International Environmental Issues

Climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation and air and water pollution are not confined by humanimposed boundaries as waterways, watersheds, oceans, biodiversity, ecosystems and the atmosphere tend to span countries, continents or the globe. Perhaps the most ubiquitous international environmental issue is climate change. Climate change cooperation has been stalled by North-South contentions surrounding inequalities, the right to development, financial support, technology transfer and the ability of the worlds most vulnerable nations to adapt. Moreover, in a highly globalized world, raw materials, finished goods and waste are transported across nations and continents. Often times resulting in environmental degradation and pollution throughout the entire life cycle of a product or process. The demand for a good in one country can result in environmental degradation of another country. For example, the demand for timber or agricultural products in the United States can cause rampant deforestation in tropical regions. Also, the excessive consumption of electronic devices such as cell phones or laptops generates thousands of tons of electronic waste (e-waste), which contains heavy metals and other toxic materials. E-waste generated by developed nations is often exported to countries such as China, India or other places with lax environmental laws and enforcement. The realization that environmental issues are more often than not of transboundary nature requires international collaboration and cooperation. As a result, numerous international agreements have entered into force in the hopes of fostering a concerted effort in addressing some of the most pressing problems. Some of the most widely known international environmental agreements include the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Kyoto Protocol, CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

Baobab. Source: National Research Council.

Welcome to the Africa Collection! This new collection is centered on the environmental, economic and social challenges faced by the people of Africa. The goal of this collection is to draw attention to the magnitude and complexity of the challenges faced by the African continent in general and each of the countries in particular. The impact of these challenges goes beyond Africa which has one the worlds widest environmental, economic, and social disparities between the countries. The contributors to the African Collection are leading scientists and organizations both from within and outside Africa. This collection is a work in progress and you are encouraged to visit this site on a regular basis to learn more about what is being done in each of the African countries. To help you learn about the challenges faced by each of the countries we have designed an interactive map on the right hand side of this page including basic information on every country in Africa and EoE articles published that relate to that particular country. Environmental issues pose challenges as diverse as Earth's ecosystems. Most environmental issues result from conflicts over the use of resources or dependency on processes that endanger the wellbeing of ecosystems. Both natural phenomena and human activity can stress the environment. In general, environmental degradation refers to diminished environmental quality resulting from direct or indirect human activity and polices. Degraded environments are often less secure environments. Unusable land and scarcity of natural resources can lead to political conflict, warfare, economic distress, imperiled biodiversity, and dangers to public health. Human exploitation of natural resources is the leading global environmental stressor. As a species, humans are overconsumers of natural resources; an array of studies shows that humans consume resources at a rate greater than the environment can sustain. Use is also unevenly distributed. Whereas overconsumption of resources, especially fossil fuels, occurs primarily in highly developed countries, more than 1.4 billion citizens of the world's poorest countries lack basic household electricity. Household energy sources significantly affect environmental and human health. Cooking in highly developed regions may consist of using an electric or gas oven that causes no pollution in the home, but relies on fuels that may carry a significant environmental cost elsewhere. In contrast, 2.5 billion people worldwide in developing nations use wood, charcoal, dung, or other solid fuels for cooking. Smoke from cooking stoves in these regions creates an in-home health hazard from smoke and soot while also exacerbating a regional air pollution problem. The World Bank estimates that more than 1.6 million people in developing regions die each year from respiratory problems attributed to cooking-related air pollution

