PROJECT

SUBJЕCT: Political Science

TOPIC: International Environmental Policies

Submitted To : Submitted By :
Ms. Monika Srivastava Name – Vishal kumar arya
Assistant Professor (Pol. Sci.) Semester- III, B.A.L.L.B(H)
Dr. RMLNLU, Lucknow Enrollment no. -170101163
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Acknowledgement

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my mentor Ms. Monika Srivastava for her able

guidance and help;

My seniors who provided me valuable tips;

My parents and my batchmates for their constant support.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

 INTRODUCTION
 ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION
 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
 EVIRONMENTAL SECURITY
 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
 MAJOUR ECOLOGICAL DISASTER
 CONCLUSION
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Introduction
There is a very famous quote in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: “The old world will
burn in the fires of industry. Forests will fall. A new order will rise.” The effect of this fall of
the old world has become so prominent that JRR Tolkien also writes: “The world is changed. I
feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.”

As one looks around, one realizes how much these words hold true for the world of today.
Globalwarming, Deforestation, Desertification, Airpollution, Waterpollution. The world really
has changed. Moreover, these issues are not for one country or a continent in particular. These
consequences are concerned with the whole of the earth. Earlier, the problems were dealt with
individually by each country. But since the latter half of the 20th century, there is growing
demand for a global platform for redressing such issues. As a result, environmentalists and
scientists have come up with ideas and theories that support internationalization of
environmental problems and solutions.

The topic taken to be discussed has a very wide scope. It involves the popular problems,
theories, and their solutions as these are discussed at the global level. After disturbing disasters
like the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Chernobyl Disaster, Fukushima
Meltdown and Deepwater Horizon Oil spill, there is urgent need to look into the matter and see
how such accidents can be dealt with if not completely averted. Also, the project will cover
various international agreements between different countries concerning environmental issues
like the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna
(CITES), Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), Kyoto Protocol, Montreal Protocol,
Rotterdam Convention, Stockholm Convention and Vienna Convention.

The project will try to highlight the environmental issues that have international importance
along with examples of the most disturbing disasters that have occurred till date. Also, it will
focus on the emerging theories relating to it. There is a need to take into account the policy
implementation, its history and future along with the conventions and agreements entered into
by various countries throughout the world. Also the project would include different aspects of
the issue in question like sustainable development, environmental justice and environmental
activism.

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Origin and Evolution

The emergence of significant political concern for the environment is often dated to the late
1800s, when governments in Europe and North America began to invest in institutions and
policies aimed at conserving natural resources. This “early conservation movement” witnessed
the birth of national parks systems in North America and the creation of a professional cadre
of bureaucrats trained in forestry and wildlife management at the turn of the 20th century. As
well, the first non-government, environmental groups (ENGOs) formed during this period, and
the earliest international environmental agreements concerning the management of trans-
boundary rivers and migratory wildlife were negotiated in North America and Europe.

This political momentum slowed down during the wars and the Great Depression periods.
Unlike the early conservation movement, the defining issues of the “modern environmental
movement” were pollution and toxics. Advances in scientific research and events like
London’s “killer smog” of 1954 and the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962
gave the public reason for concern. And society was changing in ways that made it especially
receptive to such messages. The post-war economic boom created additional environmental
stresses, but the explosion in affluence also meant that material concerns were less pressing for
many people.

Investments in education and other quality of life concerns expanded and there emerged
vibrant counter-culture and civil protest movements against the status quo. These various
factors came together in the 1960s, triggering an unprecedented rise in public concern and
political activism over the environment. Government responses between1968 and the mid1970s
were especially impressive: omnibus environmental agencies were established and a complex
array of policies were put in place in many countries to combat pollution, improve waste
management, and conserve natural resources.1

1
http://www.mta.ca/faculty/socsci/geograph/Walters/environmental_politics.pdf

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Environmental Issues
The global environmental politics is essentially based on the contemporary issues and
problems that the world is facing at large. The project would like to deal with the most important
and most influential issues that are being discussed these days-

