Raghbendra Jha and K.V. Bhanu Murthy

1
Raghbendra Jha and K.V. Bhanu Murthy

• Global Disparity and Environmental
  Sustainability

2
Global Disparity and Environmental
Sustainability

• The global economy is poised to enter into a new
  phase of growth and development in the next
  millennium that shall be unprecedented.
• It has been over a decade since the process of
  globalization has started. Already signs of this
  massive change to be are visible. These are
  apparent from the trends in income distribution,
  trade, environmental pollution, and so on.
• What is most apparent about these trends is the
  extreme disparity on a global scale. We shall
  discuss these trends in disparity shortly and
  relate them to the crux of the matter, that is,
  environmental sustainability.

3
Global Distribution of Per Capita GDP
4
Global Income Disparity

• In the case of GDP Per Capita (expressed PPP
  - real terms) the high development countries
  (30 in all) corner 70.22, followed by medium
  development countries (48 of the countries)
  whose share is 26.28 and lastly, low development
  countries (22 of all countries) who have only
  3.5.

5
Global environmental issues

• While all intellectual inquiry has a great
  responsibility, in a state of such upheaval,
  environmental studies have the greatest onus to
  understand and anticipate global challenges
  rather than to react to them.
• Any serious attempt to study the process
  globalization and its implication for
  environmental sustainability has to necessarily
  follow a truly global approach. While such a
  position might sound tautological, there is grave
  paradigmatic problem with this fundamental
  position.

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Global Environmental Degradation

• A truly global approach has three dimensions to
  it. It should be global in the sense of including
  all factors responsible for global environmental
  degradation (GED) and secondly, it must transcend
  space to include all countries of the world.
  Finally, it should also be truly global in the
  sense of being concerned with the global
  interests in from the point of view of global
  environ-mental management and not just be based
  on certain sectional interest.
• For being global in all senses of the term, the
  first and foremost requirement is to be able to
  understand the global environmental issues and
  concerns, in the spirit in which it has been
  outlined above. For meeting this end an approach
  and certain methods need to be developed.

7
A new approach to Environmental Sustainability

• Even a casual look at the trends (that follow)
  would make it clear as to how urgent it is to
  evolve a global approach to environmental
  sustainability.
• This presentation is based on our approach which
  is perhaps the only truly global approach to
  environmental sustainability. We have called it
  the Consumption Approach to Environmental
  Sustainability It is global approach that is
  all-inclusive in terms of all factors responsible
  as well as all countries of the world. And
  represents all interests.
• This approach is laid out in our book
  Environmental Sustainability A Consumption
  Approach. Routledge, London, 2006)

8
GED and GEM

• There are several issues that can be taken up for
  having a general understanding of the global
  trends. But we wish to take-up some of the most
  pertinent issues. Many of the factors that affect
  the global environment are inter-connected.
  Therefore, in the following analysis we shall
  study these interrelationships from the point of
  view of understanding the problems in global
  environmental degradation (GED) and global
  environmental management (GEM).

9
Related Issues

• Global Trends in Development and Environment
  The Carbon Sink
• Global Trends in Development and Environment
  The Elixir of Life
• Development Pattern and The Environment

10
Wood and Paper

• While the relationship between them may be amply
  clear to the aware reader, we would like
  re-emphasize the relationship.
• Paper of any kind is made from wood pulp.
  Essentially the demand for paper arises from rich
  countries and is largely for fine paper.
• The finer the paper the higher the grade of wood
  required. Hence, more superior is the tree that
  is to be felled.
• One ton of newspaper is the equivalent of 19 pine
  trees.

11
Paper quality and the environment

• In the sense that its wood is much more
  expensive and its role in nature is much greater.
  For instance, while local handmade paper is made
  from bamboo, high quality paper is made from
  pinewood.

