Why have issues related to global environmental protection become the priority concern of states since the 1990s?
The concerns related to environmental protection surfaced in the 960s when the Club of Rome published a book in 1972, entitled ‘Limits to Growth’, identifying the potential depletion of the Earth’s resources as a cause of concern.
It was primarily in 1992 that in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development at Rio, issues related to environment began to be consolidated at a global level. Matters relating to global warming, depletion of resources and the Global Commons took a centre stage in the conference, followed by a series of conferences and conventions on the environment. This growing awareness can be attributed to the following reasons:
a. Throughout the world there has been a drastic change in the land use pattern where trees are being cut to make space for agricultural activities in order to meet the needs of the growing population.
b. The world’s focus shifted from the Cold War to the new challenges lying in the confrontation of humanity by the environment.
c. Globalisation encouraged greater communication and exchange of ideas and information among the global leaders to bring about greater realisation on the environmental problems.
d. Substantial portions of the existing agricultural lands are losing fertility. Grasslands are being overgrazed and water is being severely polluted by the dumping of industrial wastes resulting in to the shortage of safe and clean drinking water.
e. It is also noticed that 1.2 billion people in the developing countries have no access to safe water and 2.6 billion have no access to sanitation.
f. Massive deforestation is having a severe impact on the biodiversity resulting in to the extinction of several species of plants and animals. It has also resulted in to the displacement of people leading to their movements in different parts of the world in the form of indigenous population.
g. Global warming has become a matter of concern as it is fast changing the climatic conditions and leading the world towards natural disasters. It has resulted in to the global rise in temperature causing intense heat waves and melting of glaciers and ice sheets.
h. Discovery of the ozone hole over the Antarctic region in the mid 1980 revealed the dangers of environmental pollution.
With increased interactions among the global leaders, such issues today are being discussed at the international level in order to find their possible solutions.
The concerns related to environmental protection surfaced in the 960s when the Club of Rome published a book in 1972, entitled ‘Limits to Growth’, identifying the potential depletion of the Earth’s resources as a cause of concern.
It was primarily in 1992 that in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development at Rio, issues related to environment began to be consolidated at a global level. Matters relating to global warming, depletion of resources and the Global Commons took a centre stage in the conference, followed by a series of conferences and conventions on the environment. This growing awareness can be attributed to the following reasons:
a. Throughout the world there has been a drastic change in the land use pattern where trees are being cut to make space for agricultural activities in order to meet the needs of the growing population.
b. The world’s focus shifted from the Cold War to the new challenges lying in the confrontation of humanity by the environment.
c. Globalisation encouraged greater communication and exchange of ideas and information among the global leaders to bring about greater realisation on the environmental problems.
d. Substantial portions of the existing agricultural lands are losing fertility. Grasslands are being overgrazed and water is being severely polluted by the dumping of industrial wastes resulting in to the shortage of safe and clean drinking water.
e. It is also noticed that 1.2 billion people in the developing countries have no access to safe water and 2.6 billion have no access to sanitation.
f. Massive deforestation is having a severe impact on the biodiversity resulting in to the extinction of several species of plants and animals. It has also resulted in to the displacement of people leading to their movements in different parts of the world in the form of indigenous population.
g. Global warming has become a matter of concern as it is fast changing the climatic conditions and leading the world towards natural disasters. It has resulted in to the global rise in temperature causing intense heat waves and melting of glaciers and ice sheets.
h. Discovery of the ozone hole over the Antarctic region in the mid 1980 revealed the dangers of environmental pollution.
With increased interactions among the global leaders, such issues today are being discussed at the international level in order to find their possible solutions.
