Chapter 8

e d
Environment and
T s h
R l i
Natural Resources
E u b
OVERVIEW
C
N rep
© e
This chapter examines the growing

b
significance of environmental as well
as resource issues in world politics.
It analyses in a comparative

o
perspective some of the important

t
environmental movements against
the backdrop of the rising profile of

t
environmentalism from the 1960s

o
onwards. Notions of common
property resources and the global

n
commons too are assessed. We also
discuss, in brief, the stand taken by
India in more recent environmental The 1992 Earth Summit has brought environmental issues to
debates. Next follows a brief account the centre-stage of global politics. The pictures above show
of the geopolitics of resourc e rainforest and mangroves.
competition. We conclude by taking
note of the indigenous peoples’
voices and concerns from the
margins of contemporary world
politics.
118 Contemporary World Politics

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS Throughout the world,

cultivable area is barely
IN GLOBAL POLITICS expanding any more, and a
substantial portion of existing
In this book we have discussed agricultural land is losing
‘world politics’ in a fairly limited fertility. Grasslands have been
sense: wars and treaties, rise and overgrazed and fisheries over-
decline of state power, the harvested. Water bodies have
Politics in forests,
relationship between the suffered extensive depletion

d
politics in water, governments that represent their and pollution, severely

e
politics in countries in the international restricting food production.
atmosphere! What is arena and the role of inter -

h
not political then? governmental organisations. In According to the Human
Development Report 2006 of the

T s
Chapter 7, we expanded the scope
United Nations Development

i
of world politics to include issues

l
Programme, 1.2 billion people

R
like poverty and epidemics. That
may not have been a very difficult in developing countries have no

b
access to safe water and 2.6

E
step to take, for we all think that
governments are responsible for billion have no access to

u
sanitation, resulting in the

C
controlling these. In that sense

N rep
they fall within the scope of world death of more than thre e
politics. Now consider some other million children every year.
issues. Do you think they fall Natural forests — which help
within the scope of contemporary stabilise the climate, moderate

© e
world politics? water supplies, and harbour
a majority of the planet’s

b
biodiversity on land—ar e
being cut down and people are
being displaced. The loss of

o
biodiversity continues due to

t
the destruction of habitat in
a reas which are rich in

t
species.

o
A steady decline in the total
amount of ozone in the Earth’s

n
stratospher e (commonly
referred to as the ozone hole)
poses a real danger to
ecosystems and human
Around the Aral Sea, thousands of people have had to leave their
health.
homes as the toxic waters have totally destroyed the fishing industry.
The shipping industry and all related activities have collapsed. Coastal pollution too is
Rising concentrations of salt in the soil have caused low crop yields.
increasing globally. Although
Numerous studies have been conducted. In fact locals joke that if
everyone who’d come to study the Aral had brought a bucket of the open sea is relatively clean,
water, the sea would be full by now. Source: [Link] the coastal waters ar e
Environment and Natural Resources 119

becoming increasingly polluted

largely due to land-based
activities. If unchecked,
intensive human settlement of
coastal zones across the globe
will lead to further
deterioration in the quality of
marine environment.

d
You might ask are we not
talking here about ‘natural

e
phenomena’ that should be studied

h
in geography rather than in political
science. But think about it again.

T s
If the various governments take

l i
steps to check environmental

R
degradation of the kind mentioned

b
above, these issues will have

E
political consequences in that

u
sense. Most of them are such that Global Warming © Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

C
N rep
no single government can address Why do you think the fingers are designed like chimneys and the
them fully. Therefore they have to world made into a lighter?
become part of ‘world politics’. Issues
of environment and natural of the Earth’s resources against the
backdrop of rapidly growing world

© e
resources are political in another
deeper sense. Who causes population. International agencies,
environmental degradation? Who including the United Nations

b
pays the price? And who is Environment Programme (UNEP),
responsible for taking corrective began holding international

o
action? Who gets to use how much conferences and promoting

t
of the natural resources of the detailed studies to get a more
Earth? All these raise the issue of coordinated and effective response

t
who wields how much power. They to environmental problems. Since
are, therefore, deeply political then, the environment has

o
questions. emerged as a significant issue of
global politics.

