Week 9

That’s a loaded question, and insanely difficult to answer. I believe that current developing countries have the right to exploit their own forests. That doesn’t mean I think they should. Deforestation is a quick fix to serious economic problems. It will never sustain a country and a people in the long-run. Sub-Sahara Africa experienced this as cattle over-grazed and trees were chopped down: massive desertification occurred that has left the land unusable and the people destitute. The same is true, unfortunately, for the country of Haiti. Unfortunately, many countries know these consequences and yet continue to engage in destructive behavior, but then again, many have done the reverse. China, for all intents and purposes, was labeled as a “developing country” before the turn of the century. Like others in its class, China experienced massive deforestation; however, in the early 1990’s, China reversed this behavior. Trees were planted in mass around the country. Further, the government enforced strict mandates that prohibited using wood. I went to China in 2007 and was amazed by the greenness of the country. This is not to negate the fact that China certainly has other environmental problems: but it does demonstrate that countries will take steps to maximize their well-being, and some of those steps are toward environmental protectionism.

In short, countries will act in their own self-interest, and I do not believe it is the prerogative of other countries, or weak international institutions, to stop them. Further, I am not too sure how these countries would stop them: trade embargos, threats, tariffs, boycotts and the like only serve to destroy the economy and thus speed up the process of environmental harm. I realize a lot of species and precious forests reside in other countries in the world—but because of lack of force, we cannot mandate other countries to take care of their environmental reserves—we can only gently encourage them and perhaps provide incentives.

Climate change is another very difficult topic. Developed nations should not force environmental standards on under-developed nations that they themselves are not willing to uphold. Some authors believe industrialized countries are making great progress with environmental policies, others believe the opposite—as evidenced by the two chapters in Vig. Further, different countries have different climates, different cultures, and thus different methods on how to reach optimal environmental standards. Thus, what type of policies would developed nations require under-developed nations to adhere to when they themselves are not in agreement? And if they are, perhaps these new standards are too high for under-developed nations to reach. By definition, they do not have the economy industrialized nations do, and thus they do not have the technology, spare revenue, and motivation to clean their environment.

Overall, as I pointed out with the first section, I don’t think other countries have the power to force a country to abide by certain environmental standards (well, in a way they do if they enforce harsh economic penalties, but as discussed, that does more harm than good). As a result, though global in context, environmental policies cannot be mandated on an international stage. Thus, developed nations have no right to mandate that developing countries reduce emissions. Again, they might try to persuade developing countries to enact certain environmental standards, but that is the extent of their power.

In truth, equity is not the point here- the point is for each nation to first, get motivated about protecting the environment, and then second, enact domestic policies to ensure this happens. I’m not too sure how you would measure equity, and if you could, what good it would do. Equity is an ideal that falls on deaf ears when a turbulent economy is present. Thus, it is the moral obligation (note, I do not believe it should be a legal mandate) that developed countries should lead by example when it comes to environmental policy. Further, they should willingly share technology, experts, and perhaps products with developing nations to reduce global environmental harm. That is the expectation developing nations should have of developed nations- to lead by example and share breakthrough technology and talent.