensuson common environmental

Very soon we willhave ecologicaldegradation of themoon!

The Antarctic continental region extendsover 14 million square kilometres andcomprises 26 per cent of the world’swilderness area, representing 90 per centof all terrestrial ice and 70 per cent ofplanetary fresh water. The Antarctic alsoextends to a further 36 million squarekilometres of ocean. It has a limitedterrestrial life and a highly productivemarine ecosystem, comprising a few plants(e.g. microscopic algae, fungi and lichen),marine mammals, fish and hordes of birdsadapted to harsh conditions, as well as thekrill, which is central to marine food chainand upon which other animals aredependent. The Antarctic plays animportant role in maintaining climaticequilibrium, and deep ice cores providean important source of information aboutgreenhouse gas concentrations andatmospheric temperatures of hundredsand thousands of years ago.

Who owns this coldest, farthest, and windiest continent on globe? There are two claims about it. Somecountries like the UK, Argentina, Chile, Norway, France, Australia and New Zealand have made legalclaims to sovereign rights over Antarctic territory. Most other states have taken the opposite view that theAntarctic is a part of the global commons and not subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of any state. Thesedifferences, however, have not prevented the adoption of innovative and potentially far-reaching rulesfor the protection of the Antarctic environment and its ecosystem. The Antarctic and the Arctic polarregions are subjected to special regional rules of environmental protection. Since 1959, activities in thearea have been limited to scientific research, fishing and tourism. Even these limited activities have notprevented parts of the region from being degraded by waste as a result of oil spills.

ANTARCTICA


agendas on the basis of vaguescientific evidence and timeframes. In that sense thediscovery of the ozone hole overthe Antarctic in the mid-1980srevealed the opportunity as wellas dangers inherent in tacklingglobal environmental problems.

Similarly, the history of outerspace as a global commons showsthat the management of theseareas is thoroughly influenced byNorth-South inequalities. As withthe earth’s atmosphere and the

ocean floor, the crucial issue hereis technology and industrialdevelopment. This is importantbecause the benefits ofexploitative activities in outerspace are far from being equaleither for the present or futuregenerations.

COMMON BUT DIFFERENTIATED

RESPONSIBILITY

We have noted above a differencein the approach to environment

One of the biggest catastrophes in Africa in the 1970s, a drought turned the best cropland in five countries intocracked and barren earth. In fact, the term environmental refugees came into popular vocabulary after this.Many had to flee their homelands as agriculture was no longer possible. Source: www.gobartimes.org

Find out moreabout theKyoto Protocol.Which majorcountries didnot sign it? Andwhy?


between the countries of the Northand the South. The developedcountries of the North want todiscuss the environmental issueas it stands now and wanteveryone to be equally responsiblefor ecological conservation. Thedeveloping countries of the Southfeel that much of the ecologicaldegradation in the world is theproduct of industrial developmentundertaken by the developedcountries. If they have causedmore degradation, they must alsotake more responsibility forundoing the damage now.Moreover, the developing countriesare in the process of industrialisationand they must not be subjectedto the same restrictions, whichapply to the developed countries.Thus the special needs of thedeveloping countries must betaken into account in thedevelopment, application, andinterpretation of rules of inter-national environmental law. Thisargument was accepted in the RioDeclaration at the Earth Summitin 1992 and is called the principleof ‘common but differentiatedresponsibilities’.

The relevant part of the RioDeclaration says that “Statesshall cooperate in the spirit ofglobal partnership to conserve,protect and restore the healthand integrity of the Earth’secosystem. In view of the differentcontributions of global environmentaldegradation, states have commonbut differentiated responsibilities.The developed countriesacknowledge the responsibility

that they bear in the internationalpursuit of sustainable developmentin view of the pressures theirsocieties place on the globalenvironment and of the technologicaland financial resources theycommand.”

The 1992 United NationsFramework Convention onClimate Change (UNFCCC) alsoprovides that the parties shouldact to protect the climate system“on the basis of equity and inaccordance with their common butdifferentiated responsibilities andrespective capabilities.” Theparties to the Convention agreedthat the largest share ofhistorical and current globalemissions of greenhouse gaseshas originated in developedcountries. It was alsoacknowledged that per capitaemissions in developing countriesare still relatively low. China,India, and other developingcountries were, therefore,exempted from the requirementsof the Kyoto Protocol. The KyotoProtocol is an internationalagreement setting targets forindustrialised countries to cuttheir greenhouse gas emissions.Certain gases like Carbondioxide, Methane, Hydro-fluorocarbons etc. are considered atleast partly responsible for globalwarming - the rise in globaltemperature which may havecatastrophic consequences forlife on Earth. The protocol wasagreed to in 1997 in Kyoto inJapan, based on principles setout in UNFCCC.