n
Although environmental
concerns have a long history, The growing focus on
awareness of the environmental environmental issues within the Collect news
consequences of economic growth arena of global politics was firmly clippings on
acquired an increasingly political consolidated at the United Nations reports
character from the 1960s onwards. Conference on Environment and linking
The Club of Rome, a global think Development held in Rio de environment
Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992. and politics
tank, published a book in 1972
This was also called the Earth in your own
entitled Limits to Growth,
Summit. The summit was locality.
dramatising the potential depletion
 120 Contemporary World Politics

countries of the First World,

generally referred to as the ‘global
North’ were pursuing a different
environmental agenda than the
poor and developing countries of
the Third World, called the ‘global
South’. Whereas the Northern
states were concerned with ozone
depletion and global warming, the

d
Southern states were anxious to

e
address the relationship between
economic development and

h
environmental management.

T s
The Rio S ummit produced

l i
conventions dealing with climate

R
change, biodiversity, forestry, and

b
recommended a list of development

E
practices called ‘Agenda 21’. But

u
it left unresolved considerable

C
differences and difficulties. There

N rep
was a consensus on combining
economic growth with ecological
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

responsibility. This approach to

development is commonly known as

© e
‘sustainable development’. The
problem however was how exactly

b
this was to be achieved. Some
critics have pointed out that

o
Agenda 21 was biased in favour of

t
economic growth rather than
Are there different perspectives from which the rich and the poor
ensuring ecological conservation.

t
countries agree to protect the Earth? Let us look at some of the
contentious issues in the global

o
attended by 170 states, thousands politics of environment.
of NGOs and many multinational

n
corporations. Five years earlier,
the 1987 Brundtland Report, Our THE P ROTECTION OF GLOBAL
Common Future, had warned that C OMMONS
traditional patterns of economic
growth were not sustainable in the ‘Commons’ are those resources
long term, especially in view of the which are not owned by anyone
demands of the South for further but rather shared by a community.
industrial development. What was This could be a ‘common room’, a
obvious at the Rio Summit was ‘community centre’, a park or a
that the rich and developed river. Similarly, there are some
Environment and Natural Resources 121

ANTARCTICA

The Antarctic continental region extends

over 14 million square kilometres and
comprises 26 per cent of the world’s
wilderness area, representing 90 per cent
of all terrestrial ice and 70 per cent of
planetary fresh water. The Antarctic also

d
extends to a further 36 million square

e
kilometres of ocean. It has a limited
terrestrial life and a highly productive

h
marine ecosystem, comprising a few plants
(e.g. microscopic algae, fungi and lichen),

T s
marine mammals, fish and hordes of birds

i
adapted to harsh conditions, as well as the

R l
krill, which is central to marine food chain
and upon which other animals are

b
dependent. The Antarctic plays an

E
important role in maintaining climatic

u
equilibrium, and deep ice cores provide

C
an important source of information about

N rep
greenhouse gas concentrations and
atmospheric temperatures of hundreds
and thousands of years ago.

Who owns this coldest, farthest, and windiest continent on globe? There are two claims about it. Some

© e
countries like the UK, Argentina, Chile, Norway, France, Australia and New Zealand have made legal
claims to sovereign rights over Antarctic territory. Most other states have taken the opposite view that the
Antarctic is a part of the global commons and not subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of any state. These

b
differences, however, have not prevented the adoption of innovative and potentially far-reaching rules
for the protection of the Antarctic environment and its ecosystem. The Antarctic and the Arctic polar

o
regions are subjected to special regional rules of environmental protection. Since 1959, activities in the
area have been limited to scientific research, fishing and tourism. Even these limited activities have not

t
prevented parts of the region from being degraded by waste as a result of oil spills.

o t
areas or regions of the world which Cooperation over the global

n
are located outside the sovereign commons is not easy. There have
jurisdiction of any one state, and been many path-breaking
therefore require common agreements such as the 1959
governance by the international Antarctic Tr eaty, the 1987
community. These are known as Montreal Protocol, and the 1991
res communis humanitatis or Antarctic Environmental Protocol.
global commons. They include the A major problem underlying all Very soon we will
earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica ecological issues relates to the have ecological
(see Box), the ocean floor, and difficulty of achieving consensus degradation of the
outer space. on common environmental moon!
122 Contemporary World Politics

