NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Political Science Chapter 7 - Environment and Natural Resources

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(iii) The environmental degradation caused by human activities has become pervasive and has reached a dangerous level.

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(i) TRUE

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(i) TRUE

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(i) TRUE

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(i) TRUE

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The earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica, ocean floor and outer space are considered as part of the global commons.

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In June 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is also called the Earth Summit. The conference was attended by 170 countries and thousands of NGOs and Multi-National Corporations. After a lot of discussions in the Rio Summit, many conventions were produced dealing with climate change, biodiversity, forestry, etc. It also recommended a list of development practices under the title Agenda 21. In the Rio Summit, there was a consensus on combining economic growth with ecological responsibility. This approach is known as sustainable development.

The United Nations Framework Convention on climate change 1992 provided that all the nations should cooperate to protect the environment.

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Global Commons are those areas, objects or resources of the world which are not part of the exclusive jurisdiction of any one state. Examples of Global Commons are earth’s atmosphere, the ocean floor, air space, outer space and Antarctica. Global Commons are also called world heritage because they are passed on by the present generation to the next generation and so on. Global environment is also a Global Common and world heritage.

Cooperation over the Global Common is very difficult due to lack of consensus on commons environmental agendas. Generally countries use Global Commons ruthlessly and never think of their obligations to protect it also. For example, Commercial ships, warships, passenger ships, boats, etc. freely use seawater and sea line communications. Seawater is polluted by these ships because these are driven by diesel power. Moreover, developed countries dump their waste in the sea. People living on the banks of rivers also throw their waste in rivers. Developed and nuclear countries pollute the environment by their nuclear experiments.

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The relevant part of the Rio Declaration says that States shall cooperate in the spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem. In view of the different contributions of global environment degradation, states have common but differentiated responsibilities. The developed countries accepted the responsibility that they bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressure their societies place on the global environment and of the technological and financial resources they command. The largest share of historical and current global emissions has originated in developed countries. Per capita emissions in developing coutries are still relatively low. Hence India, China and other developing countries were exempted from the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol. Under Kyoto Protocol industrial countries are required to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. Following the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, India is of the view that major responsibility of curbing emission rests with the developed countries which have accumulated emissions over a long period of time.

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The issues related to global environment protection have become the priority concern of states since 1990 due to following reasons :

1. Agricultural land is reducing and its fertility is also reducing.
2. According to human Development Report 2006 of United Nation Development Programme about 1.2 billion people in developing countries have no accesss to the safe drinking water, whereas about 2.6 billion people have no sanitation facilities.
3. Natural forests are being cut down at large scale and due to which people are being displaced.
4. There is a steady decline in the total amount of ozone in the Earth’s stratosphere which poses a real danger to ecosystems and human health.
5. Coastal pollution is increasing globally. The coastal water are becoming polluted due to land based activities.

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The developed and rich countries of the first world are generally known as the ‘Global North’ while the poor and developing countries of the third world are called the ‘Global South’. ‘Global North’ states were pursuing a different environmental agenda than the ‘Global South’. Northern states were more concerned with ozone depletion and global warming, while Southern states were anxious to establish the relationship between economic development and environmental management. At Rio Summit, Convention dealing with climate changes was produced. There was a consensus on combating economic growth with ecological responsibility. This is called sustainable development approach. India, China and other developing countries were exempted from the requirement of the Kyoto Protocol because their contributions to the emission of greenhouse gases during industrialisation was insignificant. At the G-8 meeting in June 2005, India pointed out that the per capita emission rates of developing countries are tiny fractions of those in the developed world, India is of the view that the major responsibility of curbing emission rests with the developed countries. Even United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) acknowledged that developed countries are responsible for most historical and current greenhouse emission, and emphasised that economic and social developments are the first and overriding priorities of the developing countries politics.

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Modern state is a welfare state and welfare state’s main aim is to raise the standard of living of the people and this aim can be achieved through economic development. America, England, France, Japan and other developed countries have made tremendous economic development. But the major challenge before the modern state is to pursue economic development without causing further damage to the global environment. This problem can be solved by adopting following measures :

1. Need of Holistic or Integrated Thinking. In European world emphasis is on materialistic philosophy. But the need is to change the thinking of human being. Need is to follow Holistic or Intergrated thinking of India.
2. Control overpopulation. Rapid population growth is the major factor responsible for environment pollution. Hence there is the need to the check the growth of world population. States should take effective measures to check the growth of population.
3. To protect Forests. To protect the environment it is very essential to protect the forests. In India Council of Forestry Research and Education is working successfully.