Term Paper

On
The Linkage between Environment and Globalization:
Some policies and Propositions on how Globalization can
affect positively on World Environment

Course Name: Politics of Globalization

Course No: 406
Submitted To,
Mrs. Bushra Hasina Chowdhury
Course Teacher
Associate Professor
Department of International Relations
University of Dhaka

Submitted By,
Nisad Mourovi
Roll: FM-114
Department of International Relations
University of Dhaka

Submission Date: 12-11-2017

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 Table of Contents
Name of Contents Page No
1. Abstract-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03
2. Introduction---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03
3. Linkage between globalization and environment ------------------------------------- 04
Globalization VS Environment
Economy
Knowledge
Governance
4. Two policies------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 06
Negative impact of globalization on environment
Positive impact of globalization on environment

5. Some propositions--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10

World Environmental Organization

Environmentalists and NGOs
Proper Using
Equal Economic development
Merge the Local with the Global
Reform the WTO
Embrace a wider category of knowledge
Environmental education in solving Environmental problems
Measuring Sustainability

6. Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13
7. References---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14

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 The Linkage between Environment and Globalization: Some
policies and Propositions on how Globalization can affect
positively on World Environment

Abstract:
In the last few decades, environmental problems have become a global problem of mankind in
terms of their existence and influence, as well as social and economic forces that produce them.
Definition of the term globalization is multifunctional depending on the context in which it needs
to be understood. On the context of environment globalization is referred as a process of
manifestation of widespread environmental crises, caused by global environmental pollution.
End of 20th and the beginning of 21st century were marked by two interrelated processes:
development and environment. But globalization has a two way effects on environment which
are themselves contradicted. One way, the key features of globalization - industrialization,
spread of science and technology, development, FDI, flows of people - are promoting
environmental crisis. On the other way, as a result of globalization a platform has created to
maintain the environmental balance of the earth and thus paves the way to face environmental
crisis on a global context. My argument is that that how this contradictory relations can be
transformed into good relations.
Introduction:

Globalization has far-reaching effects on our lifestyle. It has led to faster access to technology,
improved communication and innovation. Apart from playing an important role in bringing
people of different cultures together, it has ushered a new era in the economic prosperity and has
opened up vast channels of development. However, globalization has also created some areas of
concern, and prominent among these is the impact that it has on the environment. Globalization
has featured extensively in the debates on environmentalism, and green activists have
highlighted its far-reaching effects. In our paper we will try to find out two issues of our topic,
one is how globalization affects environment and another one is that how the issue environment
has globalized because of globalization.

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 Linkage between Globalization and Environment
The relationship between the environment and globalizationalthough often overlookedis
critical to both domains. The environment itself is inherently global, with life-sustaining
ecosystems and watersheds frequently crossing national boundaries; air pollution moving across
entire continents and oceans; and a singleshared atmosphere providing climate protection and
shielding us from harsh UV rays monitoring and responding to environmental issues frequently
provokes a need for coordinated global or regional governance. Moreover, the environment is
intrinsically linked to economic development, providing natural resources that fuel growth and
ecosystem services that underpin both life and livelihoods.

It is important to highlight that not only does globalization impact the environment, but the
environment impacts the pace, direction and quality of globalization. At the very least, this
happens because environmental resources provide the fuel for economic globalization, but also
because our social and policy responses to global environmental challenges constrain and
influence the context in which globalization happens.

In short, not only are the environment and globalization intrinsically linked, they are so deeply
welded together that we simply cannot address the global environmental challenges facing us
unless we are able to understand and harness the dynamics of globalization that influence them.
By the same token, those who wish to capitalize on the potential of globalization will not be able
to do so unless they are able to understand and address the great environmental challenges of our
time, which are part of the context within which globalization takes place.

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 Some examples-
How does globalization affect environment?
Means of influence;
Economy
- Scale and composition ofeconomic activity changes,and consumption increases,allowing for
more widelydispersed externalities.
- Income increases, creating more resources for environmental protection.
- Techniques change as technologies are able to extract more from nature but can also become
cleaner.
Knowledge
-Global interactions facilitate exchange of environmental knowledge and best practices.
- Environmental consciousness increases with emergence ofglobal environmental networksand
civil societymovements.
- Globalization facilitates the spread of existing technologies and the emergence of
newtechnologies, often replacing existing technologies with more extractive alternatives; greener
technologies may also be spurred.
Governance
-Globalization makes it increasingly difficult for states to rely only on national regulation to
ensure the wellbeing of their citizens and their environment.
- There is a growing demand and need for global regulation, especiallyfor the means to
enforceexisting agreements and buildupon their synergies toimprove environmental
performance.
- Globalization facilitates the involvement of a growing diversity of participants andtheir
coalitions in addressing environmental threats, including market and civilsociety actors.

