CHAPTER 6

ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS AND SD:

relationship among environmental protection, economic development, and social

development—the three dimensions or pillars of sustainable development—all contribute
to the current global environmental landscape.

North–South RELATIONS AND SD:

developing countries perceived global environmental issues as a distinctively North–South

issue and, sometimes, as an effort to sabotage their development aspirations. Although,
E recognize the seriousness of environmental degradation and how it negatively affects
their economic future, the viewpoints expressed in the Founex Report help explain why
many developing countries often regarded global environmental regimes as largely
unrelated to their core concerns and even suspiciously—as a means by which
industrialized countries will maintain control or even gain new control over resources and
technology located in the South. resulting Stockholm Declaration and Action Plan
specifically noted (in Recommendations 102–109) that environmental concerns should not
be a pretext for discriminatory trade policies or reduced access to markets and that the
burdens of environmental policies of industrialized countries should not be transferred to
developing countries. Rio de Janeiro (in celebration of Stockholm aniversario): Developed
countries wanted to focus on ozone depletion, global warming, acid rain, and
deforestation. Developing countries preferred exploring the relationship among sluggish
economic growth, consumption levels, and production patterns in developing countries and
the economic policies of the developed countries. They emphasized that an
“environmentally healthy planet was impossible in a world that contained significant
inequities.”

major output of the Earth Summit was the global plan of action for sustainable
development, called Agenda 21. Agenda 21 demonstrated an emerging consensus on the
issues affecting the long-term sustainability of human society, including domestic social
and economic policies, international economic relations, and cooperation on issues
concerning the global commons. led to the institutionalization of several principles that
have roots in Stockholm.

1. The first of these principles is additionality, which is not explicitly stated in the Rio
Declaration but underlies most of Agenda 21 as well as the climate-change, ozone, and
persistent organic pollutants regimes. The principle of additionality arose out of the South’s
concern that environmental issues would attract international aid away from traditional
development issues. Developing countries were concerned that instead of raising new
funds for addressing global environmental issues, the North and international financial
institutions would simply divert resources previously targeted for development toward the
environment. Thus, the principle of additionality sought to ensure that new monies would
be made available to deal with global environmental issues. during the negotiation of the
desertification convention. Early in these negotiations, it became clear that the
industrialized countries were not going to make new funds available. In response,
developing countries started to use the threat of retreating from previous consensus
agreements on environmental issues as leverage against the donor countries.
2. Developing countries also believe that the North should bear the financial burden of
measures to reverse ecological damage. This is a key component of the principle of
CBDR. This principle states that global environmental problems are the common concern
of all and all should work toward their solution, but responsibility for action should be
differentiated in proportion to the responsibility for creating the problem and the financial
and technical resources available for taking effective action. Principle is explicitly
acknowledged in nearly all international environmental agreements since the mid-1980s. It
is reflected in specific regime rules, such as the different requirements for industrialized
and developing countries under the Montreal Protocol

3. The third principle is the polluter pays principle, which seeks to ensure that
the economic and other costs of environmental action should be borne by those who
create the need for that action. South has argued that the polluter pays principle has been
steadily diluted. They point to an increasing pattern of pushing treaty implementation
steadily southward, including in the climate, desertification, and biodiversity regimes, by
seeking relatively fewer changes in behavior patterns in the North and relatively more in
the South, even though northern behavior gave rise to most of the problems in the first
place.

THE SOCIAL PILAR OF SD

addresses access to resources and opportunities, social justice, equity, participation, and
empowerment. A strong social pillar means that all development sectors are stronger,
whether it is agriculture, infrastructure development, management of natural resources, or
rural and urban development. A weak social pillar means weakness in other sectors as
well.

MDGs:
1. ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY AND HUNGER
Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day

Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

2. ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION

Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling

3. PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN

Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and to
all levels of education no later than 2015

4. REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY

Reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate among children under five

5. IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH

Reduce by three-quarters the maternal mortality ratio

6. COMBAT HIV/ AIDS, MALARIA, AND OTHER DISEASES

Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/ AIDS

Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
7. ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and
reverse the loss of environmental resources

Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water

Achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least one hundred million slum dwellers
by 2020

8. DEVELOP A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT

Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable, and
nondiscriminatory. This target includes a commitment to good governance, development,
and poverty reduction—both nationally and internationally.

Address the special needs of the least-developed countries. This includes tariff-and quota-
free access for their exports, enhanced debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries,
cancellation of official bilateral debt, and more generous official development assistance
for countries committed to poverty reduction.

Address the special needs of landlocked countries and small island developing E.

Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and
international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term

In cooperation with developing countries, develop decent and productive work for youth

In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential

drugs in developing countries

In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies—
especially information and communications technologies

SUCCESS:
As the 2015 MDG Report indicated: Extreme poverty declined significantly. In 1990, nearly
half of the population in the developing world lived on less than $ 1.25 a day; that
proportion dropped to 14 percent in 2015 (MDG 1).

Globally, the number of people living in extreme poverty declined by more than half, falling
from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015 (MDG 1).

The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions fell by almost half since
1990, from 23.3 percent in 1990–1992 to 12.9 percent in 2014–2016 (MDG 1).

The primary school net enrollment rate in developing regions reached 91 percent in 2015,
up from 83 percent in 2000 (MDG 2).

In Southern Asia, only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990.
In 2015, 103 girls were enrolled for every 100 boys (MDG 2).
In 2015 women made up 41 percent of paid workers outside the agricultural sector, an
increase from 35 percent in 1990 (MDG 3).

The number of deaths of children under five declined from 12.7 million in 1990 to almost 6
million in 2015 globally (MDG 4).

The maternal mortality ratio declined 45 percent worldwide since 1990, including declines
of 64 percent in Southern Asia and 49 percent in subSaharan Africa (MDG 5).

New HIV infections fell by approximately 40 percent between 2000 and 2013, from an
estimated 3.5 million cases to 2.1 million (MDG 6).

Over 6.2 million malaria deaths were averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children
under five in sub-Saharan Africa (MDG 6).

Between 2000 and 2013, tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis, and treatment interventions
saved an estimated 37 million lives. The tuberculosis mortality rate fell by 45 percent
(MDG 6).

Since 1990, 2.6 billion people have gained access to improved drinking water and 2.1
billion people have gained access to improved sanitation. Globally, 147 countries have met
the drinking water target, 95 countries have met the sanitation target, and 77 countries
have met both (MDG 7).

The proportion of urban population living in slums in the developing regions fell from
approximately 39.4 percent in 2000 to 29.7 percent in 2014 (MDG 7).

CRITICS
criticized for being too narrow. The eight MDGs failed to consider the root causes of
poverty or gender inequality, many of the underlying environmental issues, or the holistic
nature of development. The goals made no mention of human rights, nor specifically
addressed economic development. The MDGs were considered goals for only developing
countries to achieve, with financial assistance from industrialized states. progress was
uneven across regions and countries. Millions of people were left behind, especially the
poorest and those disadvantaged because of their sex, age, disability, ethnicity, race, or
geographic location.