The Environment

• Development


  Inextricably linked to the environment
• Economic growth and development


  Very likely to cause environmental damage
• Environmental damage from industrialisation

  • Pollution
  • Climate change
• Development


  Leads to water pollution
• Pollution from industrialisation has led to a shortage of clean water in some areas that are undergoing development
• There is also air pollution, particularly in urban areas. The increase in industry, but also in car use and urban overcrowding, can lead to bad air quality
• Releasing greenhouse gases through industrial, agricultural and urban development


  Major factor in global warming
• There is increasing evidence of global warming leading to extreme weather conditions, which causes further problems in developing countries already struggling with intemperate weather
• Environmental damage from development

  • Destruction of forests and habitats
  • Desertification
  • Depletion of natural resources
• Deforestation in the Himalayas has exacerbated flooding in lowland Bangladesh, India and Pakistan
• Deforestation in South America is destroying unique habitats and leading to the extinction of rare species
• Over-grazing and over-cultivation of land, in the face of poverty, can lead to the land becoming unusable and extending desert areas
• The use of resources to fuel development, most of which are non-renewable, means that natural resources are fast being depleted
• New reserves of oil and gas are being discovered but the price of finding new reserves is further environmental damage with ocean and wilderness habitats being exploited for oil, gas and uranium, and the use of controversial practices like fracking
• While MEDCs are increasingly finding "clean" and sustainable forms of energy, the technology is often out of the reach of LEDCS
• There have been a number of international agreements on the environment, with a particular focus on climate change, from the Kyoto Protocol (1997) through to the Paris Accord (2015) where countries have agreed challenging targets to reduce carbon emissions
• There has been some controversy about all these agreements, both because of some heavily-polluting nations opting out of some agreements (e.g. the USA)
• The USA has withdrawn from the Paris agreement, although India and China are still signed up to it, despite their high population and rapid development making them two of the countries for whom the task is most challenging
• Modernisation theorists


  Argue that the solution is to modernise and develop
• A criticism of this is that it might well be too late by then: it is development that is damaging the environment, and we might not be able to afford to wait for countries to develop before they can start reducing their carbon footprint
• Sustainable development, "green growth" or ecological modernisation


  Suggested solution where aid programmes could be targeted-and indeed have conditions placed upon them-in order to promote sustainable development
• Marxists, neo-Marxists and others from a more left-wing perspective


  Argue that if we really wanted to deal environmental damage, then the focus should be on solving poverty and writing off debt
• In countries where there is absolute poverty, the economy will always take priority over the environment
• Deep ecologists, or radical environmentalists


  Argue that the only real solution is de-industrialisation and to reverse growth
• Neo-liberals


  Argue that there is a clear cost/benefit market analysis to be carried out in relation to development and environmental protection
• Critics point out that those who get the economic gain are not necessarily the same as those who pay the environmental price, so a market trade-off does not necessarily work in this case
• Neo-liberals also point out that the market conserves resources because as resources are depleted they become more expensive and are then used less and alternatives are developed or discovered
• This area of the topic links most notably to the core theme of power. Who has the power to protect the environment?