ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES WORLD WITHOUT BORDERS Global Environmental Problems

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES WORLD WITHOUT BORDERS

Global Environmental Problems • • • Deforestation & Rain Forest Destruction Desertification Rapid Population Growth Food Production and Equitable Distribution Ozone Depletion Air Pollution

Global Environmental Problems • • • Global Warming Depletion of the Atmospheric Ozone Acid Precipitation and Air Pollution Ocean Pollution, Water Pollution Hazardous Waste Smog

Characteristics of Global Environmental Problems • • • Use of common pool resources - air, water, ocean and forests Human and environmental impacts of the problems transcend the borders International Environmental Problems require international Cooperation to resolve them

Factors Responsible for the rise of Global Environmental Problems • Multiplication and Deepening of Environmental Problems • Improvement in Scientific Research • Effective Dissemination of Information about Environmental Disasters • Rise and Establishment of Grassroots Environmental Organizations • Rise of National and International Environmental Political (Green) Organizations • Awareness about Relationships between Economic Activity and the Environment • International Environmental Conferences

International efforts at environmental management • 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment – established UNEP. -The Conference was the first of a series of world environmental conferences. - One of the key issues addressed was the use of CFCs, which seemed to be responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer. - Global warming was mentioned • 1992 Rio Conference on the Environment -- Rio Declaration -- informally known as the Earth Summit. The Rio Declaration consisted 27 principles intended to guide future sustainable development around the world.

• 2002 Johannesburg Conference on the Environment The World Summit on Sustainable Development, Earth Summit 2002 took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was convened to discuss sustainable development by the United Nations. WSSD gathered a number of leaders from business and non-governmental organizations, 10 years after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. (It was therefore also informally nicknamed "Rio+10". ) • 2005 The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an amendment to the international treaty on climate change, assigning mandatory targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to signatory nations.