i. Climate Change: Climate change is a revealing and enduring change in the statistical
distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of
years. Biotic changes, volcanic eruptions, tectonic movements and variations in
solar radiations were considered to be the cause of climate change initially. But
more recently, climate change has been attributed to human actions and this process
has given rise to the phenomenon called ‘global warming’.
The scientific consensus on climate change is "that climate is changing and that
these changes are in large part caused by human activities," 2 and it "is largely
irreversible." 34 The most significant concern is the increase in Carbon Dioxide
emissions from combustion of fossil fuels. Other factors include ozone depletion,
deforestation and improper land use.
Such drastic change in climate has led to many harmful impacts such as the melting
of glaciers thereby leading to rise in the sea level. From 1950 to 2009, measurements show
an average annual rise in sea level of 1.7 ± 0.3 mm per year, with satellite data showing a
rise of 3.3 ± 0.4 mm per year from 1993 to 2009.5This could be understood from the fact
that there are two reasons why the sea level is rising. First, thermal expansion, i.e., ocean
water expands on warming. Second, contribution from land-based ice due to increased
melting. Sea level rise is particularly harmful for those countries which are situated in the
coastal areas. ii. Species Extinction: Through evolution, new species arise through the

2
America's Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change; National Research Council
(2010). Advancing the Science of Climate Change. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.
3
Susan Solomon, Gian-Kasper Plattner, RetoKnutti, and Pierre Friedlingstein (2009)."Irreversible climate change
due to carbon dioxide emissions". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of
America (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) 106 (6): 1704–
4
.
5
Nicholls, Robert J.; Cazenave, Anny (18 June 2010). "Sea-Level Sea-Level Rise and Its Impact on Coastal
Zones". Science Magazine 328 (5985): 1517–1520.

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process of speciation—where new varieties of organisms arise and thrive when they are
able

to find and exploit an ecological niche—and species become extinct when they are
no longer able to survive in changing conditions or against superior competition.
Predation, competition and disease are the natural causes that could lead to the
extinction of the species.
Genetic pollution and habitat degradation could be regarded as the effects of human
actions that cause species extinction. The main cause of habitat degradation
worldwide is agriculture, with urban sprawl, logging, mining and some fishing
practices close behind. Habitat degradation can also take the form of a physical
destruction of niche habitats. The widespread destruction of tropical rainforests and
replacement with open pastureland is widely cited as an example of this.6
Endemic populations can face such extinctions when new populations are imported
or selectively bred by people, or when habitat modification brings previously
isolated species into contact. Pure bred wild species can be threatened with species
extinction by uncontrolled hybridization. Extinction as a result of climate change
has been confirmed by fossil studies.7A 2003 review across 14 biodiversity research
centers predicted that, because of climate change, 15–37% of land species would
be "committed to extinction" by 2050.8

iii. Resource Depletion: Natural resources are now extracted quickly and efficiently due
to development in technology; rapid increase in population leads to increase in demand
for natural resources; increased consumerism; intense competition due to increase in
demand; non-equitable distribution of resources are some reasons why there is
depletion in resources. Extinction of rare minerals and depletion of oil resources, and
other non-renewable sources of energy is one of the biggest threat and challenge that
the human world faces today.

6
Wilson, E.O., The Future of Life (2002).

7
Sahney, S., Benton, M.J. & Falcon-Lang, H.J. (2010). "Rainforest collapse triggered Pennsylvanian tetrapod
diversification in Euramerica".
8
Bhattacharya, Shaoni (7 January 2004). "Global warming threatens millions of species". New Scientist.

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iv. Environmental Degradation:The quality of the environment has seriously

deteriorated because of increasing amount of pollution of all kinds. Pollution is the
introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. 9
It was the industrial pollution that gave rise to the environmental pollution as we know
it today. The Great Smog of London in 1952, which killed about 4000 people prompted
the first modern environmental legislation, The Clean Air Act of 1956.
There are various kinds of pollution, the most common and the most harmful being
Air pollution, Water pollution, Soil contamination, Noise pollution, Thermal
pollution, Radioactive contamination, etc. Air pollution mostly causes respiratory
diseases like asthma, bronchitis and lung cancer in severe cases. In developing
countries, water pollution causes 14,000 deaths per day, mostly due to drinking
contaminated water. Noise pollution induces loss of hearing, insomnia and
increased blood pressure. Chemical and radioactive contamination can cause and
also might lead to serious birth defects.
10
Pollution also has its effects on the environment. Eutrophication ,
biomagnification11 are certain effects along with loss in biodiversity that can be
caused by invasive species out-competing pure species.