e d
T s h
R l i
E u b
C
N rep
© e
b
One of the biggest catastrophes in Africa in the 1970s, a drought turned the best cropland in five countries into
cracked and barren earth. In fact, the term environmental refugees came into popular vocabulary after this.
Many had to flee their homelands as agriculture was no longer possible. Source: [Link]

to agendas on the basis of vague ocean floor, the crucial issue here
scientific evidence and time is technology and industrial

t
frames. In that sense the development. This is important
discovery of the ozone hole over because the benefits of

o
the Antarctic in the mid-1980s exploitative activities in outer
space are far from being equal

n
revealed the opportunity as well
as dangers inherent in tackling either for the present or future
global environmental problems. generations.
Find out more
about the Similarly, the history of outer
Kyoto Protocol. space as a global commons shows COMMON BUT DIFFERENTIATED
Which major
countries did
that the management of these
areas is thoroughly influenced by
RESPONSIBILITIES
not sign it? And North-South inequalities. As with We have noted above a difference
why? the earth’s atmosphere and the in the approach to environment
Environment and Natural Resources 123

between the countries of the North that they bear in the international
and the South. The developed pursuit of sustainable development
countries of the North want to in view of the pressures their
discuss the environmental issue societies place on the global
as it stands now and want environment and of the technological
everyone to be equally responsible and financial resources they
for ecological conservation. The command.”
developing countries of the South The 1992 United Nations
feel that much of the ecological

d
Framework Convention on
degradation in the world is the
Climate Change (UNFCCC) also

e
product of industrial development
provides that the parties should
undertaken by the developed

h
act to protect the climate system
countries. If they have caused
“on the basis of equity and in

T s
more degradation, they must also
accordance with their common but

i
take more responsibility for

l
differentiated responsibilities and

R
undoing the damage now.
respective capabilities.” The

b
Moreover, the developing countries
parties to the Convention agreed

E
are in the process of industrialisation
that the larg e s t s h a re of

u
and they must not be subjected
historical and current global

C
to the same restrictions, which
emissions of greenhouse gases

N rep
apply to the developed countries.
h a s o r iginated in developed
Thus the special needs of the
countries. It was also
developing countries must be
acknowledged that per capita
taken into account in the

© e
emissions in developing countries
development, application, and
are still relatively low. China,
interpretation of rules of inter-
India, and other developing

b
national environmental law. This
countries were, therefore ,
argument was accepted in the Rio
exempted from the requirements
Declaration at the Earth Summit

o
of the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto
in 1992 and is called the principle

t
Protocol is an international
of ‘common but differentiated
agreement setting targets for
responsibilities’.

t
industrialised countries to cut
The relevant part of the Rio their greenhouse gas emissions.

o
Declaration says that “States Certain gases like Carbon
shall cooperate in the spirit of dioxide, Methane, Hydro-fluoro

n
global partnership to conserve, carbons etc. are considered at
protect and restore the health least partly responsible for global
and integrity of the Earth’s warming - the rise in global
ecosystem. In view of the different temperature which may have
contributions of global environmental catastrophic consequences for
degradation, states have common life on Earth. The protocol was That’s a cool
but differentiated responsibilities. agreed to in 1997 in Kyoto in principle! A bit like
The developed countries Japan, based on principles set the reservation
acknowledge the responsibility policy in our country,
out in UNFCCC.
isn’t it?
124 Contemporary World Politics

C OMMON PROPERTY availability to the poor in much of

the world. The institutional
RESOURCES arrangement for the actual
management of the sacred groves
Common property represents on state-owned forest land
common property for the group. appropriately fits the description
The underlying norm here is that of a common property regime.
members of the group have both Along the forest belt of South
rights and duties with respect to India, sacred groves have been

d
the nature, levels of use, and the traditionally managed by village

e
maintenance of a given resource. communities.
Through mutual understanding

h
and centuries of practice, many
I NDIA’ S STAND ON

T s
village communities in India, for
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

i
example, have defined members’

R l
rights and responsibilities. A
combination of factors, including India signed and ratified the 1997

E b
I heard about some privatisation, agricultural intensi- Kyoto Protocol in August 2002.
rivers being sold in fication, population growth and India, China and other developing

C u
Latin America. How ecosystem degradation have countries were exempt from the

N rep
can common caused common property to requirements of the Kyoto Protocol
property be sold?
dwindle in size, quality, and because their contribution to the

