How Environments as A Global Issue
Ans: Environment is something that is being shared by the entire globe and its isolation is impossible. Right from the inception of this universe, humans, animals, plants, and all other species have been sharing the common environment and will continue to do so till the end of time. That’s why any change, disruption, or disturbance in the realm of the environment is felt by the entire globe and the whole of humanity gets alert. After the era of the industrial revolution, the advancements in industrial tools and equipment have increased the vulnerability of the environment. The emission of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide and other CFS(Chloro-fluoro-carbons) have damaged the ozone layer which in return is increasing the temperature of the entire globe, resulting in global warming. The current era has further exacerbated the situation because of the wider use of products that directly affect the environment. It is considered a global issue because the environment is a shared element among all the nations of the world, and any harm to the environment is harmful to the entire globe. Some states are direct victims of the environmental problems while others are indirect, so implicit or explicit, the environmental issues are leaving their marks on multiple states around the world. For example, a state facing severe environmental damage, such as fewer rains, increased heat, fewer crops, and mass migrations would face serious social, economic, and political repercussions directly. Whereas, the other state that might face less direct environmental damages, would become a victim of mass immigrations happening around the world due to environmental issues, hence erupting social, political, and economic disruptions there—this is an example of just one aspect. Therefore, the environment is becoming a global issue because of its wider horizon of impacts that cover the entire globe. It is the wider impact of environmental issues and the gravity of the situation that has pushed the regional and international organizations, regimes, and states around the world to come up with collective policies to tackle this new global evil that aims to annihilate the entire humanity. Hence giving rise to the concept of global environmental governance that draws the focus of states to pay serious heed towards the grave situations being created by the environmental issues in the entire world.
Evolution of Global Environmental Governance: Right from the start the products such as smoke etc., had created issues for humans. Initially, its impacts were at the local level that pushed the need for the local level response to tackle the environmental issues at that time. For example, clean water, sanitation, waste management being disturbed by anti-environment products posed threat to public health due to which steps were taken at the local level, particularly in the UK, USA, and other western countries. At the start of the 20th century, a limited centralization in the western world was also being done regarding environmental issues. In the 1960s and 70s, environmental decision-making started being dominated by the central governments. It was because with time the issues were increasing and locals weren’t able to handle them. For example, in the US due to a gap in local management, government intervention became inevitable. Many national governments, particularly in the Western World, introduced environmental legislation and implementation institutions. This shifted the environmental governance from local to the central or national level.
Then, with increased nationalization governments began to cooperate multilaterally. Environmental regimes were introduced amid the increased environmental issues due to industrial and technological advancements. Moreover, the introduction of sustainable development as a political discourse asserted more focus on the environment and created room for the involvement of non-state actors as environmental issues started bringing social, political, and economic implications with themselves. United Nations Rio Summit of 1992 increased the global level involvement on environmental issues.
At the start the of 21st century, amid the rise of globalization, the governments got involved in various socio-economic processes and were unable to stick to the environmental protocols or sustainable development programs. Also, the environmental issues were expanding, so involvement of multi-actors at different institutional scales was required. Non-state actors such as NGOs and various environmental regimes got heavily active in the realm of environmental governance at multi-levels. Many multifarious regimes, their environmental policies, and protocols were being brokered by the UN. Therefore, the enhanced environmental issues including ozone depletion, deforestation, droughts, biodiversity loss, rise in sea level, climate change, nuclear threats, etc., have exacerbated the situation, making these issues of extreme global level, hence pushing the need for global governance. So, this is how the environmental issues have been governed over time, and their governance has evolved from the local-global oral level.
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