Trading on The Environment

In our globalised world environmental issues are now no longer restricted solely to individual states. With the increase of global warming and a decrease in biospheric equality every state is equally affected by the perils of environmental disasters.

Environmental diplomacy is based on controlling the use of natural resources and regulating pollution and this within itself is a great challenge that the world leaders have been unable to find a suitable resolution to combat the many environmental issues currently faced.

Trade has been beneficial to our localized world, however due to the large demands of contemporary society, no sustainable means have been developed. The lax response to healing our environment has not come without it troubles by having long lasting affects on our ecosystems, certainly you will find an argument for and against international trade.

Ecologist would have us believe international trade has put a great strain on our environment as it tirelessly requires great demands on our natural resources, whilst trade liberalist would argue that international trade will eventually cause higher income levels which will then cause a demand for better environmental policies to be put in place where there will be a greater will to purchase goods that have been produced in environmentally friendly manner.

The world has many environmental problems, these problems need to be dealt with as a collective, if not degradation will continue to spiral out of control. This is why there is an importance and significance for non-state actors when negotiating and making decisions related to forming a biospheric harmonious international society.

NGO’s have played a vital role in many global issues, one that comes to mind is illegal logging which has devastated many indigenous communities and developing countries by destroying the very essence of the way they coexist with the natural world. Illegal logging is not only an environmental problems, it in turn also cost the government billions of dollars in lost revenue and promotes high levels of corruption and has been know to finance war efforts of rebel groups. This is related to heavily to trade as large consumerist countries (mainly in the western world) have been know to import this illegal natural resource without carrying out the necessary checks to ensure the timber is legally sourced and imported. However, attitudes are now changing and greater attention and emphasis have been placed on this matter which has largely been bought to light from various NGO groups such as “Progressio” who have made it their business to try and put such illegal activities to an end.

The Timber Legality & Traceability Verification (TLTV) programme was set up to verify the supply of logs ensuring that they meet the legality requirements, however Greenpeace and other NGO’s have criticised their efforts as they believe there is a lack of transparency, auditing and governance procedures. However, it is important to note that illegal logging has fallen by a quarter since 2002 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science+environment-10642880) due to the media attention surrounding the issue.

Individual NGO’s are vital to their various causes as they have a greater knowledge within their specific areas and are therefore able to have a greater impact when negotiating, changing policies and educating the general members of public as well as the government. I think that there has been and always be a significance for NGO’s, without such organizations many people, communities and the environment would suffer in silence as NGO’s tend to be a voice for those who do not have one.

Please read the following articles, I think you will find them to be of great interest:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/23/india-environment-american-way-disaster

http://www.progressio.org.uk/search/node/logging

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science+environment-10642880