v. Overpopulation:The recent rapid increase in human population over the past three
centuries has raised concerns that the planet may not be able to sustain present or larger
numbers of inhabitants. The Inter Academy Panel Statement on Population Growth,
circa 1994, has stated that many environmental problems, such as rising levels of
atmospheric carbon dioxide, global warming, and pollution, are aggravated by the
population expansion.12 Other problems that are related to overpopulation are increased

9
"Pollution - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". Merriam-webster.com

10
“The term 'eutrophic' means well-nourished; thus, 'eutrophication' refers to natural or artificial addition of
nutrients to bodies of water and to the effects of the added nutrients….When the effects are undesirable,
eutrophication may be considered a form of pollution.” - National Academy of Sciences, 1969
11
"Biomagnification is the sequence of processes in an ecosystem by which higher concentrations of a particular
chemical, such as the pesticide DDT, are reached in organisms higher up the food chain, generally through a
series of prey-predator relationships." - Oxford University, 2008
12
Joint statement by fifty-eight of the world's scientific academies.interacademies.net.

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demand for resources like fresh water and food, malnutrition and food, deterioration of
living conditions and consumption of natural resources. Recent technological
advancements have led to increase in life
span of human beings thereby increasing the birth rate more than the death rate of
the people. Some of the effects of overpopulation are-
• Inadequate freshwater13
• Depletion of natural resources and especially fossil fuels
• Increased levels of pollution
• Loss of ecosystems and deforestation
• Increasing desertification
• Mass species extinction
• High infant and child mortality14
• Poverty, malnutrition and starvation

vi. Ozone Layer Depletion: Ozone layer depletion is indicative of two different but related
phenomena observed since 1970s: a steady decline in the volume of ozone layer in the
Stratosphere and a decrease in the stratospheric ozone over the earth’s polar region. As
explained above, the primary cause of ozone depletion is the presence of chlorine-
containing source gases (primarily CFCs and related halocarbons). In the presence of
UV light, these gases dissociate, releasing chlorine atoms, which then go on to catalyze
ozone destruction. The Cl-catalyzed ozone depletion can take place in the gas phase,
but it is dramatically enhanced in the presence of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs).15
Since the ozone layer absorbs UVB ultraviolet light from the sun, ozone layer
depletion is expected to increase surface UVB levels, which could lead to damage,
including increase in skin cancer.

13
Shiklomanov, I. A. (2000)."Appraisal and Assessment of World Water Resources". Water International 25: 11–
32.
14
U.S. National Research Council, Commission on the Science of Climate Change, Washington, D.C. (2001).

15
Parson, Robert (December 16, 1997). "Antarctic ozone-depletion FAQ, section 7".

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Environmental Policy
Environmental policy has been defined as-

“It seeks to govern the relationship between humans and their natural environment. At its core
is an identifiable ‘environmental state’ comprising specific ministries, agencies and
organizations whose mandate is to secure environmental improvements. Underpinning
environmental politics is the tense relationship between this state and its opposite numbers
representing the social and economic realm.”16

Environment policy is comprised of four phases. They are-

1. Preindustrial period: The first phase was before the 1960s, where the policy aimed
towards protecting human health from the different kinds of pollution and creating some
green space. This was achieved by limiting pollution from point sources like factories,
and establishing protected areas and national parks.
2. Second phase: This phase was between 1960s and 1970s. The first evocative images
transmitted from deep space in 1968 catalyzed public concern for “the environment”.
The environmental state was born during this phase. The efforts of this state and the
people were uncoordinated, and isolated. Policies were more of regulatory in nature,
but were hardly implemented.
3. Third phase: The third phase was between 1980s and 1990s. There was a huge
expansion in the scale of new environmental states. The old school of thought of
“pollution control” was replaced by new school like “ecological modernization” and
“sustainable development”. “Command and control” regulations with new policy
instruments like eco-taxes, voluntary agreements, and product labelling devices became
the new topics of discussion. Addressing cross-border pollution and resource
exploitation became the prime concern during this phase.
4. Fourth phase: The fourth phase started from about 2000. It has now become clear that
environmental problems do not arise from single-point sources such as factories and
power stations but from countless every day social practices like travelling, shopping

16
“Environmental Policy”, Andrew Jordan and David Benson.

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and even using the internet. Society plays an important part in nurturing and delivering
environmental policy. Therefore, there is a need to change the way the issues and
challenges are being looks at and a way is to be found out to solve these problems.

