6.7.5        Environmental Challenges from a Political Viewpoint

 (The latest version of this page is at Pattern Descriptions.  An archived copy of this page is held at https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition02/675.htm)

There are a number of global environmental challenges €“ resource shortages, climate change, pollution and the spread of disease €“ which require some collective action to be taken.  The economic aspects of these challenges have already been mentioned (3.5.7), but political agreement is needed to put the necessary arrangements in place. 

Resource shortages should be solved by trade, but the economic power associated with the possession of resources can be manipulated for political advantage.  Russia, for example, has been able to put pressure on the government of Belarus by raising energy prices.[1]

The biggest environmental challenge may be climate change.  Politicians need to negotiate to agree how to approach the issue, and to release the necessary funding, but they face several problems:

·      Environmental science is too complex for simple statements to be made about cause and effect; and there is disagreement about some of the financial projections.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up to try to agree the scientific information.[2]  The Stern Report contains a financial analysis which was commissioned to be the basis of political decision-making.[3]  Both documents have been questioned, but there hasn€™t been an agreed process for updating them and the Climate Research Unit of the IPCC has been accused of a €œlack of openness€�.[4]  Climate Change negotiations are less meaningful without transparency and an agreed process for the updating of both documents.

·      There has been some hysteria.   Al Gore€™s film An Inconvenient Truth received huge publicity, not least as a result of the Nobel Peace Prize that he received for it in 2007, yet it made exaggerated claims that are not supported by scientific data.[5]  Climate change has been presented as an existential threat to the world, and many people understandably want to influence politicians to do whatever is possible to avoid catastrophe €“ but balanced discussions require a dispassionate approach rather than heightened emotion.

·      There is inadequate representation in the negotiations.  The causes of environmental problems often lie in different places from the most severe effects.  Only the wealthy countries, which could almost certainly lessen the scale of the problems by reducing their carbon emissions, are represented at the G20 (3.4.4), whereas the some of the highest costs of adaptation will be felt in countries which have insufficient wealth to adapt to the changes and which are not represented in the decision-making process.

·      National politicians are not the best people to conduct negotiations because they have to prioritise national interest (6.6.4.2).  Their need for domestic popularity can either cause them to ignore the interests of the world as a whole or they can indulge in posturing as saviours.  Panels of experts, selected for their knowledge of science, economics, and different parts of the world, could perhaps be set up to make objective and credible recommendations €“ which would then require a period of consultation before political approval.

The negotiations on climate change need to be more meaningful in the terminology of this book, i.e. balanced, transparent and inclusive (2.4).

Discussions on climate change have been peaceful, in the sense that no military conflict has yet ensued.  The same is true to date of other international environmental challenges:

·      The World Bank has monitored a project to manage pollution on the River Danube.[6]

·      The 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution led to coordinated scientific work and subsequent corrective action on the problem of countries exporting 'acid rain'.[7]

·      The World Health Organisation has been able to coordinate responses to potential pandemics such as avian flu.[8]

Political processes have been able to address all these problems.  International legal arbitration services are available, if necessary (5.3.6.2).

© PatternsofPower.org, 2014