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 How does environment affect globalization?
Means of influence;
Economy
- Natural resource scarcityor/and abundance are driversof globalization, as they incite supply and
demand forces in global markets.
- The need for environmental amelioration can extractcosts from economy andsiphon resources
awayfrom development goals.
Knowledge
-Signals of environmental stress travel fast in a compressed world, environmentallydegraded
andunsustainable locations become marginalized from trade, investment, etc.
- Environmental stress can trigger alternative technological paths, dematerialization, alternative
energy, etc., which may not have otherwise emerged.
- Environmentalism becomes a global norm.
Governance
- Environmental standards influence patterns of tradeand investment nationally and
internationally.
- The nature of environmental challenges requires the incorporation of environmental
governance into other areas like trade, investment, health,labour, etc.
- Stakeholder participation in global environmentalgovernanceespecially theparticipation of
NGOs and civil societyhas become a model for other areas ofglobal governance.

Two policies
Two policies that can measure one another impacts. These policies are given
below-

1. Negative impact of globalization on environment

Loss of biodiversity:

Reduced Genetic Diversity in Agriculture A profound reduction of genetic diversity in

agriculture is now underway. The process has been well documented for food plants, and
pertains to vegetables, grains and tree crops. Since 1970, pharmaceutical, petrochemical and

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other transnational corporations have purchased more than 1,000 once-independent seed
companies. Loss of germplasm occurs as transnationals drop all but the most profitable seed
varieties from their inventories. New commercial varieties also appeared during this time, but
these were mostly introduced by tiny, independent seed companies, some of them non-profit, and
typically represent the commercialization of preexisting private varieties, not the result of new
breeding efforts.

Loss of Environmental costs:

The principal environmental costs of global free trade are well known. They include water, air
and soil pollution, exhaustion of non-renewable and slowly renewable resources and global
climatic change-all caused by globalization-related increases in industrial activity, production
agriculture and the fossil fuel energy used in the free trade-related transport of raw and finished
materials, and by the overriding of local and national protective laws and customs. Regulating
the environmental side effects of globalization is another matter. The conflict between trade and
environment arises because countries with weak property rights appear to be more productive
even when they are not, and export their natural resources unsustainably.
Social Disruption:
The social costs of globalization are numerous and severe. Although a detailed discussion of
them is beyond the scope of this paper, some of these costs can be listed. They include:

A widening gap between rich and poor.

The growing power of multinational corporations and the global interlinkage of
financial markets, causing regional instability from resource extinctions and rapid
geographic shifts of production and financial assets.
social unrest leading to greatly increased prison populations
The privatization and consequent deterioration of health care, education and other
social services, especially in the US.
The reduction in foreign aid generated by wealthy nations.
A sharp increase in the numbers of environmental/economic refugees.

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The composition effect:
Liberalization of trade, or the reduction of restrictions, tariffs and other barriers to free trade, has
an effect on countries' industry composition, which can have a positive or negative
environmental impact. If liberalization has the effect of increasing a nation's industrial or
manufacturing segment, the result can be more pollution and more strain on the country's natural
resources. On the other hand, if trade liberalization results in a shrinking heavy industry
concentration and increasing growth in the services sector, the opposite may be true for that
country.
Cheaper consumer goods:
While greater competition resulting in lower prices, more choice and better service for
consumers is often touted as a positive effect of globalization, it has a downside. With more
households gaining access to affordable consumer goods, more manufacturing and more intense
use of natural resources put strain on the environment in the form of pollution and depletion of
resources. Production, transportation and use of consumer goods results in more waste, pollution
and fuel use.
Lower environmental standards:
As countries compete for global trade opportunities, they experience increased pressure to offer
lower prices. In areas of the world without sufficient regulatory oversight, dirty industries and
practices can thrive by exploiting resources for profit, resulting in a pocket of intense
environmental damage. This also gives countries with stricter environmental regulations a
comparative disadvantage against countries without stringent oversight, possibly leading
countries to relax their own environmental rules to lower the compliance costs on their
industries.
Over exploitation of resources:
Competition to meet global demand can result in overexploitation of natural resources. With
greater opportunities to export products, many countries have pushed their resources to the limit
to maximize production. Without sustainable practices for harvesting, resources can be exploited
to the point of no return. Deforestation and overfishing are examples of problems exacerbated by
the liberalization of trade around the world.