issues. Increased electrification could reduce indoor and outdoor air pollution, but it likely would also increase demand for energy-producing fossil fuels. Water, a building block of life, is also a limited and unevenly distributed resource. More than one billion people do not have regular access to clean, potable (suitable for drinking) water. Water pollution, salinization from sea level rise, desertification, and overuse of some waterways threaten vital water supplies. Even areas with sufficient water supplies face environmental degradation. Fouled waterways carry pollutants such as excess agricultural pesticides, fertilizers, or untreated sewage that can harm human health and delicate riparian (surrounding natural waterways) ecosystems. Water pollution fouls the greatest number of waterways used for local water supplies in parts of Africa, Central and South America, and South and Southeast Asia. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) notes that the world was increasingly drier on average from 2000 to 2010. Water scarcity from aridity (dryness) most acutely affects populations in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. Drier local environments result from both natural weather events and human-induced environmental changes. Droughts (extended periods without rain) destroy crops, decimate grazing lands and livestock herds, result in economic losses, and threaten food supplies. Drought is the result of unfavorable weather patterns. Desertification, the transformation of usable land to desert, is a longer-term aridity problem that causes most of the same effects as drought. However, desertification is often caused or exacerbated by human actions. Destructive farming practices, deforestation, and global climate change are the most significant causes of desertification worldwide. In addition to contributing to desertification, deforestation is a factor in other significant environmental issues, including global climate change and habitat loss. The Center of International Forestry Research (CIFOR) estimates that Earth loses one hectare of forest every two seconds due to logging, slash-and-burn clearing, development, or other deforestation activities. Between 2000 and 2007, developing countries alone lost more than 560,000 square kilometers (216,217 sq. miles) of forest. Such vulnerable ecosystems as the rainforests of the Amazon River basin and the Arctic boreal forests (taiga) have some of the highest deforestation rates. For example, the island nation of Madagascar has lost an estimated 90 percent of its total forest cover. These forest lands play a significant role as a carbon sink by recapturing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that causes global warming, from the atmosphere. Loss of habitats reduces local and global biodiversity, the variety of life forms on Earth. Although species have become extinct because of natural or evolutionary phenomena at various points in Earth's history, species loss now occurs at an estimated 1,000 times greater than its historic natural pace. Environmental degradation, whether caused by farming, industry, pollution, or climate change, increases species loss. As many as thirty-five to forty plant and animal species vanish each day, most in such vulnerable ecosystems as rainforests and oceans. According to the Convention on Biodiversity, an international treaty on biodiversity sustained by a working group of advocates and researchers, "40 percent of the world's economy and 80 percent of the needs of the poor are derived from biological resources." Environmental problems also challenge human health and economic systems. In 2007, global food prices rose sharply. A rise in global oil prices increased the costs of farming, including machinery operation, pesticide costs, and the cost of transporting food to market. Also, prolonged drought in grain-producing regions, diverting corn crops from food to the production of heavily government-subsidized ethanol and other biofuels, and diminishing emergency food stockpiles in regions susceptible to food scarcity, all significantly contributed to the increased price of food. The resulting 2008 global food crisis swelled the global population of those who are food insecure. Although prices stabilized by December 2008, the World Bank announced in February 2011 that its Food Price Index, a measure of global food prices, had again matched the 2008 peak. Food prices on staple goods like grains rose 47 percent between June 2010 and February 2011, driving an estimated 44 million additional people into poverty because vulnerable households were forced to spend a majority of their incomes on food or became unable to afford enough food.

Overpopulation contributes to environmental degradation. Overpopulation occurs when the human population of a given area exceeds its carrying capacity, the amount of resources available in that area for sustainable human use. Rising global population stresses the environment by increasing resource and energy use, requiring more intensive uses of land, and generating more waste and pollution. Higher birthrates in some of the most environmentally stressed regions and a mass migration of people to urban areas exacerbate existing environmental and energy consumption problems. In August 2011, the United Nations estimated the global population to be 6.98 billion people, with a net population growth of 54 million from the previous year. The World Bank estimates that that the global population will increase to 8.9 billion by 2050. More humans on Earth will result in a greater human impact on Earth. Seventy-five percent of the energy consumed globally by people comes from burning coal, petroleum, and natural gas, all high-carbon fossil fuels whose emissions contribute to climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international body created to assess and share scientific research on global warming, first asserted in 1990 there was sufficient scientific evidence that human actions could alter Earth's climate. Subsequent reports have confirmed overwhelming scientific evidence of human-induced global warming (anthropogenic global warming) that in turn drives climate change outside of normally expected cycles. A joint statement from the science academies of more than thirty nations affirms this consensus. Although there is broad international scientific consensus for the findings and conclusions of the IPCC, there is a small minority of scientists who dissent from some data and conclusions. Especially in the United States there is political opposition to accepting the international scientific consensus. There is broader dissent over the proper response to the data, with some countries favoring strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions and others favoring such solutions as cap-and-trade schemes and pollution credit swaps. Regardless, climate change poses significant future challenges for humans and the environment. Climate change also has more varied effects than global warming alone. Global climate change now encompasses a range of alterations to Earth's temperature, long-term weather patterns, frequency and intensity of weather disasters, terrestrial and marine environments, sea levels, and atmospheric conditions. Climate change disproportionately affects the world's most vulnerable environments and people. The World Bank study Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change estimates that climate change adaptation will cost developing countries $70100 billion USD per year through 2050. Yet, there will be some places where local populations cannot adapt to climate change and will instead have to leave their homes. The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) defines an environmental refugee as any person displaced by environmental causes, environmental degradation, or natural disaster. Climate change is likely to dramatically increase the number of environmental refugees as land becomes unproductive through desertification, not traversable as permafrost melts, or uninhabitable seas rise. Especially threatened are Arctic peoples, island nations, and many of the world's coastal cities. UNEP estimates that by 2025, half the world's population will live in countries increasingly vulnerable to either flooding or drought. As a means of discouraging the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change, several countries regulate, limit, or tax emissions. The European Union instituted an emissions trading scheme that caps all industrial emissions, and allows those who pollute less to sell or trade pollution credits with heavier polluters, providing an economic incentive for reducing emissions by increasing the cost of pollution. In 2010, India adopted a carbon tax on coal. Australia implemented a carbon tax on heavy-polluting industries in July 2012, with plans to adopt an emissions trading scheme or expand the carbon tax by 2015. Global environmental problems cross national boundaries and span generations; therefore, they require longterm international solutions. Several parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an agreement originally signed by over 150 countries at the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, also produced the emissions-limiting treaty known as the Kyoto Protocol. The 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) in Doha, Qatar, extended the Kyoto protocol for the remaining participating nations (primarily Australia and the European Union) until 2020 and will continue negotiations for a successor treaty that expands international emission reduction targets. In