That’s a coolprinciple! A bit likethe reservationpolicy in our country,isn’t it?


COMMON PROPERTY

RESOURCES

Common property representscommon property for the group.The underlying norm here is thatmembers of the group have bothrights and duties with respect tothe nature, levels of use, and themaintenance of a given resource.Through mutual understandingand centuries of practice, manyvillage communities in India, forexample, have defined members’rights and responsibilities. Acombination of factors, includingprivatisation, agricultural intensi-fication, population growth andecosystem degradation havecaused common property todwindle in size, quality, and

availability to the poor in much ofthe world. The institutionalarrangement for the actualmanagement of the sacred groveson state-owned forest landappropriately fits the descriptionof a common property regime.Along the forest belt of SouthIndia, sacred groves have beentraditionally managed by villagecommunities.

INDIA’S STAND ON

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

India signed and ratified the 1997Kyoto Protocol in August 2002.India, China and other developingcountries were exempt from therequirements of the Kyoto Protocolbecause their contribution to the

I heard about somerivers being sold inLatin America. Howcan commonproperty be sold?

Protecting nature for religious reasons is an ancient practice in many traditional societies. Sacredgroves in India (parcels of uncut forest vegetation in the name of certain deities or natural orancestral spirits) exemplify such practice. As a model of community-based resource management,groves have lately gained attention in conservation literature. The sacred groves can be seen as asystem that informally forces traditional communities to harvest natural resources in an ecologicallysustained fashion. Some researchers believe that sacred groves hold the potential for preservingnot only biodiversity and ecological functions, but also cultural diversity.

Sacred groves embody a rich set of forest preservation practices and they share characteristicswith common property resource systems. Their size ranges from clumps of a few trees to severalhundred acres. Traditionally, sacred groves have been valued for their embodied spiritual andcultural attributes. Hindus commonly worshipped natural objects, including trees and groves. Manytemples have originated from sacred groves. Deep religious reverence for nature, rather thanresource scarcity, seems to be the basis for the long-standing commitment to preserving theseforests. In recent years, however, expansion and human settlement have slowly encroached onsacred forests.

In many places, the institutional identity of these traditional forests is fading with the advent of newnational forest policies. A real problem in managing sacred groves arises when legal ownershipand operational control are held by different entities. The two entities in question, the state and thecommunity, vary in their policy norms and underlying motives for using the sacred grove.

SACRED GROVES IN INDIA


emission of greenhouse gasesduring the industrialisation period(that is believed to be causingtoday’s global warming and climatechange) was not significant.However, the critics of the KyotoProtocol point out that sooner orlater, both India and China, alongwith other developing countries,will be among the leadingcountributors to greenhouse gasemission. At the G-8 meeting inJune 2005, India pointed out thatthe per capita emission rates of thedeveloping countries are a tinyfraction of those in the developedworld. Following the principle ofcommon but dif ferentiatedresponsibility, India is of the view

that the major responsibility ofcurbing emission rests with thedeveloped countries, which haveaccumulated emissions over a longperiod of time.

India’s international negotiatingposition relies heavily onprinciples of historicalresponsibility, as enshrined inUNFCCC. This acknowledges thatdeveloped countries are responsiblefor most historical and currentgreenhouse emissions, andemphasizes that ‘economic andsocial development are the firstand overriding priorities of thedeveloping country parties’. SoIndia is wary of recent discussions

I get it! First theydestroyed the earth,now it is our turn todo the same! Is thatour stand?


within UNFCCC about introducingbinding commitments on rapidlyindustrialising countries (such asBrazil, China and India) to reducetheir greenhouse gas emissions.India feels this contravenes thevery spirit of UNFCCC. Neitherdoes it seem fair to imposerestrictions on India when thecountry’s rise in per capita carbonemissions by 2030 is likely to stillrepresent less than half the worldaverage of 3.8 tonnes in 2000.Indian emissions are predicted torise from 0.9 tonnes per capita in2000 to 1.6 tonnes per capita in2030.