Climate change is the greatest environmental threat the world has faced.17). It is linked
to other socio-economic challenges like poverty reduction, energy insecurity, and
massive biodiversity loss and is stubbornly resistant to simple “techno-fixes”. A
systematic “carbon revolution” is in need- which mirrors the Industrial Revolution and
its principles of the 19th century.

WHAT IS DISTINCTIVE OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY?

Environmental quality exemplifies what economists term a non-excludable or “public” good.

There is an asymmetry between those that pollute (a minority) and those (the wider public)
suffering the consequences. Polluters have strong incentives to unite to protect their “rights” to
pollute while the public is too widely dispersed or individually suffer too little to mobilize into
a group.

The environmental policy aims at reducing this gap so that the asymmetry does not lead to
much more severe problems. In the 3rd and the 4th phases, the asymmetry has become less
stark. The state’s role is to mediate between those supporting and those opposing development.
In these phases, the state has come under pressure to explore alternative instruments to promote
more sustainable forms of mass consumption.

WHAT DRIVES ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY?

Environmentalism is the key to environmental policy. It is a broad social movement that

emerged in the late 1960s and issues involving “quality of life” got more attention as a part of
environmentalism. There were short term “pulses” involving environmental concern which
coincided with periods of economic growth and social introspection. It is concerned with
environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as
the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements.18

17
(Andrew Jordan, Dave Huitema, Harro van Asselt, Tim Rayner, &FransBekhout, 2010).

18
"Environmentalism - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary". Merriamwebster.com.

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Environmental Security
In 1960s, first efforts to study international environmental politics started. Mercury poisoning
associated with the Minamata Disease (1959) and the Tony Canyon shipwreck off the western
coast of Cornwall in England (1967), among other disasters have played a key role in this
context. The Minamata disease was first caused in Japan by the release of methyl mercury in
the industrial wastewater. It got bioaccumulated and when the local populace ate marine food,
they started suffering from mercury poisoning. On November 12, 1959, the Ministry of Health
and Welfare's Minamata Food Poisoning Subcommittee published its results:
"Minamata disease is a poisoning disease that affects mainly the central nervous system and is
caused by the consumption of large quantities of fish and shellfish living in Minamata Bay and
its surroundings, the major causative agent being some sort of organic mercury compound."

In 1970s, various reports like “Only One Earth” by Barbara Ward and Rene Dubos; Edward
Goldsmith’s “Blueprint for Survival” and the “Limits to Growth Meadows” got published in
1972 which to an extent influenced other scholars to research on the same topic. The UN
Conference on Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972) was a path-breaking conference and
would be discussed later in the project.

Since the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro.
Environmental stress is a contributing factor to conflict in many developing countries. Thomas
Homer-Dixon and his team of researchers have analysed links between water scarcity and
conflict, rapid urbanization and urban violence, and environmentally induced migration and
ethnic violence in countries like Rwanda, South Africa, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and so on.
More recently, disputes arise from access to natural resources such as water, oil or minerals.
Central questions are “Whose security is at stake?” and “Who defines the need to protect what
and for whom?”

Al Gore in his 1992 book Earth in the Balance, had pointed out to global risks such as the
production and trade of highly toxic chemicals, the loss of biodiversity, ozone depletion,
climate change, marine degradation, and desertification and deforestation.

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Sustainable Development
The 1980s saw an increasing concern for sustainable development. The most frequently quoted
definition is from Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report19:

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it
two key concepts:

-the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding
priority should be given; and

-the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the
environment's ability to meet present and future needs."

People concerned about sustainable development suggest that meeting the needs of the future
depends on how well we balance social, economic, and environmental objectives--or needs-
when making decisions today. Economic needs include services, household needs, industrial
and agricultural growth and efficient use of labor. Social needs incorporate equity,
participation, empowerment, social mobility and cultural preservation. Environmental needs
include biodiversity, natural resources, carrying capacity, clean air and water and ecosystem
integrity.

Environmental sustainability is the process of making sure current processes of interaction with
the environment are pursued with the idea of keeping the environment as pristine as naturally
possible based on ideal-seeking behavior. Thus, environmental sustainability demands that
society designs activities to meet human needs while indefinitely preserving the life support
systems of the planet. This, for example, entails using water sustainably, only utilizing
renewable energy, and sustainable material supplies (e.g. harvesting wood from forests at a rate
that maintains the biomass and biodiversity).