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Development of Traffic:
Globalization has led to the development of traffic, thus bringing another cause of environmental
degradation. Increasingly developed transport infrastructure has brought a series of
environmental problems, in terms of increased air pollution, noise levels, taking up space, and
uncontrolled release of harmful and hazardous substances. Specifically, road traffic has a share
of 14% in emissions of harmful gases into the atmosphere.

2. Positive impact of globalization on environment

Globalization is the process by which all peoples and communities come to experience
an increasingly common economic, social and cultural environment. By definition, the
process affects everybody throughout the world. The great development of globalization
is that awareness has been grown up among people vastly and environmental movement
has also been started.
Endorses the recommendations on social and economic development and on the
environment from recent international conferences, as summarized by the United
Nations and stated below, and calls on international organizations and nation states to
implement these immediately.
Global Environmental Regime:
We can see after 90s it has been more globalized. As a result of great movement we can see-
Conference on Environment and Development Rio de Janeiro 1992
Convention on Climate Change Rio de Janeiro 1992
Conference on Human Settlements Habitat agenda and Agenda 21 Istanbul 1992
International Conference on Population and Development Cairo 1994
Declaration on Social Development Copenhagen 1995, Geneva 2000
Protocol on Climate Change Kyoto 1997
World Summit on Sustainable Development Johannesburg 2002

Trade Liberalization:
Trade liberalization may not only generate large global income gains, but may also likely
reduce global environmental damage .Economic growth will generate more opportunities for
environmental protection. An empirical research published in 1992 by the World Bank shows
that the statistical relationship between per capita income and certain kinds of pollution is
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roughly shaped as an inverted U (also known as the Kuznets curves). Kuznets had earlier on
shown that as the economy grows, pollution keeps falling. A study by economist Arik Levinson
claims that the richer people become, the more they tend to value environmental objectives.

Role of MNCs:
Investment by MNCs is thought to play a big role in this context.Many companies find that the
efficiency of having a single set of management practices, pollution control technologies, and
training programs geared to acommon set of standards outweigh any cost advantage that might
be obtained by scaling back on environmental investments at overseas facilities.Indeed, some
studies have shown that, within given sectors in given developing countries, foreign plants are
significantly more energy efficient and use cleaner types of energy than domestic plants.
Spread of Science and Technology:
The technical potential for ecologically sustainable development - based on new technologies
intensive in science like biotechnology, new materials, new energy sources, nanotechnology -is
higher today than in any moment of the past. Clean technologies related to wind power, solar
power, clean coal etc. are rapidly evolving today and available in the market. Free trade is
enabling the environmental benefits of these technologies to spread. Endless support of the
victims of environmental crisis, raising awareness, spread of information, prediction and
prescription of such crisis have been possible through the increase in technology and
communication.

Some propositions

There are some propositions that make globalization better for environment. These are given
below-
World Environmental Organization:
There is a growing body of literature from environmentalists and NGOs about the importance of
such global environmental governance. A 2007 proposal by former French president Jacques
Chirac for the creation of such body within the UN garnered the support of over forty other
countries. The UN environment body has not been created mainly because of unwillingness of

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the United States and china. In January 2012 France again called for the creation of a World
Environment Organization to prevent resources conflict and the growing threat of global climate
change. However this was again rejected in the Rio conference. But this is much more needed.
Environmentalists and NGOs:
Public international and non-governmental organizations seek solutions for environmental issues
such as United Nations Environmental Program, Greenpeace, World Watch Institute and so on.
If this organizations execute their plan then problems will be removed. So we should concentrate
on it. A multiple of treaties have been concluded to harmonize governmental policy on
environmental protection. Some environmentalist have even proposed this to coordinate
international environmental policies.
Proper Using:
Many have questioned the need for rigorous environment protection, however on scientific,
economic and sovereignty grounds. Critics of environmental protection argue that alleged
dangers such as global warming have been exaggerated and economic harm from regulation of
natural resources has been minimized in pursuit of a radical, anti-capitalist agenda. They argue
that too much regulation is both unnecessary and ultimately harmful because it keeps people
poor by preventing the competitive use of their resources. Resources should be used properly.
Equal Economic development:
Advocates of environmental protection say that unregulated economic activity has led to
environmental destruction and must be slowed and they say that their critics are uniformed and
pursuing their own agenda unfettered capitalist expansion. So equal distribution of economy is
much more needed to protect environment.
Merge the Local with the Global:
Contrary to what many early analysts of globalization expected, the global has not
Subsumed or transcended the local. Rather, the local challenges have become an integral part of
global stakes. In fact, global solutions to environmental governance cannot realistically be
contemplated without at the same time finding new opportunities for local self-expression.
However, the local knowledge is no longer the basis for competing knowledge claims, but is a
tool for exercising voice in global politics.