The Indian government isalready participating in globalefforts through a number ofprogrammes. For example, India’sNational Auto-fuel Policymandates cleaner fuels forvehicles. The Energy ConservationAct, passed in 2001, outlinesinitiatives to improve energyefficiency. Similarly, the ElectricityAct of 2003 encourages the use ofrenewable energy. Recent trendsin importing natural gas andencouraging the adoption of cleancoal technologies show that Indiahas been making real efforts. Thegovernment is also keen to launcha National Mission on Biodiesel,using about 11 million hectaresof land to produce biodiesel by2011–2012. And India has one ofthe largest renewable energyprogrammes in the world.

A review of the implementationof the agreements at the EarthSummit in Rio was undertaken byIndia in 1997. One of the key

conclusions was that there hadbeen no meaningful progress withrespect to transfer of new andadditional financial resources andenvironmentally-sound technologyon concessional terms todeveloping nations. India finds itnecessary that developedcountries take immediatemeasures to provide developingcountries with financial resourcesand clean technologies to enablethem to meet their existingcommitments under UNFCCC.India is also of the view that theSAARC countries should adopt acommon position on major globalenvironment issues, so that theregion’s voice carries greaterweight.

ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS:ONE OR MANY?We have, so far, looked at the waygovernments have reacted at theinternational level to the challengeof environmental degradation. Butsome of the most significantresponses to this challenge havecome not from the governmentsbut rather from groups of environ-mentally conscious volunteersworking in different parts of theworld. Some of them work at theinternational level, but most ofthem work at the local level. Theseenvironmental movements areamongst the most vibrant,diverse, and powerful socialmovements across the globetoday. It is within social movementsthat new forms of political actionare born or reinvented. These


movements raise new ideas andlong-term visions of what weshould do and what we should notdo in our individual and collectivelives. Here are just a fewexamples to show that diversityis an important trait ofcontemporary environmentalmovements.

The forest movements of theSouth, in Mexico, Chile, Brazil,Malaysia, Indonesia, continentalAfrica and India (just to list a few

examples) are faced with enormouspressures. Forest clearing in theThird World continues at analarming rate, despite threedecades of environmental activism.The destruction of the world’s lastremaining grand forests hasactually increased in the lastdecade.

The minerals industry is oneof the most powerful forms ofindustry on the planet. A largenumber of economies of the South

What distinguishes the forest movements of the South fromthose of the North is that the forests of the former are stillpeopled, whilst the forests of the latter are more or lessdevoid of human habitat or, at least, are perceived as thus.This explains to some extent the prevailing notion ofwilderness in the North as a ‘wild place’ where people donot live. In this perspective, humans are not seen as part ofnature. In other words, ‘environment’ is perceived as‘somewhere out there’, as something that should beprotected from humans through the creation of parks andreserves. On the other hand, most environmental issues inthe South are based on the assumption that people live inthe forests.

Wilderness-oriented perspectives have been predominantin Australia, Scandinavia, North America and New Zealand.In these regions, there are still large tracts of relatively‘underdeveloped wilderness’, unlike in most Europeancountries. This is not to say that wilderness campaigns areentirely missing in the South. In the Philippines, greenorganisations fight to protect eagles and other birds of preyfrom extinction. In India, a battle goes on to protect thealarmingly low number of Bengal tigers. In Africa, a longcampaign has been waged against the ivory trade andthe savage slaughter of elephants. Some of the most famouswilderness struggles have been fought in the forests of Braziland Indonesia. All of these campaigns focus on individual species as well as the conservation of thewilderness habitats, which support them. Many of the wilderness issues have been renamed biodiversityissues in recent times, as the concept of wilderness has been proved difficult to sell in the South. Manyof these campaigns have been initiated and funded by NGOs such as the Worldwide Wildlife Fund(WWF), in association with local people.

Do you agree with the effortsmade by ecologists? Do youagree with the way ecologists areportrayed here?

ARE FORESTS “WILDERNESS”?

Let’s findout about‘ChipkoMovement’.

© A

res,

Ca

gle

Ca

rtoon

s In

c.


are now being re-openedto MNCs through theliberalisation of theglobal economy. Themineral industry’sextraction of earth, itsuse of chemicals, itspollution of waterwaysand land, its clearance

of native vegetation, itsdisplacement of communities,amongst other factors, continueto invite criticism and resistancein various parts of the globe. Onegood example is that of thePhilippines, where a vast networkof groups and organisationscampaigned against the WesternMining Corporation (WMC), anAustralia-based multinationalcompany. Much opposition to thecompany in its own country,Australia, is based on anti-nuclearsentiments and advocacy for thebasic rights of Australianindigenous peoples.

