Environmental Development and Population Flashcards
(17 cards)
what are the post WW2 development policies ?
environment has been affected by
- industrialization
- emphasis on cash crops
- TNC’s lack of accountability
- rapid population growth and poverty
- WB emphasis on large scale projects (dams)
What is the Limits to Growth Debate ?
questioned the sustainability of development strategies
- developing countries contended that restrictions on the use of their environmental resources are unfair (right to pollute to achieve growth)
- as resources become scarce, price rise, and consumption declines
- economic growth may cause environmental degradation in the short term but as incomes rise environmental conditions improve
What is the concept of Carrying Capacity?
Carrying capacity : the maximum number of individuals that can be supported in an environment without experiencing decreased in the ability to support future generations within the area
What is the optimist view of the environment ?
Think that population growth is tabling and people are solving pollution problems
- Aka logic of growth model
- Food production increasing, cost decreasing
- Energy crisis will mean finding alternative solutions
- Human ingenuity will solve the world problems
- Optimists underestimate repercussions of technological developments like agriculture
- Feel the green revolution is a good think, deny neo-malthusian ideas of food shortage
What is the Brundtland Report ?
“Our Common Future” 1987
- request from UN general assembly to propose long term environmental strategies for achieving development by year 2000
- national sovereignty to comprehensive security
Describe the implications of the new economics and environmental policy?
- economic growth cannot proceed at the expense of the earths natural resources
- the worlds economy must live off earths interest
- economic systems should include the costs of resource use
- implications : reduce consumption, improved efficiency, reduced population, alternative energy sources, alternative energy resources, and renewable resource management
What is sustainable development
Development that satisfies current needs without harming the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
Key Principles:
Redefine development to balance growth and environmental preservation.
Economic growth should not deplete natural resources or harm ecosystems.
Transition quickly to sustainable resource use and population stabilization.
Ensure future generations can access the planet’s resources equally.
Address poverty in developing nations without exhausting their natural resources.
Promote fairness (equity) across nations, societies, and generations (intergenerational equity).
What is the Critical Alternative View of Development ?
Need-Oriented: Focus on both material and non-material needs.
Endogenous: Solutions come from within societies.
Self-Reliant: Use local human, natural, and cultural resources.
Ecologically Sound: Emphasize sustainable and environmentally friendly practices.
Transformative Vision: Challenge power structures (race, class, patriarchy) that create inequality.
What is the WCED?
UN 1983 World Commission on Environmental and Development
- our common future argued that poverty as much as industrialization was responsible for environmental degradation
What is UNCED Rio Conference ?
The Earth Summit 1992
- 176 nations take part in signing agreements such as : The Biodiversity Convention
The Framework Convention on Climate Change
Agreement on Forest Principles
Agenda 21
what is the Rio Delegation ?
- common but differentiated responsibility for the global environment
- apportionment of equal shares of environmental space
- no use of environmental considerations to justify trade restrictions-unless based on multilateral agreement
- utilize their own natural resources for their own development
What are the limits to the Rio Agenda ?
- placed emphasis on the need for continued economic growth coupled with environmental regulation rather than altering the basic relationship-between development and the environment
What is the Kyoto protocol ?
Binding commitments of 19 industrialized nations
- reduce their combined emissions of the main GHG by 5.2% in the period of 2008-2012 compared with 1990 levels
What is the top down approach when it comes to the Kyoto Protocol ?
- Nations were responsible for meeting their targets through domestic policies, programs, or participation in international mechanisms like carbon trading.
- National governments reported emissions and progress to ensure compliance with the established quotas.
- 5 year quota for GHG emissions from above was a set through negotiations, then translated by committed Parties to their national stakeholders
What are the key elements of the Paris Agreement ?
- limit the amount of GHG emitted by human activities to-the same levels that trees, soil, and oceans can naturally absorb naturally at some point between 2050-2100
- review each countries contribution to cutting emissions every 5 years so they scale up to the challenge
What is Climate Finance ?
for richer countries to help-poorer nations by providing money to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy
what is the Environment Nexus ?
- large scale projects exacerbated human misery and environmental degradation