Environment is not sustainable and is in a state of degradation when the amount of natural
resources used is more than the nature’s ability to replenish. Environment is in a state of

19
World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED).Our common future. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1987 p. 43.

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equilibrium and it is a steady state economy if the amount of natural resources equals to the
amount of resources used by the people. And the environment is considered to be stable and it
is in a state of renewal if the amount of resources is less than the nature’s ability to replenish.

Sustainable agriculture may be defined as consisting of environmentally friendly methods of

farming that allow the production of crops or livestock without damage to human or natural
systems. Furthermore, the concept of sustainable agriculture extends inter-generationally,
relating to passing on a conserved or improved natural resource, biotic, and economic base
instead of one which has been depleted or polluted.20

The main elements of sustainable agriculture are-

i. Agroforestry:
According to the World Agroforestry Centre, agroforestry is a collective name for
land use systems and practices in which woody perennials are deliberately
integrated with crops and/or animals on the same land management unit.
ii. Mixed Farming:
Many farmers in tropical & temperate countries survive by managing a mix of
different crops or animals. The best known form of mixing occurs probably where
crop residues are used to feed the animals and the excreta from animals are used as
nutrients for the crop.
iii. Multiple Cropping:
The process of growing two or more crops in the same piece of land, during the
same season is called Multiple Cropping. It can be rightly called a form of
polyculture.
iv. Crop Rotation:
The process of growing two or more dissimilar or unrelated crops in the same piece
of land in different seasons is known as Crop Rotation.

20
Networld-Project (1998-02-09)."Environmental Glossary".Green-networld.com.

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Environmental Justice
The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines Environmental justice as follows:

“Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people
regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development,
implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EPA has
this goal for all communities and persons across this Nation. It will be achieved when everyone
enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access
to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and
work.”

The three fundamental principles of Environmental Justice as pointed out by United States
Department of Transportation:

i. To avoid, minimize, or mitigate disproportionately high and adverse human health and
environmental effects, including social and economic effects, on minority populations and
low-income populations. ii. To ensure the full and fair participation by all potentially
affected communities in the transportation decision-making process. iii. To prevent the
denial of, reduction in, or significant delay in the receipt of benefits by minority and low-
income populations.

Some of the questions posed by the theory of Environmental Discrimination are-

“Are minority communities and individuals burdened with more than their share of
environmental risks in this country, while enjoying fewer of the benefits of environmental
regulation than others? Is environmental justice policy no different from education,
criminal and civil justice, and a host of other socioeconomic institutions in this country in
being tainted by the broad brush of race and class discrimination? If not, what besides race
and class discrimination could possibly explain these differences in environmental burdens
and benefits? What explains the apparent lack of concern for the uneven impact of
environmental policies and activities in most of the original federal environmental
legislation?”21

21
Rhodes, Edwardo Lao. 2003. Environmental Justice in America. Indiana University Press: Bloomington, IN.

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Environmental discrimination is an issue that Environmental Justice seeks to solve. Racism

and discrimination against minorities has been based around the belief of racial superiority,
and mistreating others based on their differences. A type of racism being used to
discriminate is using racial advantages and privileges.

Energy production has also been a significant source of environmental discrimination, with
minority communities, poor communities, and rural communities arguably most affected
both by energy extraction—coal mining (including mountaintop removal), uranium mining
and enrichment, oil drilling and refining, unconventional oil and gas— and by electricity
production in coal- and gas-fired power plants and nuclear reactors. Alternative energy
sources, including solar, wind, bio-mass, natural gas, and "clean coal", promise to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the disproportionate burdens that global climate
change will place on poor communities in the U.S. and the global South.

Environmental Activism
“Environmental activism is the combined political (economic and social) force of people who
take action to protect the environment. Unfulfilled by mere complaining about environmental
problems, activists follow the advice of Mahatma Gandhi, “be the change you want to see”,
and work to bring their vision of a better world into reality, even if their actions sometimes
involve personal risks and bring no material rewards.”22

An integral part of environmental politics has been the phenomenon of environmental direct
action. The globalization of environmental concern was accompanied by development of
transnational environmental campaigning organizations such as Friends of the earth (1969),
Greenpeace (1972) and Sea Shepherd (1981). These direct action groups set their own values
focused on environmental preservation against the priorities of development and economic
growth embodied in industrial societies. They point to flaws in the existing policy-making
process, which in their eyes favors one set of interests over others.

