GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT CONTINUE TO DETERIORATE

Will The Global Environment Continue To Deteriorate?

Will The Global Environment Continue To Deteriorate?

Introduction

After much anticipation and many clichés about the “dawn of a new millennium,” the twenty-first century is here. But after the celebrations are over and the anticipation is but a mere memory, what kind of world will we be living in? The earth's two important systems physical and biological are facing an unprecedented damage. The human population reached 6 billion in 1999 and is still growing. The major components of the biosphere, including the atmosphere, the oceans, soil cover, the climate system, and the range of animal and plant species, have all been altered by the intensity of human exploitation of the earth's resources in the twentieth century. Therefore, it is quiet clear that global environment is continue to deteriorate.

Today, we are all worried about global warming. We are leaving a century shaped largely by world wars and ensuing cold wars and entering a new one shaped principally by ecological limits, redistributive politics, and the global reach of technology. While the future is certainly not going to be devoid of military threats, which may be compounded by the spread of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons, it may be the conflict with the natural environment that will erupt on a world-war scale. And, as in the case of military conflict, it is international cooperation that offers the best hope for bringing about a sustainable world peace (Hempel 1996).

International Cooperation and Environment

Environmental problems do not respect national boundaries. Transboundary air pollution, the degradation of shared rivers, and the pollution of oceans and seas are just a few examples of how one nation's or one factory's pollutants can have wide-ranging effects downstream or downwind. In fact, the international dimensions of certain environmental problems may even be worse than those at the site of the initial emissions. Population growth, in combination with resulting urbanization and industrialization, has served only to increase the amount and frequency of major international environmental problems. The cumulative impact that human beings have had on the earth, together with an increased understanding of ecological processes, means that the environment cannot be viewed as a relatively stable background factor. Rather, the interaction between economic development and the complex, often fragile ecosystems on which that development depends has become an international political and economic issue (Hurrell and Kingsbury 1992).

Historical Background

The nature of transboundary environmental problems has changed over the years. First, the number and scope of transboundary environmental problems has increased. Second, a new category of global environmental issues has emerged. These environmental problems, including climate change, depletion of the ozone layer, biodiversity loss, and over fishing of the high seas, are global in the sense that they affect everyone and can only be effectively managed on the basis of cooperation between most, if not all, countries in the world. Third, the increasing scale of many regional or local environmental problems, such as urban degradation, deforestation, desertification, salinization, denudation, or water or fuelwood scarcity, now ...