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Reform the WTO:
The pro-trade politicians, policy makers and opinion leaders must now rescue free trade from the
WTO trap by reforming it and by aggressively advocating for a unilateral liberalization.
Reforming the WTO means WTO rules must be subordinated to environmental measures. The
WTO must permit controls on trade according to how products are processed or the
environmental effects of those processes.

Embrace a wider category of knowledge:

There is need to shift from science per se as the primary cognitive resource for addressing
global-scale social and ecological challenges to the broader category of knowledge because
international environmental regimes are increasingly admitting that local, traditional and
indigenous knowledge may serve as useful instruments for sustainable development and for
connecting with on the ground political constituencies.
Environmental education in solving Environmental problems:
In the 1960s, awareness of the negative impacts of mankind on the natural environment rose, and
environmental policies and programs worldwide were developed That is when the need for
environmental education emerged, covering two aspects: inform people of environmental
systems and educate them so that they adopt a more responsible attitude towards the
environment. Environmental Education (EE) is a process aimed at developing a world population
that is aware of and concerned about the total environment and its associated problems, and
which has the knowledge, attitudes, motivation, commitment, and skills to work individually and
collectively toward solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones. The three
goals of environmental education agreed upon are:
To foster clear awareness of, and concern about, economic, social, political and economic
interdependence at local, regional, national and international/global levels;
To provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes,
commitment and skills needed to protect and improve the environment;
To develop and reinforce new patterns of environmentally sensitive behavior among
individuals, groups and society as a whole for a sustainable environment.

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Measuring Sustainability:
The most direct measure of sustainability is the amount of energy consumed per unit of
economic output. If an economic system takes increasing amounts of energy over time to
produce the same unit of output, then its unlikely to sustain itself. On the other hand, an
economy that actually does more with less energy each year is one that is built for the long haul.
The U.S. economy has shown a remarkable drop in energy intensity during the past 50 years.
Between 1949 and 2000, energy consumption per dollar of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
dropped steadily from 20.63 thousand Btu to 10.57. In other words, at the beginning of the new
millennium, we were able to produce the same economic output that we had in 1949 using only
half as much energy.
This is an important indicator of sustainability, but there are many others as well:
Air quality. Between 1970 and 1997, U.S. population increased 31 percent, vehicle miles
traveled increased 127 percent, and gross domestic product increased 114 percent - yet
total air pollution actually decreased by about 31 percent.
Water quality. In 1972, approximately 36 percent of American streams were usable for
fishing and/or swimming. This had increased to 64 percent by 1982 and 85% by 1994.
Agricultural production. In the past 30 years, the production of food grains in the
United States increased by 82 percent, while the amount of land used for growing
remained relatively constant. Planted areas for all crops today in the U.S. is actually
lower than it was in 1930; this has freed up land for other noncommodity uses such as
wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation.
Conclusion:
Globalization is the definitive political issue of the 21st century. As once observed by Thomas
Friedman, ideological fire will not be consumed by the struggle between right or left but between
globalists and anti-globalists, between those who welcome and those who fear economic
openness. While the importance of the relationship between globalization and the environment is
obvious, our understanding of how these twin dynamics interact remains weak. Much of the
literature on globalization and the environment remain vague.
It is important to note that not only does globalization impact the environment, but the
environment impacts the pace, direction and quality of globalization. This happens because
environmental resources provide the fuel for economic globalization, as our social and policy

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responses to global environmental challenges constrain and influence the context in which
globalization happens. This has created new opportunities for many; but not for all.
Economic growth induced by the globalization process has both positive and negative impacts on
the country's environment. Negative impacts of this process may be effectively eliminated by an
efficient environmental state policy. In parallel, international cooperation focused on
environmental standards is inevitable for the solution of global environmental problems.

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p. 61

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