They also point to the irreversible nature of many environmental changes thus making their
case all the more urgent. That is when the methods that they use are undemocratic in nature as

22
Oneworld.net

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it often seeks to increase the costs of engaging in legal business transactions for government,
business and individuals and claim a justificatory status for a set of environmental values over
and above other values reflected in public policy.

Major Ecological Disasters

This is a list of ten of the worst man-made environmental disasters that occurred in the history
of mankind-

1. CHERNOBYL DISASTER: The worst nuclear-power-plant disaster in history. On

April 26, 1986, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine exploded,
resulting in a nuclear meltdown that sent massive amounts of radiation into the
atmosphere, reportedly more than the fallout from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That
radiation drifted westward, across what was then Soviet Russia, toward Europe. Since
then, thousands of kids have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and an almost 20mile
area around the plant remains off-limits.
2. BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY: Around midnight on Dec. 2, 1984, an accident at a Union
Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, resulted in 45 tons of poisonous Methyl
Isocyanate escaping from the facility. Thousands died within hours. More followed
over subsequent months — about 15,000 in all. In total, about half a million people
were affected in some way. Many of those who survived suffered blindness, organ
failure and other awful bodily malfunctions. A shockingly high number of children in
the area have been born with all manner of birth defects.
3. KUWAITI OIL FIRES: As the 1991 Persian Gulf War drew to a close, Saddam
Hussein sent men to blow up Kuwaiti oil wells. Approximately 600 were set ablaze,
and the fires — literally towering infernos — burned for seven months. The Gulf was
awash in poisonous smoke, soot and ash. Black rain fell. Lakes of oil were created. As
NASA wrote, "The sand and gravel on the land's surface combined with oil and soot to
form a layer of hardened 'tarcrete' over almost 5 percent of the country's area."
4. LOVE CANAL: In 1978, Love Canal, located near Niagara Falls in upstate New York,
was a nice little working-class enclave with hundreds of houses and a school. It just
happened to sit atop 21,000 tons of toxic industrial waste that had been buried
underground in the 1940s and '50s by a local company. Over the years, the waste began

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to bubble up into backyards and cellars. By 1978, the problem was unavoidable, and
hundreds of families sold their houses to the federal government and evacuated the area.
5. EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL: On the night of March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez
oil tanker ran aground on Bligh Reef in the pristine waters of Alaska's Prince William
Sound. The first of what would turn out to be 10.8 million gal. of oil began to spew
forth into the cold waters. It would eventually spread almost 500 miles from the original
crash site and stain thousands of miles of coastline. Hundreds of thousands of birds,
fish, seals, otters and other animals would perish as a result, despite the mobilization of
more than 11,000 people and 1,000 boats as part of the cleanup.
6. TOKAIMURA NUCLEAR PLANT: On Sept. 30, 1999, Japan's worst nuclear
accident happened in a facility northeast of Tokyo. Three workers at a
uraniumprocessing plant in Tokaimura, then the center of the Japanese nuclear-power
industry, improperly mixed a uranium solution. A blue flash heralded trouble. As TIME
wrote, "One [worker] was knocked unconscious. Within minutes, the others were
nauseated, and their hands and faces were burned bright crimson." Two ended up dying,
and hundreds were exposed to various levels of radiation.
7. THE ARAL SEA: Situated between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the Aral was once
the fourth largest lake on earth, as big as Ireland. Since the 1960s, however, when Soviet
irrigation projects diverted several of its source waterways, the Aral has shrunk 90%.
What was once a vibrant, fish-stocked lake is now a massive desert that produces salt
and sandstorms that kill plant life and have negative effects on human and animal health
for hundreds of miles around.
8. SEVESO DIOXIN CLOUD: On July 10, 1976, an explosion at a northern Italian
chemical plant released a thick, white cloud of dioxin that quickly settled on the town
of Seveso, north of Milan. First, animals began to die.It was four days before people
began to feel ill effects — including "nausea, blurred vision and, especially among
children, the disfiguring sores of a skin disease known as chloracne".
9. MINAMATA DISEASE: In 1956, the first human patient of what soon became known
as Minamata disease was identified. Symptoms included convulsions, slurred speech,
loss of motor functions and uncontrollable limb movements. Three years later, an
investigation concluded that the affliction was a result of industrial poisoning of
Minamata Bay by the Chisso Corp., which had long been one of the port town's biggest

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employers. As a result of wastewater pollution by the plastic manufacturer, large

amounts of mercury and other heavy metals found their way into the fish and shellfish
that comprised a large part of the local diet.

