opinion

Environment and
sustainable development
by Watson R. Denis, PhD

The issue of the environment, climate change and global warming, has become today a major topic of discussion in international relations. It stands to reason that the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) is greatly interested in the matter, given that the protection and preservation of the environmental integrity of the Caribbean Sea are among its founding objectives, recognizing it as the common patrimony of the peoples of the region. In this regard, last November in Haiti, the Association organized a Conference on Disaster Reduction with other sub-regional and regional institutions and UN bodies, following which the Plan of Action of Saint-Marc was adopted, which is viewed as a programmatic working framework for the ACS, in the area of disaster reduction for a five-year period.

The first point of this Plan of Action accurately recalled the vulnerability of the countries of the region and the difficulty of tackling disasters, and the negative impact of the latter on the incessant efforts which are made to ensure sustainable development, and to realize the objectives of development relating to poverty reduction and the protection of the environment.

Likewise, the tenth point reaffirms “the need for free and timely access by developing and least developed countries, as part of the technical cooperation, to the technology required to reduce disaster risks and mitigate their effects in the event they occur.”

These points are examples, which show the fundamental problem that exists between the environment and development, especially sustainable development. Like other countries of the world, the current environment of the Caribbean region demonstrates that the satisfaction of the needs of man has influenced the climatic phenomena.

In fact, it has been analyzed, documented and supported by many that the Caribbean environment has experienced degradation: ecological, soil and marine degradation. The habitat of a number of natural forests became, for example, either surfaces of agricultural exploitation on a large scale or residential agglomerates. This degradation, together with other external factors, is a periodic source of the most dangerous, costly and catastrophic atmospheric manifestations. More hurricanes, storms, floods, earthquakes take place in the region.

During these past years, these manifestations have become increasingly intense. Generally, they emanate from the warm waters of the Western part of the Atlantic or the Caribbean Sea, in places where the temperature of the sea exceeds the critical limit of 20° Celsius. In other words, the frequency and intensity of these manifestations are caused by Global Warming.

Global warming is a universal phenomenon. The present concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by far exceeds the natural variations that were produced during the last 650,000 years. To remedy the situation this time, man must intervene to protect the environment, in a broader sense. Climate change is not a simple issue of the environment or ecology. It is a global phenomenon which involves politics, education, health, the economy, agriculture, wealth and wealth production, as well as the price of goods and food; in short, a societal problem which affects man in his environment and his most profound aspirations.

The issue of negotiations on Global Warming in 2008-2009, consists of the adoption of a control regime which limits the warming problem to at least below 20º Celsius, the pre-industrial temperatures. That is to say, the world’s emissions of greenhouse gases should be reduced between now and 2050, by at least 50 percent below their levels in 1990.

These general objectives raise many questions relating to the needs of man and the protection of the environment. For example: how to combine economic development and control of greenhouse gases? Or, in addition, how economic development and poverty reduction can be achieved? Are the poor or impoverished countries condemned to continuously remain in their state of poverty? What will it be for the environment if the solution to poverty is through industrialization and urbanization? Between now and 2030, it is expected that the demand on energy in Latin American countries will increase by 75 percent. In short, the question is whether the stabilization of greenhouse gases, the pursuit of development and the adaptation of climate change can be realized simultaneously.

All is not lost. Marine and land pollution can be combated. Also, recovery policies adopted can be adopted against erosion. Furthermore, the emission of greenhouse gases can be contained by the use of renewable energies. Finally, the development of new techniques will bring even more responses than are available today. In this regard, it is anticipated that in five years, when the ACS does an appraisal of the Plan of Action of Saint-Marc, environment and sustainable development will no longer be an antinomy, and when an agreement would have been found on the stabilization of greenhouse gases which will limit the dangerous influence of man on the weather.