SACRED GROVES IN INDIA

© e
Protecting nature for religious reasons is an ancient practice in many traditional societies. Sacred

b
groves in India (parcels of uncut forest vegetation in the name of certain deities or natural or
ancestral spirits) exemplify such practice. As a model of community-based resource management,
groves have lately gained attention in conservation literature. The sacred groves can be seen as a

o
system that informally forces traditional communities to harvest natural resources in an ecologically

t
sustained fashion. Some researchers believe that sacred groves hold the potential for preserving
not only biodiversity and ecological functions, but also cultural diversity.

o t
Sacred groves embody a rich set of forest preservation practices and they share characteristics
with common property resource systems. Their size ranges from clumps of a few trees to several
hundred acres. Traditionally, sacred groves have been valued for their embodied spiritual and

n
cultural attributes. Hindus commonly worshipped natural objects, including trees and groves. Many
temples have originated from sacred groves. Deep religious reverence for nature, rather than
resource scarcity, seems to be the basis for the long-standing commitment to preserving these
forests. In recent years, however, expansion and human settlement have slowly encroached on
sacred forests.

In many places, the institutional identity of these traditional forests is fading with the advent of new
national forest policies. A real problem in managing sacred groves arises when legal ownership
and operational control are held by different entities. The two entities in question, the state and the
community, vary in their policy norms and underlying motives for using the sacred grove.
Environment and Natural Resources 125

e d
T s h
R l i
E u b
C
N rep
© e
b
emission of greenhouse gases that the major responsibility of
during the industrialisation period curbing emission rests with the
(that is believed to be causing developed countries, which have

o
today’s global warming and climate accumulated emissions over a long

t
change) was not significant. period of time.
However, the critics of the Kyoto

t
Protocol point out that sooner or India’s international negotiating

o
later, both India and China, along position relies heavily on
with other developing countries, principles of historical

n
will be among the leading responsibility, as enshrined in
countributors to greenhouse gas UNFCCC. This acknowledges that
emissions. At the G-8 meeting in developed countries are responsible
June 2005, India pointed out that for most historical and current
the per capita emission rates of the greenhouse gas emissions, and
developing countries are a tiny emphasizes that ‘economic and
I get it! First they
fraction of those in the developed social development are the first destroyed the earth,
world. Following the principle of and overriding priorities of the now it is our turn to
common but differentiated developing country parties’. So do the same! Is that
responsibilities, India is of the view India is wary of recent discussions our stand?
126 Contemporary World Politics

within UNFCCC about introducing conclusions was that there had

binding commitments on rapidly been no meaningful progress with
industrialising countries (such as respect to transfer of new and
Brazil, China and India) to reduce additional financial resources and
their greenhouse gas emissions. environmentally-sound technology
India feels this contravenes the on concessional terms to
very spirit of UNFCCC. Neither developing nations. India finds it
does it seem fair to impose necessary that developed
restrictions on India when the countries take immediate

d
country’s rise in per capita carbon measures to provide developing

e
emissions by 2030 is likely to still countries with financial resources
represent less than half the world and clean technologies to enable

h
average of 3.8 tonnes in 2000. them to meet their existing

T s
Indian emissions are predicted to commitments under UNFCCC.

i
rise from 0.9 tonnes per capita in India is also of the view that the

R l
2000 to 1.6 tonnes per capita in SAARC countries should adopt a
2030. common position on major global

E b
environment issues, so that the
The Indian government is

u
r egion’s voice carries greater
already participating in global

C
e fforts through a number of weight.

N rep
programmes. For example, India’s
National Auto-fuel Policy ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS:
mandates cleaner fuels for
vehicles. The Energy Conservation O NE OR MANY?