Major Conventions and Policies

PRE-STOCKHOLM:

Prior to the 1972 Stockholm Conference the majority of environmental conventions related to
the conservation of wildlife. Of historical interest only are the very early bird protection
conventions (e.g., the 1902 Convention for the Protection of Birds Useful to Agriculture; see
further Lyster 1985). More significant in the longer term are the general nature conservation
conventions, although the 1946 Washington Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (and its
1956 Protocol) is particularly noteworthy in this period—over time it has of course changed its
focus from exploitation to conservation. Also notable and considerably more successful is the
1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl
Habitat, which establishes a network of protected wetland areas in the territories of member
states.

The 1954 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil (OILPOL)
(amended 1962 and 1969) broke new ground by developing a regulatory framework for the
carriage of oil by sea. The 1969 International Convention relating to Intervention on the High
Seas in cases of Oil Pollution Damage authorized emergency action by coastal states outside
territorial waters.

FROM STOCKHOLM TO RIO:

The years 1972 to 1992 witnessed an astonishing increase in the number and variety of
international environmental law instruments. Much of this activity is directly attributable to the
Stockholm Conference. Not only did the famous Conference Declaration (Declaration of the
United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 1972) lay down certain principles, the
majority of which were de legeferenda (i.e., they stated what the law ought to be rather than
what it was), but it also developed a 109-point Environmental Action Plan and a Resolution
recommending institutional and financial implementation by the UN. The result of these

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recommendations was the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme

(UNEP), established by UN General Assembly Resolution (UNGA 1972) and based eventually
in Nairobi. UNEP was directly responsible for the sponsoring of a number of key global
environmental treaties and for the development of the important Regional Seas Programme,
which has resulted in a network of some eight regional framework conventions protecting the
marine environment, each with protocols developed to meet the special requirements of the
region. A number of new regional programmes are still in the pipeline.

In order to provide an overview of the large number of environmental conventions developed

during this period, they are divided into a number of groups: nature conservation (the 1972
UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage,
CITES and the 1985 ASEAN Agreement on the Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources); protection of the marine environment (UNCLOS- United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea); and regulation of trans-boundary environmental impacts (1979 Geneva
Convention, 1985 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and 1991 Espoo
Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment).

POST RIO CONVENTIONS:

The Rio UNCED prompted, or coincided with, a large number of new global and regional
environment conventions, as well as a major declaration of principles for the future in the Rio
Declaration on Environment and Development. In addition to the two conventions concluded
at Rio—the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological
Diversity—new environmental conventions signed in 1992 included those regulating the use
of international watercourses as well as the trans-boundary effects of industrial accidents.

The UNFCCC, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, signed at Rio de
Janeiro in June 1992 by some 155 states. The basic objective of the Convention is to achieve
stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. The objectives of the
Convention on Biological Diversity, also approved at the 1992 UNCED in Rio de Janeiro, are
to conserve biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable
sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.

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Conclusion
“The scale and scope of the human presence on Earth has reached a point where the aggregate
consequences of both appear to be affecting the ability of the planet to continue to sustain us
and our actions for much longer. Our presence, in terms of population and economic activity,
has heightened the interconnectivity of the modern world. Our actions no longer, if they ever
did, exist in isolation. Issues of ecological sustainability and equity- intragenerationally, inter-
generationally and across species- all involve compelling questions and challenges.”

-Jerald Mast, Carthage College

Over the last two decades there has been a major change in the attitude of the world community
to environmental conservation and management. Part of that change has been a substantial
increase in the numbers and the scope of international instruments addressing environmental
concerns. The challenge for this emerging international environmental law is not simply to
respond with an increase in the numbers of environmental instruments, but also to enhance
their impact and effectiveness.

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 ~Political Science~

Bibliography Research

Papers:

1. Humphrey, Mathew. “Environmentalism”. Encyclopedia of Political Theory. Volume 1.

Ed. Mark Bevir. Sage Publications Inc., California. 441-444

Websites:

1. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/global_environmental_politics/toc/gep3.1.html
2. http://www.iilj.org/aboutus/documents/TheInternationalPoliticsoftheEnvironment_00
0.pdf
3. http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam031/2001035638.pdf
4. http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/sd.html
5. http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/
6. http://www.iisd.org/sd/

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