Another group of movementsare those involved in strugglesagainst mega-dams. In everycountry where a mega-dam isbeing built, one is likely to findan environmental movementopposing it. Increasingly anti-dammovements are pro-rivermovements for more sustainableand equitable management of riversystems and valleys. The early1980s saw the first anti-dammovement launched in the North,namely, the campaign to save theFranklin River and its surroundingforests in Australia. This was awilderness and forest campaign aswell as anti-dam campaign. At

present, there has been a spurt inmega-dam building in the South,from Turkey to Thailand to SouthAfrica, from Indonesia to China.India has had some of the leadinganti-dam, pro-river movements.Narmada Bachao Andolan is oneof the best known of thesemovements. It is significant to notethat, in anti-dam and otherenvironmental movements inIndia, the most important sharedidea is non-violence.

RESOURCE GEOPOLITICS

Resource geopolitics is all aboutwho gets what, when, where andhow. Resources have providedsome of the key means and motivesof global European powerexpansion. They have also been thefocus of inter-state rivalry. Westerngeopolitical thinking aboutresources has been dominated bythe relationship of trade, war andpower, at the core of which wereoverseas resources and maritimenavigation. Since sea power itselfrested on access to timber, navaltimber supply became a keypriority for major European powersfrom the 17th century onwards.The critical importance of ensuringuninterrupted supply of strategicresources, in particular oil, waswell established both during theFirst World War and the SecondWorld War.

Throughout the Cold War theindustrialised countries of theNorth adopted a number ofmethods to ensure a steady flowof resources. These included the

An entirecommunity eruptedin protests against aproposed open-cast coal mineproject in Phulbaritown, in the North-West district ofDinajpur,Bangladesh. Hereseveral dozenwomen, one withher infant child, arechanting slogansagainst theproposed coal mineproject in 2006.


deployment of military forces nearexploitation sites and along sea-lanes of communication, thestockpiling of strategic resources,ef forts to prop up friendlygovernments in producingcountries, as well as support tomultinational companies andfavourable internationalagreements. Traditional Westernstrategic thinking remainedconcerned with access tosupplies, which might bethreatened by the Soviet Union. Aparticular concern was Westerncontrol of oil in the Gulf andstrategic minerals in Southernand Central Africa. After the endof the Cold War and thedisintegration of the Soviet Union,the security of supply continuesto worry government andbusiness decisions with regard toseveral minerals, in particularradioactive materials. However,oil continues to be the mostimportant resource in global strategy.

The global economy relied onoil for much of the 20th centuryas a portable and indispensablefuel. The immense wealthassociated with oil generatespolitical struggles to control it,and the history of petroleum isalso the history of war andstruggle. Nowhere is this moreobviously the case than in WestAsia and Central Asia. West Asia,specifically the Gulf region,accounts for about 30 per cent ofglobal oil production. But it hasabout 64 percent of the planet’sknown reserves, and is thereforethe only region able to satisfy any

substantial rise in oil demand.Saudi Arabia has a quarter of theworld’s total reserves and is thesingle largest producer. Iraq’sknown reserves are second onlyto Saudi Arabia’s. And, sincesubstantial portions of Iraqiterritory are yet to be fullyexplored, there is a fair chancethat actual reserves might be farlarger. The United States, Europe,Japan, and increasingly India andChina, which consume thispetroleum, are located at aconsiderable distance from theregion.

Water is another crucialresource that is relevant to global

© A

ndy

Sing

er,

Ca

gle

Ca

rtoon

s In

c.


Adapted from http://www.gobartimes.org/gt_covfeature2.htm

"The list of petroleum based products in our lives is endless. Toothbrush, pacemaker,paints, inks, ....Oil provides the energy for 95 per cent of the world's transportation needs.The whole industrialised world survives on petroleum. We cannot imagine living without it.There are billions of barrels of it under the earth for us to use. Yet there are disputesbetween countries. Why here is one of the problems"

I belong to the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Black Gold. I amwhat they call filthy rich. Ever since black gold was found in myKingdom things have never been the same again. Mr. Bigoil andhis government came prospecting one day. We struck oil...and adeal. They armed me to the teeth till it hurt. So when I grin mysubjects look at me with awe. In return Bigoil and sons get to buyall my oil and loyalty. I am happy and rich and so are they. I turn myblind eye to their military in this holy land.

