Recently, the Canadian Government withdrew from the provisions of the Kyoto protocol citing “savings of $14 billion in penalties.” This reflects the importance (or lack thereof) that the Canadian government places on important environmental concerns. Canada ratified the Kyoto protocol back in 1997, but recently it was observed that it could not meet its legally binding targets and hence chose to withdraw from the protocol. Hopefully, this does not set a precedent for further actions of the Canadian government. Trying to preserve present economic returns without changing industrial practices can be very detrimental to future generations. The present environmental practices need to change on an individual and systemic level for us to be able to preserve a comfortable lifestyle for future generations of humanity.
The underlying reason behind the perceived lack of concern for the natural resources is the economic invisibility of our environment. Due to the important role that currency plays in our society, little attention has been paid to the sustained preservation of natural resources. Often, people think that everything that comes from nature is free. What they fail to understand is that, once that resource stands depleted, there is a huge economic loss for us. This is becoming clearly visible in the case of fossil fuels. For decades, we have been relying on fossil fuels for our energy needs. Indiscriminate use of these resources in the past has now put great economic strain on our society. The vast majority of North American families live a life of debt due to the rapidly escalating cost of natural resources. This needs to change.
One example of the economic and governmental importance of natural resources emerged in 2000 in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Due to sanctions from the World Bank, the supply of water became privatised. This act drove up the price of water because of the selfish intentions of the large corporations in charge of water distribution. At the height of the problem, even the harvesting of the natural rainwater was deemed illegal. The People of Cochabamba took to the streets and intensely violent protests commenced including instances involving Molotov cocktails. A state of emergency was declared and the nation was immersed in a state of tension. Ultimately, the government had to concede defeat and complied with the demands of the people. This is a prime example of how natural resources play a very important role in economy.
Another similar example is the case of flooding in the Indian metropolitan city of Mumbai. After the economic reforms of the early nineties, Mumbai became the economic center of India. Efforts were on to make Mumbai world class. A lot of land was reclaimed from the sea and many “Special Economic Zones” were created. One of these important SEZ was created on the bank of a creek in the center of the city. This happened at the expense of 10,000 hectares of the natural ecosystem of the region; mangroves. Mangroves form an important buffering barrier between the water and the land. The people of Mumbai learnt this the hard way in 2005. It received 24-hour rainfall, a full 994 mm which caused persistent flooding. Without the mangroves the water from the creeks in and around the city center flooded and submerged most of the city in a couple feet of water. Due to this disaster, about $100 million of damage was caused. This was the real economic price of these mangroves.
It is thus very important to careful perform a detailed risk analysis to understand the economic impact of all environment related decisions made. Despite the colossal challenges posed by putting a price on the environment, it proves to be a very important factor to ensure continuity of the human race. It is important to take the issue into our own hands. China, despite being the largest producer of greenhouse gases, ranks 78 in the per capita emissions. Similarly India ranks fifth in overall CO2 emissions but 145 in the per capita emissions. Evident from the statistics, North American countries (and other developed countries) can learn a lot from the practises of these so called “third world” countries. More importantly, it is important for countries like India, China and Brazil to understand the importance of natural resources in the long run (and to understand that despite having little money, they are actually very rich in resources for a sustainable future).
Leave a Reply