© e
Act, passed in 2001, outlines
initiatives to improve energy We have, so far, looked at the way

b
efficiency. Similarly, the Electricity governments have reacted at the
Act of 2003 encourages the use of international level to the challenge
of environmental degradation. But

o
renewable energy. Recent trends
in importing natural gas and some of the most significant

t
encouraging the adoption of clean responses to this challenge have
come not from the governments

t
coal technologies show that India
has been making real efforts. The but rather from groups of environ-

o
government is also keen to launch mentally conscious volunteers
a National Mission on Biodiesel, working in different parts of the

n
using about 11 million hectares world. Some of them work at the
of land to produce biodiesel by international level, but most of
2011–2012. And India has one of them work at the local level. These
the largest renewable energy environmental movements are
programmes in the world. amongst the most vibrant,
diverse, and powerful social
A review of the implementation movements across the globe
of the agreements at the Earth today. It is within social movements
Summit in Rio was undertaken by that new forms of political action
India in 1997. One of the key are born or reinvented. These
Environment and Natural Resources 127
movements raise new ideas and examples) are faced with enormous
long-term visions of what we pressures. Forest clearing in the
should do and what we should not Third World continues at an Let’s find
do in our individual and collective alarming rate, despite thre e out about
lives. Here are just a few decades of environmental activism. ‘Chipko
examples to show that diversity The destruction of the world’s last Movement’.
is an important trait of remaining grand forests has
contemporary environmental actually increased in the last
movements. decade.

d
The forest movements of the The minerals industry is one

e
South, in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, of the most powerful forms of

h
Malaysia, Indonesia, continental industry on the planet. A large
Africa and India (just to list a few number of economies of the South

ARE FORESTS “WILDERNESS”?

R T l i s
E u b
What distinguishes the forest movements of the South from

C
those of the North is that the forests of the former are still

N rep
peopled, whilst the forests of the latter are more or less
devoid of human habitat or, at least, are perceived as thus.
This explains to some extent the prevailing notion of
wilderness in the North as a ‘wild place’ where people do
not live. In this perspective, humans are not seen as part of

© e
nature. In other words, ‘environment’ is perceived as
‘somewhere out there’, as something that should be
protected from humans through the creation of parks and

b © Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

reserves. On the other hand, most environmental issues in
the South are based on the assumption that people live in
the forests.

to
Wilderness-oriented perspectives have been predominant
in Australia, Scandinavia, North America and New Zealand.

t
In these regions, there are still large tracts of relatively
‘underdeveloped wilderness’, unlike in most European

o
countries. This is not to say that wilderness campaigns are
entirely missing in the South. In the Philippines, green

n
organisations fight to protect eagles and other birds of prey
Do you agree with the efforts
from extinction. In India, a battle goes on to protect the
made by ecologists? Do you
alarmingly low number of Bengal tigers. In Africa, a long
agree with the way ecologists are
campaign has been waged against the ivory trade and
portrayed here?
the savage slaughter of elephants. Some of the most famous
wilderness struggles have been fought in the forests of Brazil
and Indonesia. All of these campaigns focus on individual species as well as the conservation of the
wilderness habitats, which support them. Many of the wilderness issues have been renamed biodiversity
issues in recent times, as the concept of wilderness has been proved difficult to sell in the South. Many
of these campaigns have been initiated and funded by NGOs such as the Worldwide Wildlife Fund
(WWF), in association with local people.
128 Contemporary World Politics

are now being re-opened present, there has been a spurt in

to MNCs through the mega-dam building in the South,
liberalisation of the from Turkey to Thailand to South
global economy. The Africa, from Indonesia to China.
mineral industry’s India has had some of the leading
extraction of earth, its anti-dam, pro-river movements.
use of chemicals, its Narmada Bachao Andolan is one
pollution of waterways of the best known of these
An entire and land, its clearance movements. It is significant to note

d
community erupted of native vegetation, its that, in anti-dam and other

e
in protests against a displacement of communities, environmental movements in
proposed open-
cast coal mine amongst other factors, continue India, the most important shared

h
project in Phulbari to invite criticism and resistance idea is non-violence.

T s
town, in the North- in various parts of the globe. One

i
West district of good example is that of the R ESOURCE GEOPOLITICS

l
Dinajpur,

R
Bangladesh. Here Philippines, where a vast network

b
several dozen of groups and organisations Resource geopolitics is all about

E
women, one with campaigned against the Western who gets what, when, where and
her infant child, are

u
Mining Corporation (WMC), an how. Resources have provided

C
chanting slogans
Australia-based multinational some of the key means and motives
against the

N rep
proposed coal mine company. Much opposition to the of global European power
project in 2006. company in its own country, expansion. They have also been the
Australia, is based on anti-nuclear focus of inter-state rivalry. Western
sentiments and advocacy for the geopolitical thinking about