12
Dilemma of poor countries

• The choice that developing countries face is to
  earn by exporting such superior wood and
  augmenting growth and incomes domestically or
  preserving the forests and remaining poor.
  Needless to say this is apparently an individual
  choice being exercised by some poor countries but
  has a global implication for environmental
  sustainability.

13
Carbon Sink

• These trees have a great capacity to absorb
  carbon dioxide (CO2) and act as a carbon sink,
  which is the only insurance against global
  warming being caused by green-house gases
  (GHG), like CO2, that destroy the ozone layer.
  By felling the forests the developing countries
  benefit themselves and by retaining forests the
  world benefits, at large, and they lose.

14
Early industrialization

• Developed countries experienced early
  industrialization at a time when there was no
  awareness about the environment. They
  indiscriminately felled their forests.
• Today they are pressurizing developing countries
  to preserve their forests.

15
Reforestation

• Apparently developed countries have green cover
  but it is as a result of reforestation and not
  natural forests.
• It has been found that reforestation reduces
  the original bio-diversity and habitat by 90.

16
Forest Cover
17
Data on Forest Cover
Summary Statistics
Developed Developing   Weighted
average of percentage forest cover 24.36
81.00  Simple average of percentage forest
cover 23.92 43.89  Share of
Countries having gt than 1 forest cover 16.65
58.93  Percentage of Countries (out of
162 countries) 1.85
8.02  Forest Area in '000 Sq. Km.
6,286.44 22,246.97
18
Developed Countries

• The Human Development Index conceals the fact
  that high-ranking (highly developed) countries
  do not contribute much to green cover. So the
  index takes into account economic and social
  criteria but not environmental criteria. The top
  48 countries, that is, 30 of all countries
  possess only 23 of the cover. Out of these
  three countries - USA, Canada and Australia, that
  is 1.85 of the total number of countries, have
  16.65 and the rest of the 28 have less than
  13 of the global cover.

19
Poor countries provide forest cover

• There are 16 countries that possess significant
  forest cover. We have defined any country that
  contributes more than one percent to the total
  forest cover in the world as having significant
  cover. Of theses only three countries USA,
  Canada and Australia are developed countries. The
  rest of the 13 countries are all developing
  countries. The greatest single contributor is the
  Russian Federation, which has a 22.55 share in
  global, forest cover.

20
Paper and pulp

• The pulp and paper industry is the single
  largest consumer of water used in industrial
  activities in OECD countries and is the third
  greatest industrial greenhouse gas emitter, after
  the chemical and steel industries (OECD
  Environmental Outlook, p. 218)
• Paper pulp exports from Latin America from
  forests converted into plantations and from the
  harvesting and conversion of tropical and
  subtropical forests are expected to grow 70
  between 2000 and 2010. (Mark Payne, 'Latin
  America Aims High for the Next Century', Pulp and
  Paper International 99)

21
Paper and ecology

• Most of the worlds paper supply, about 71, is
  not made from timber harvested at tree farms but
  from forest-harvested timber, from regions with
  ecologically valuable, biologically diverse
  habitat.
• (Toward a Sustainable Paper Cycle
• An Independent Study on the Sustainability of
  the Pulp and Paper Industry, 1996)

22
Paper Consumption
23
Distribution of CO2
24
Contribution to CO2

• On an average the per capita contribution of
  rich countries over 11.87 metric tons while that
  of developing countries is 3.03 and poor
  countries is just 0.56. The maximum of rich
  countries is 52.3 tons. Similarly, on an average
  the share of each rich country is more than 1,
  that of developing countries is less half and
  that of poor countries is less than 0.02.

25
Inequalities in CO2

• Interestingly, about half the countries in the
  world contribute such an insignificant amount
  that it may be treated as zero. Out of 174
  countries 144 contribute less than 0.5 and 168
  countries contribute less than 2.5, on an
  individual basis. The last 20 countries or the
  poor countries as class do not contribute
  anything to global CO2 emission!! Half the
  countries in the world contribute less than
  0.05, individually. In other words the median of
  all countries contributions is 0.05 and the
  average contribution of all countries is just
  0.57. Finally, just six countries contribute
  about 61 of all the CO2 in the world!!

