DEBATE OUTLINE - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Debate Outline - Environmental Protection



DEBATE OUTLINE

I. Opening line:

Making environmental protection a condition for aid places underdeveloped countries in a pressurized situation where already unstable internal mechanisms are pushed to breaking point (Kolstad & Freeman, 2006).

II. Points to assert that there is a problem with our current system:

Current attempts at exercising environmental protection by making it a condition for aid have failed; as evident in the case of underdeveloped Asian countries receiving aid from European countries and the US (Keohane & Olmstead, 2007; Tietenberg, 2007).

Environmental protection cannot be expected to be the primary priority for a country that is already underdeveloped and struggling to regain its economical and social composure (Maler, 1974; Mitchell & Carson, 1989).

Aid cannot be classified as aid if it is provided with a predefined set of conditions. When terms and conditions are put into place, then it takes on the form of a business transaction.

III. Points that the opposing team is expected to present:

Environmental protection is important since human life is adapted to and depends on the current state of the environment (Hagen, Vincent & Welle, 1992).

While a few countries may be responsible for a large share of total emission of greenhouse gases, the burden of climate change is shared worldwide.

By incentivizing with money, it suddenly becomes affordable to explore environmental options (Sen, 1970; Shechter, 2000).

IV. Arguments to counterattack those points:

While environmental protection is important since human life is adapted to and depends on the current state of the environment, the relevance of environmental protection and the approach towards environmental protection are two separate debates that should not be confused with each other.

The burden of climate change is shared worldwide, which is why each country should ensure that it does not force another country into a position where it has to ...