© e
basic rights of Australian resources has been dominated by
indigenous peoples. the relationship of trade, war and

b
power, at the core of which were
Another group of movements
overseas resources and maritime
are those involved in struggles
navigation. Since sea power itself

o
against mega-dams. In every
rested on access to timber, naval

t
country where a mega-dam is
timber supply became a key
being built, one is likely to find
priority for major European powers

t
an environmental movement
from the 17th century onwards.
opposing it. Increasingly anti-dam

o
The critical importance of ensuring
movements are pro-river
uninterrupted supply of strategic

n
movements for more sustainable
resources, in particular oil, was
and equitable management of river
well established both during the
systems and valleys. The early
First World War and the Second
1980s saw the first anti-dam
World War.
movement launched in the North,
namely, the campaign to save the Throughout the Cold War the
Franklin River and its surrounding industrialised countries of the
forests in Australia. This was a North adopted a number of
wilderness and forest campaign as methods to ensure a steady flow
well as anti-dam campaign. At of resources. These included the
Environment and Natural Resources 129

deployment of military forces near

exploitation sites and along sea-
lanes of communication, the
stockpiling of strategic resources,
e fforts to prop up friendly
governments in producing
countries, as well as support to
multinational companies and
favourable international

d
agreements. Traditional Western

e
strategic thinking remained
concerned with access to

h
supplies, which might be

T s
threatened by the Soviet Union. A

i
particular concern was Western

© Andy Singer, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

R
control of oil in the Gulf and

b
strategic minerals in Southern

E
and Central Africa. After the end

u
of the Cold War and the

C
disintegration of the Soviet Union,

N rep
the security of supply continues
to worry government and
business decisions with regard to
several minerals, in particular

© e
radioactive materials. However,
oil continues to be the most

b
important resource in global strategy. substantial rise in oil demand.
Saudi Arabia has a quarter of the
The global economy relied on
world’s total reserves and is the

o
oil for much of the 20th century
single largest producer. Iraq’s

t
as a portable and indispensable
known reserves are second only
fuel. The immense wealth
to Saudi Arabia’s. And, since

t
associated with oil generates
substantial portions of Iraqi
political struggles to control it,

o
territory are yet to be fully
and the history of petroleum is
explored, there is a fair chance

n
also the history of war and
that actual reserves might be far
struggle. Nowhere is this more
larger. The United States, Europe,
obviously the case than in West
Japan, and increasingly India and
Asia and Central Asia. West Asia,
China, which consume this
specifically the Gulf region,
accounts for about 30 per cent of petroleum, are located at a
considerable distance from the
global oil production. But it has
region.
about 64 percent of the planet’s
known reserves, and is therefore Water is another crucial
the only region able to satisfy any resource that is relevant to global
130 Contemporary World Politics

EVERYONE IS PLAYING CRUDE!

"The list of petroleum based products in our lives is endless. Toothbrush, pacemaker,
paints, inks, ....Oil provides the energy for 95 per cent of the world's transportation needs.
The whole industrialised world survives on petroleum. We cannot imagine living without it.
There are billions of barrels of it under the earth for us to use. Y et there are disputes
between countries. Why here is one of the problems"

d
I belong to the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Black Gold. I am
what they call filthy rich. Ever since black gold was found in my

e
Kingdom things have never been the same again. Mr. Bigoil and
his government came prospecting one day. We struck oil...and a

h
deal. They armed me to the teeth till it hurt. So when I grin my
subjects look at me with awe. In return Bigoil and sons get to buy

T s
all my oil and loyalty. I am happy and rich and so are they. I turn my

i
blind eye to their military in this holy land.

R l
I value precious things. Bigoil says his President values
freedom and democracy. So I keep both safely under lock and

b
key in my land. Sheikh Petrodollah

E
King of the land of Black Gold

C u
N rep
As advised, I did ask myself what can I do for my country. My country has
an enormous appetite for oil. So ...provide it with oil of course! I believe in
the free market system. Free to dig up oil in far away countries, free to
create pliable tin-pot dictators to keep local populations at bay and free to
destroy ecology.