I value precious things. Bigoil says his President valuesfreedom and democracy. So I keep both safely under lock andkey in my land.

As advised, I did ask myself what can I do for my country. My country hasan enormous appetite for oil. So ...provide it with oil of course! I believe inthe free market system. Free to dig up oil in far away countries, free tocreate pliable tin-pot dictators to keep local populations at bay and free todestroy ecology.

We play no politics but pay them at election campaigns and get themto invest in our company. That way we don't have to embarrass ourselvesby foolishly waving and smiling at TV cameras.

Sheikh PetrodollahKing of the land of Black Gold

Mr. BigoilCEO of Bigoil and sons

Leading the good lifeA new beauty is parked outside our garage. Awesome! Isn't it?...sleek chrome finish, power steering, automatic gears. Excellentpick up and great mileage too. It is low on emissions too...gentleon the atmosphere, you know. Global warming and all that stuff.Now we really are in hurry to zoom off and lead the good life...GodSave Everyone!...vvrrroooommmmm

Mr & Mrs Gobbledoo

Toppleton defends freedom and democracy. That's why he is so generous with gunsand missiles. Like the ones he gave us to fight the invading Ruffians. He eventrained us. We did not realise that it was the oil they were after. Bigoil is always tryingto woo us. But we are too busy playing war games. Now we have rules of our own.

Toppleton's govt. kept changing its rules. Not fair we said. Some of us now hateToppleton, his government and his people. Of course their bullets and missilescome in handy when we have to beat them at their game.

Make no mistake, we are Errorists.Errorists

Loose cannonballs

EVERYONE IS PLAYING CRUDE!


politics. Regional variations andthe increasing scarcity offreshwater in some parts of theworld point to the possibility ofdisagreements over shared waterresources as a leading source ofconflicts in the 21st century.Some commentators on worldpolitics have referred to ‘waterwars’ to describe the possibilityof violent conflict over this life-sustaining resource. Countries thatshare rivers can disagree overmany things. For instance, a typicaldisagreement is a downstream

(lower riparian) state’s objectionto pollution, excessive irrigation,or the construction of dams by anupstream (upper riparian) state,which might decrease or degradethe quality of water available tothe downstream state. Stateshave used force to protect orseize freshwater resources.Examples of violence includethose between Israel, Syria, andJordan in the 1950s and 1960sover attempts by each side todivert water from the Jordan andYarmuk Rivers, and more recentthreats between Turkey, Syria,and Iraq over the construction ofdams on the Euphrates River. Anumber of studies show thatcountries that share rivers — andmany countries do share rivers —are involved in military conflictswith each other.

THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

AND THEIR RIGHTS

The question of indigenouspeople brings the issues ofenvironment, resources andpolitics together. The UN definesindigenous populations ascomprising the descendants ofpeoples who inhabited thepresent territory of a country atthe time when persons of adifferent culture or ethnic originarrived there from other parts ofthe world and overcame them.Indigenous people today live morein conformity with their particularsocial, economic, and culturalcustoms and traditions than theinstitutions of the country ofwhich they now form a part.

How are theseconflicts differentfrom the many waterconflicts within ourown country?

The larger part of the Earth is water thanthe land and yet the cartoonist decidesto show larger image of the land thanwater. How does the image show thescarcity of water?

© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.


In the context of world politics,what are the common interests ofapproximately 30 croreindigenous peoples spreadthroughout the world includingIndia? There are 20 lakhindigenous people of theCordillera region of thePhilippines, 10 lakh Mapuchepeople of Chile, six lakh tribalpeople of the Chittagong HillTracts in Bangladesh, 35 lakhNorth American natives, 50,000Kuna living east of Panama Canaland 10 lakh Small Peoples of theSoviet North. Like other socialmovements, indigenous peoplespeak of their struggles, theiragenda and their rights.

The indigenous voices in worldpolitics call for the admission ofindigenous people to the worldcommunity as equals. Indigenouspeople occupy areas in Centraland South America, Africa, India(where they are known as Tribals)and Southeast Asia. Many of the

Why don’t we hearmuch about theindigenous peopleand theirmovements? Is themedia biasedagainst them?

present day island states in theOceania region (includingAustralia and New Zealand),were inhabited by the Polynesian,Melanesian and Micronesianpeople over the course ofthousands of years. They appealto governments to come to termswith the continuing existence ofindigenous nations as enduringcommunities with an identity oftheir own. ‘Since timesimmemorial’ is the phrase used byindigenous people all over theworld to refer to their continuedoccupancy of the lands fromwhich they originate. Theworldviews of indigenoussocieties, irrespective of theirgeographical location, arestrikingly similar with respect toland and the variety of life systemssupported by it. The loss of land,which also means the loss of aneconomic resource base, is the

Spoonful of Ecology

Do you agree with this perspectivewhere a man from an urban(developed!) area becomes greedy fornature?