26
Water

• The single feature of our planet that
  distinguishes it from other planets is water -
  'The Elixir of Life'. It is obvious that this
  unique resource of our planet is not distributed
  uniformly in the world. The following table
  (Table 1.3) gives the details of the overall
  distribution. As has been stressed earlier while
  understanding the core issues in global
  environmental sustainability it is important to
  understand the inter-connection amongst factors.
  Three such factors can be identified water,
  fertilizer and population.

27
Fertilizer, water population

• The relationship is as follows. Land is the next
  most important natural resource after water. The
  exploitation of land is essential for food, which
  in turn is essential for survival of the
  population. Such exploitation is justified if it
  is done at a sustainable rate. At a rate that
  gives nature the time to recoup. Hence, there
  must be a balance between these three factors. If
  on the other hand, modern farming methods are
  used to accelerate the exploitation it must be
  understood that it necessitates the use of
  chemical fertilizers. These fertilizers require
  huge amounts of water. Therefore, there must be a
  consonance and a balance between the use of
  fertilizer and water, and the population.

28
Water Availability

• The categories of countries have below average
  water resources are Least Developed Countries,
  Developing Countries, in general, Sub-Saharan
  Africa, Low Income Countries, South Asia and Arab
  States, in that order. While High Income
  Countries have 30 more than the world average,
  Developing countries have 20 less than the same.
  Needless to say Arab States possess the least.
  This spells out the supply or availability
  situation.

29
Freshwater consumption

• High development countries draw 108 of their
  fresh water resources, medium development
  countries draw 80 and low development countries
  draw only 15 and the least developed countries
  consume only 6. The standard deviation of low
  development countries is the lowest. They
  consistently draw only a fifth of the world
  average level. This is despite the fact that
  their possession is barely 10 less than the
  world average. This clearly points to sustainable
  use.

30
Population trends

• The average population was 36.18 million in 1999,
  while high development countries had a mean
  population of 22 million. The average for medium
  development countries was 51 and that of low
  development countries was 19.5. The total
  population of high, medium and low development
  countries was 1054, 3990 and 680, respectively.
  If medium development countries were to consume
  more they would have a legitimate reason. The
  high development countries that have ¼ of the
  population of medium development countries and
  still make heavy drawls of resources and
  overconsumption.

31
Fertilizer consumption
32
Inequality in consumption

• There is a justification of developing and poor
  countries to accelerate food production for
  feeding their ever-growing population. But the
  use of fertilizer accelerates the use of water.
  However, we find that developed countries, which
  have much less population, unjustifiably consume
  much more fertilizer. Their appropriation is
  rather high. They consume 72 of the global
  fertilizer while they are just 30 countries.
  Developing countries consume only 26 although
  they are 48 of all countries. The low
  development countries are 22 of all countries
  but consume only 2! Their state of poverty is
  such that they need to augment domestic food
  supply. Yet they consume only 2 of fertilizer.

33
Unsustainable consumption

• So far we have been studying various factors of
  that relate to the environment and have seen
  their interrelationship. The picture that emerges
  is that developed countries have the lowest
  population but even on a per capita basis have
  displayed highly unsustainable consumption
  levels. This has resulted in gross global
  environmental degradation. The complex web of
  factors that are responsible for this state
  cannot be seen in isolation of each other. We
  have seen how a comparative study of these
  patterns of consumption across levels of
  development and classes of countries reveals that
  consumption, level of development and
  environmental degradation are intricately
  related.