© e
We play no politics but pay them at election campaigns and get them
to invest in our compa n y. That way we don't have to embarrass ourselves
Mr. Bigoil by foolishly waving and smiling at TV cameras.
CEO of Bigoil and sons
Leading the good life

b
o
A new beauty is parked outside our garage. Awesome! Isn't it?...
sleek chrome finish, power steering, automatic gears. Excellent

t
pick up and great mileage too. It is low on emissions too...gentle
on the atmosphere, you know. Global warming and all that stuf . f

t
Now we really are in hurry to zoom off and lead the good life...God
Save Everyone!...vvrrroooommmmm

o
Mr & Mrs Gobbledoo

n
Toppleton defends freedom and democracy. That's why he is so generous with guns
and missiles. Like the ones he gave us to fight the invading Ruffians. He even
trained us. We did not realise that it was the oil they were after. Bigoil is always trying
to woo us. But we are too busy playing war games. Now we have rules of our own.
Toppleton's govt. kept changing its rules. Not fair we said. Some of us now hate
Toppleton, his government and his people. Of course their bullets and missiles
come in handy when we have to beat them at their game.

Make no mistake, we are Errorists.

Errorists
Loose cannonballs

Adapted from [Link]

Environment and Natural Resources 131

(lower riparian) state’s objection to

pollution, excessive irrigation, or
the construction of dams by an
upstream (upper riparian) state,
which might decrease or degrade
the quality of water available to
the downstream state. States
have used force to protect or
seize freshwater resources. How are these

d
Examples of violence include conflicts different

e
those between Israel, Syria, and from the many water
conflicts within our
Jordan in the 1950s and 1960s

h
own country?
over attempts by each side to

T s
divert water from the Jordan and

i
Yarmuk Rivers, and more recent

R l
threats between Turkey, Syria,

b
and Iraq over the construction of

E
dams on the Euphrates River. A

u
number of studies show that

C
countries that share rivers — and

N rep
many countries do share rivers —
are involved in military conflicts
with each other.

© e
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
AND THEIR RIGHTS
The larger part of the Earth is water than
the land and yet the cartoonist decides

b
to show larger image of the land than
water. How does the image show the
The question of indigenous
people brings the issues o f

o
scarcity of water?
environment, resources and

t
politics. Regional variations and politics together. The UN defines
the increasing scarcity of

t
indigenous populations as
freshwater in some parts of the comprising the descendants of

o
world point to the possibility of peoples who inhabited the
disagreements over shared water present territory of a country at

n
resources as a leading source of the time when persons of a
conflicts in the 21st century. different culture or ethnic origin
Some commentators on world arrived there from other parts of
politics have referred to ‘water the world and overcame them.
wars’ to describe the possibility Indigenous people today live more
of violent conflict over this life- in conformity with their particular
sustaining resource. Countries that social, economic, and cultural
share rivers can disagree over customs and traditions than the
many things. For instance, a typical institutions of the country of
disagreement is a downstream which they now form a part.
132 Contemporary World Politics

present day island states in the

Oceania region (including
Australia and New Zealand),
were inhabited by the Polynesian,
Melanesian and Micronesian
people over the course of
thousands of years. They appeal
to governments to come to terms
with the continuing existence of

d
indigenous nations as enduring

e
communities with an identity of
their own. ‘Since times

h
immemorial’ is the phrase used by

T s
indigenous people all over the

i
world to refer to their continued

R l
occupancy of the lands from

b
which they originate. The

E
In the context of world politics, worldviews of indigenous

u
what are the common interests of societies, irrespective of their

C
geographical location, ar e

N rep
approximately 30 crore
indigenous peoples spread strikingly similar with respect to
throughout the world including land and the variety of life systems
India? There are 20 lakh supported by it. The loss of land,
which also means the loss of an