© A

res,

Ca

gle

Ca

rtoon

s In

c.


most obvious threat to thesurvival of indigenous people.Can political autonomy be enjoyedwithout its attachment to themeans of physical survival?

In India, the description‘indigenous people’ is usuallyapplied to the Scheduled Tribeswho constitute nearly eight percent of the population of thecountry. With the exception ofsmall communities of hunters andgatherers, most indigenouspopulations in India depend fortheir subsistence primarily on thecultivation of land. For centuries,if not millennia, they had freeaccess to as much land as theycould cultivate. It was only afterthe establishment of the Britishcolonial rule that areas, which hadpreviously been inhabited by theScheduled Tribe communities,were subjected to outside forces.Although they enjoy aconstitutional protection inpolitical representation, they havenot got much of the benefits ofdevelopment in the country. Infact they have paid a huge costfor development since they are thesingle largest group among thepeople displaced by variousdevelopmental projects sinceindependence.

Issues related to the rights ofthe indigenous communities havebeen neglected in domestic andinternational politics for very long.During the 1970s, growinginternational contacts amongindigenous leaders from aroundthe world aroused a sense ofcommon concern and shared

experiences. The World Council of IndigenousPeoples was formed in 1975. The Councilbecame subsequently the first of 11 indigenousNGOs to receive consultative status in the UN.Many of the movements against globalisation,discussed in Chapter 9, have focussed on therights of the indigenous people.

STEPSEach student is asked to list any ten items theyconsume/use every day.(The list could include — pen/paper/eraser/computer/water etc.)

Ask students to calculate the amount of naturalresources being used to make these items. (Forfinished products like pen/pencil/computeretc., students will calculate the amount ofresources and for items like water they couldcalculate the amount of electricity used forpurifying and pumping along with gallons ofwater). Each would calculate and arrive at anapproximate figure.

Ideas for the Teacher

Collect the approximate figures from each student andsum up all to arrive at total resources consumed by thestudents of that particular class. (Teacher is to act as afacilitator and allow students to do the calculations.)

Project this figure to other classes of the same school, thento schools across the country. The country figure could beused to measure the amount of resources being used byschools in other countries too. (The teacher is to havebackground information about the resources being usedby students in a few select countries. While selectingcountries, teacher should ensure that the selected countriesbelong to the developed / developing countries category).

Ask students to imagine the amount of resources we areconsuming and also to estimate future consumption.


1. Which among the following best explains the reason for growingconcerns about the environment?

a. The developed countries are concerned about protecting nature.b. Protection of the environment is vital for indigenous people and

natural habitats.c. The environmental degradation caused by human activities has

become pervasive and has reached a dangerous level.d. None of the above.

2. Mark correct or wrong against each of the following statements belowthat describe the Earth Summit:

a. It was attended by 170 countries, thousands of NGOs and manyMNCs.

b. The summit was held under the aegis of the UN.c. For the first time, global environmental issues were firmly

consolidated at the political level.d. It was a summit meeting.

3. Which among the following are TRUE about the global commons?

a. The Earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica, ocean floor and outer spaceare considered as part of the global commons.

b. The global commons are outside sovereign jurisdiction.c. The question of managing the global commons has reflected the

North-South divide.d. The countries of the North are more concerned about the

protection of the global commons than the countries of the South.4. What were the outcomes of the Rio Summit?

5. What is meant by the global commons? How are they exploited andpolluted?

6. What is meant by ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’? Howcould we implement the idea?

7. Why have issues related to global environmental protection becomethe priority concern of states since the 1990s?

8. Compromise and accommodation are the two essential policiesrequired by states to save planet Earth. Substantiate the statement inthe light of the ongoing negotiations between the North and Southon environmental issues.

9. The most serious challenge before the states is pursuing economicdevelopment without causing further damage to the globalenvironment. How could we achieve this? Explain with a few examples.

E x

e r

c i

s e

s

Documents

Environment and Natural Resources · Environment and Natural Resources 119 becoming increasingly polluted largely due to land-based activities. If unchecked, intensive human settlement