2011, many Kyoto-participant nations began reporting that they would miss their Kyoto emissions reduction targets under the original end-of-2012 deadline. Transboundary pollution treaties are not limited to carbon emissions. They have traditionally covered diverse forms and sources of pollution, from acid rain to water pollution. One of the most successful international environmental policy agreements in history sought to mitigate ozone depletion by banning the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting substances (ODS). CFCs were commonly used as propellants and coolants in industrial processes and household products. Research in the 1980s found that these substances directly contributed to erosion of the stratospheric ozone layer, a natural buffer of the sun's UV-B radiation. Increased UV-B radiation damages marine ecosystems and could increase incidence of skin cancers and eye diseases in humans and animals. The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, signed in 1987, began a phase-out and ban of CFCs and other ODS starting in 1989. Concentrations of ODS in Earth's lower atmosphere peaked in 1994 and have been declining since that time. In September 2012, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (1944) stated that Earth's ozone layer would recover during the next fifty years. Researchers estimate that atmospheric ozone should return to pre-1980 levels sometime between 2050 and 2075. Variable stratospheric ozone holes over Earth's polar regions remain, however, and continue to contribute to polar warming. International environmental movements and environmental philosophies seek to cooperatively address environmental problems through advocacy, political change, and changes in human behavior that harm the environment. The sustainability movement promotes increased human health and wellbeing through careful environmental stewardship. It seeks to balance human needs for resources with the impacts of obtaining and using these resources. The environmental justice movement recognizes that the people most vulnerable to environmental degradation and climate change are likely those with the fewest actions contributing to environmental problems and little representation in government. Environmental justice movements seek to prevent the poor from bearing unfair pollution burdens, especially when pollution is transferred to poor areas from wealthier areas. The movement points out lingering disparities between the Global North (industrialized, wealthiest nations) and the Global South (predominantly developing nations), asserting that industrialized nations benefited from environmentally damaging unfettered development, historically emitted more greenhouse gases, and continue to consume a greater share of natural resources. Therefore, climate justice adherents hold that wealthy industrialized nations have a responsibility to adopt more sustainable practices, to help developing nations adopt greener technologies, and to provide aid for environmental cleanup and climate change adaptation. Similar environmental philosophies have also been applied to combat local environmental threats, and grassroots environmental action is often effective. Regional or localized environmental action takes many forms and can range from projects as large as opposing whaling in the Southern Ocean to advocating for the adoption of a local recycling program. The Internet and social media link environmental advocacy groups across the globe that, while working in different locations, may be addressing similar environmental issues. Groups can thus share motivation, information, and strategies as well as help people place local environmental action into a broader global context. Policy experts agree that better planning and stewardship of natural resources can help lessen human impacts on the environment and prevent environmental degradation. However, the fact that many environmental issues cross national borders also presents a major obstacle to achieving this goal. International agreement on specific solutions is often elusive. Nations with disparate economic, social, political, and environmental goals often have difficulty finding ways to work together to tackle global environmental problems.