© e
indigenous people of the
Cordillera region of the economic resource base, is the
Philippines, 10 lakh Mapuche

b
people of Chile, six lakh tribal
people of the Chittagong Hill

o
Tracts in Bangladesh, 35 lakh

t
North American natives, 50,000
Kuna living east of Panama Canal

t
and 10 lakh Small Peoples of the
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Soviet North. Like other social

o
movements, indigenous people
speak of their struggles, their

n
agenda and their rights.
The indigenous voices in world
Why don’t we hear politics call for the admission of
much about the indigenous people to the world
indigenous people community as equals. Indigenous
and their Spoonful of Ecology
people occupy areas in Central
movements? Is the
media biased
and South America, Africa, India Do you agree with this perspective
(where they are known as Tribals) where a man from an urban
against them?
and Southeast Asia. Many of the (developed!) area becomes greedy for
nature?
Environment and Natural Resources 133

most obvious threat to the survival experiences. The World Council of Indigenous
of indigenous people. Can political Peoples was formed in 1975. The Council
autonomy be enjoyed without its became subsequently the first of 11 indigenous
attachment to the means of NGOs to receive consultative status in the UN.
physical survival? Many of the movements against globalisation,
discussed in Chapter 9, have focussed on the
In India, the description
rights of the indigenous people.
‘indigenous people’ is usually
applied to the Scheduled Tribes

d
who constitute nearly eight per
cent of the population of the

e
country. With the exception of

h
small communities of hunters and
gatherers, most indigenous

T s
populations in India depend for

l i
their subsistence primarily on the

R
cultivation of land. For centuries, STEPS

b
if not millennia, they had free

E
access to as much land as they
‹ Each student is asked to list any ten items they

u
consume/use every day.
could cultivate. It was only after

C
(The list could include — pen/paper/eraser/

N rep
the establishment of the British
colonial rule that areas, which had computer/water etc.)
previously been inhabited by the ‹ Ask students to calculate the amount of natural
Scheduled Tribe communities, resources being used to make these items. (For

© e
were subjected to outside forces. finished products like pen/pencil/computer
Although they enjoy a etc., students will calculate the amount of
constitutional protection in resources and for items like water they could

b
political representation, they have calculate the amount of electricity used for
not got much of the benefits of purifying and pumping along with gallons of

o
development in the country. In water). Each would calculate and arrive at an

t
fact they have paid a huge cost approximate figure.
for development since they are the Ideas for the Teacher

t
single largest group among the
Collect the approximate figures from each student and
people displaced by various

o
sum up all to arrive at total resources consumed by the
developmental projects since students of that particular class. (Teacher is to act as a

n
independence. facilitator and allow students to do the calculations.)

Issues related to the rights of Project this figure to other classes of the same school, then
to schools across the country. The country figure could be
the indigenous communities have
used to measure the amount of resources being used by
been neglected in domestic and schools in other countries too. (The teacher is to have
international politics for very long. background information about the resources being used
During the 1970s, growing by students in a few select countries. While selecting
countries, teacher should ensure that the selected countries
international contacts among
belong to the developed / developing countries category).
indigenous leaders from around
Ask students to imagine the amount of resources we are
the world aroused a sense of consuming and also to estimate future consumption.
common concern and shared
134 Contemporary World Politics

1. Which among the following best explains the reason for growing
concerns about the environment?
a. The developed countries are concerned about protecting nature.
b. Protection of the environment is vital for indigenous people and
natural habitats.
c. The environmental degradation caused by human activities has
become pervasive and has reached a dangerous level.
E x e r c i s e s

d. None of the above.

d
2. Mark correct or wrong against each of the following statements about

e
the Earth Summit:

h
a. It was attended by 170 countries, thousands of NGOs and many
MNCs.

T i s
b. The summit was held under the aegis of the UN.

R l
c. For the first time, global environmental issues were firmly
consolidated at the political level.

3.
d.

E b
It was a summit meeting.

u
Which among the following are TRUE about the global commons?

C
N rep
a.

b.
c.
The Earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica, ocean floor and outer space
are considered as part of the global commons.
The global commons are outside sovereign jurisdiction.
The question of managing the global commons has reflected the

© e
North-South divide.
d. The countries of the North are more concerned about the

b
protection of the global commons than the countries of the South.
4. What were the outcomes of the Rio Summit?

o
5. What is meant by the global commons? How are they exploited and

t
polluted?

t
6. What is meant by ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’? How
could we implement the idea?

o
7. Why have issues related to global environmental protection become

n
the priority concern of states since the 1990s?
8. Compromise and accommodation are the two essential policies
required by states to save planet Earth. Substantiate the statement in
the light of the ongoing negotiations between the North and South
on environmental issues.

9. The most serious challenge before the states is pursuing economic

development without causing further damage to the global
environment. How could we achieve this? Explain with a few examples.