34
Consumption and Income

• Consumption is however, enabled by income.
  Therefore, the question is as to what is the kind
  of income generation process that has evolved and
  what are the implications of such a process for
  environmental sustainability. We have now examine
  the global distribution GDP per capita (in real
  terms PPP ). Now we see relationship between
  three related factors, namely, Trade,
  Urbanization and Energy

35
Energy consumption
36
Inequality of Energy Consumption

• Energy Use by Countries
• 20 - Richest 5
• 60 - Rich20
• 80 - Rich37
• 90 - 50
• Poorest 25 countries get only 1.

37
Technology and energy

• Ordinarily, extant literature views the question
  of energy by emphasizing the relatively efficient
  technologies and efficiency of energy use by
  developed countries. Such a relative notion
  ignores the absolute level of energy use.
  Therefore, it is a misnomer that developed
  countries are much more efficient. Their growth
  and industrialization is based on extremely
  high-energy use that causes environmental damage.
  And this is done at the cost of the using
  environmentally degrading development inputs.

38
Global Distribution of Trade
39
Inequality in Trade

• The top 7 countries have cornered 50 of world
  trade.
• Top 26 have 80 of the trade.
• Like-wise 47 of the countries at the top possess
  90 of the trade.
• Finally, the last 25 have only 2 of the trade.

40
Trade patterns

• The developed world produces and exports
  industrial goods by high-energy use and, on the
  other hand, by using a lot of fertilizer and
  water they are able to support their population,
  as well as agriculture and export primary
  products on a large scale, as well. Therefore,
  their trade volumes are much larger. Thus, they
  actually leave no space of poor countries to use
  their comparative advantage in cheap labour.
  Neither can they compete in industrial exports
  through their cheap labour nor can they compete
  in agricultural exports.

41
Global Distribution of Urbanization
42
Inequality of Urbanization

• The inequalities are less in the case of
  urbanization.
• 51 of the urban area is with the top 37 of the
  countries.
• And 70 urban area is with 55 of the top
  countries.

43
Consumption and Environment

• So far we have been studying various factors of
  that relate to the environment and have seen
  their interrelationship. The picture that emerges
  is that developed countries have the lowest
  population but even on a per capita basis have
  displayed highly unsustainable consumption
  levels. This has resulted in gross global
  environmental degradation. The complex web of
  factors that are responsible for this state
  cannot be seen in isolation of each other. We
  have seen how a comparative study of these
  patterns of consumption across levels of
  development and classes of countries reveals that
  consumption, level of development and
  environmental degradation are intricately
  related.

44
Global Inequalities
Inequality in Consumption and Environmental
Degradation across HDI Classes
 
45
Why study disparity?

• The above trends in development and the
  environment reveal great disparities that are
  inherent in the process of globalization. A prime
  question is as to why it is important to study
  such disparities. At one level the response to
  such a question is to look into the issues
  arising from the equity angle that relate to
  inequality and poverty.

46
Our approach

• Our approach is however different in many ways.
  Firstly, while we may be concerned about the
  equity angle, and the human dimension of
  development, our primary purpose of delving into
  disparity in the process of globalization is
  analytical. Our understanding is that global
  disparities lie at the root of aggravating global
  environmental degradation.

47
Convergence

• Our approach is to illuminate how globalization
  has brought about a process by which patterns of
  development as well as consumption are converging
  and are likely to set in a process of
  environmental degradation in the indefinite
  future.

48
Conclusion

• Finally, an essential part of our approach is
  not merely to study the cause and analytical
  framework of global environmental degradation,
  but to point out that there is an urgent need
  for global environmental management, whose
  central theme would be to address these
  disparities as the basis of environmental
  degradation. An institution like the World
  Environment Organization has to evolve and come
  to terms with this reality. A mere tinkering
  with treaties, conventions and permits would be
  far from the solution.

49
Adieu!!

• We would be glad if this introduction to our book
  helps you to understand the global environmental
  problem better.
• Any questions are welcome. Our email contacts
• r.jha_at_anu.edu.au
• bhanumurthykv_at_yahoo.com
• Website for this book