Download Environmental Geopolitics

Environmental, Health and
Resource Geopolitics
Environmental Determinism
Chernobyl and environments beyond borders
Oil and Resource Wars
Food scares
Infectious diseases
Climate Change
Global South
Environmental Determinism
1890s Geopolitics
1990s-2000s Environmental Geopolitics
Physical differences cause economic and political
differences, i.e. with development
or, environmental problems are the direct result of simply
understood political or economic phenomena (i.e.
capitalism)
Since World War Two shift to recognise
human impact on earth
But discussed as major topic only relatively
recently (c25 years)
1940s- present nuclear weapon testing
1963 atmospheric test ban treaty
Pesticides
Mercury poisoning
Oil spills – Exxon Valdez in Alaska. March
24, 1989, 11m gallons
Chernobyl
April 26, 1986 at 01:23
a.m
Steam explosion that
resulted in a nuclear
meltdown, a series of
additional explosions,
and a fire
Fire and rescue workers
not warned about
dangers
237 people with acute
radiation sickness
Chernobyl
May 12th 1986 contamination
cloud
First reports came from
Finland and Sweden, where
radiation was detected at a
nuclear plant that had not
leaked.
The Chernobyl Forum
estimated 4000 deaths, plus
up to 9000 extra predicted
from cancer; other put this
much higher – 30-60,000 by
alternative report; 200,000 in
Greenpeace study
Beyond borders
Environmental hazards produced in one
state but felt in another – acid rain, polluted
air, or rivers
Environmental side effects of other
processes (economic, political etc.)
Ozone layer depletion, CFCs
Beyond Sovereign Territory
‘Global warming’ (climate change)
Nuclear and biochemical weapons and accidents
‘nuclear-free zones’
Over-fishing
Genetically modified foods imported
“Dangers from ‘over there’ are now potentially ‘in
here’” (Simon Dalby)
Military security
Gulf War syndrome (1991-)
Anthrax (2001)
Disposal of nuclear weapons in USSR and
elsewhere
– More general issues of disposal of nuclear fuel
anywhere, and other toxic waste
Deliberate sabotage
– Jan 23 1991, Iraq opened oil terminal and dumped oil
in Gulf
– Burning oil wells in Kuwait
Oil
Oil crisis of 1973
Oil embargo of OPEC
Manipulation of prices
Iranian revolution 1979
Carter doctrine
Gulf War 1991
War in Iraq 2003
‘How did our oil get under their sands?’
‘No blood for oil’
Peak Oil
National Energy Policy (The Cheney Report) May
2001
– Didn’t stress conservation or renewable energy
– Domestic oil production in decline so lead to more
imports (from which areas?)
– US energy independence (i.e. exploit resources in
Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve)
Flows of wealth
Resource rich countries
New elites
Wider disparities between rich and poor
Low social indicators, tendency to be
authoritarian, corrupt, ineffective, prioritise
military expenditure and more likely to be
involved in conflict (Philippe le Billon)
Materiality and illicit economies
Minerals hard to extract, easy to smuggle
Illegal logging of trees for timber
Drug trade
– Colombia
– Afghanistan
Oil
Resource Wars
Michael Klare, Resource
Wars (2001) and
Blood and Oil (2004)
Philippe de Billon,
Fuelling War: Natural
Resources and Armed
Conflict (2005)
Oil
‘conflict diamonds’
Agriculture
Spratly
Islands
Caspian Sea
http://www.dur.ac.uk/r
esources/ibru/arctic.pd
f
http://www.dur.ac.uk/r
esources/ibru/south_at
lantic_maritime_claims
.pdf
Food Scares
Genetically modified foods (GM foods)
Fertilisers and pesticides vs. ‘organic’
BSE – animals eating parts of other animals
Foot and mouth
Farm subsidies
European Union Common Agricultural Policy
– Shift from smaller family farms to ‘agribusiness’
Infectious diseases
Bird flu
SARS
HIV/AIDS
– 5-6000 people die a day
– two thirds in sub Saharan Africa
Four geopolitical themes
1. Porous borders; closing borders
2. Transport networks – flights (closing, who
flies), roads
3. Militarisation of aid response
4. Logistics
Climate Change
May produce warming, but also cooling
Sea level rise
Gulf stream
Kyoto
Emissions trading
Carbon off-setting
Kyoto
Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change,
Dec 12th 1997, in force Feb 16th 2005
Press Release
"The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement under which
industrialised countries will reduce their collective
emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to
the year 1990 (but note that, compared to the emissions
levels that would be expected by 2010 without the
Protocol, this limitation represents a 29% cut). The goal
is to lower overall emissions of six greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur
hexafluoride, HFCs, and PFCs - calculated as an
average over the five-year period of 2008-12. National
limitations range from 8% reductions for the European
Union and some others to 7% for the US, 6% for Japan,
0% for Russia, and permitted increases of 8% for
Australia and 10% for Iceland."
Common but differentiated
responsibilities
Developed countries originated the problem
(industrial revolution)
Developing countries still relatively low in
terms of emissions (per head)
Share of emissions allowed should reflect
development
Therefore China and India largely exempt
Scepticism and Inaction
It isn’t happening
It is, but humans didn’t cause it
Humans caused it, but we can’t do anything
What we do doesn’t matter – look at China
and India…
The Day After Tomorrow…
Environmental
catastrophe
North becomes
uninhabitable
Mass migration to the
south
The Rise of China
Economic liberal reforms without political
reforms (compare to USSR)
10% growth per year since 1991
– Produces half world’s toys; two thirds of shoes
and most of its bicycles and power tools
– Most of the US flags bought after September
11th manufactured in China
Predicted to outstrip US economy
Environmental and social costs
Poor employment rights
Water shortages
Environmental degradation
Human rights
– Tibet and Xinjiang province
– legacy of Tiananmen square (1991)
‘Global South’ Issues
Industrialisation and attendant costs of lower
emissions etc.
Deforestation and CO2
Population growth
Impact of North on South
Moral issues
High consumption vs. poverty and famine
‘the polluter pays’
Duty to future generations
The production of the Third World
Decolonization
Cold War Struggles
Development and Neoliberalism
Migration
The Rise of China
The End of the Third World?
Disconnection and integration
The production of the ‘Third World’
First world – US and allies
Second world – USSR and allies
Third world – the remaining, ‘non-aligned’
nations; ‘developing nations’
Organisation of African Unity
The Cairo declaration 1964
“the borders of African States, on the day of their
independence, constitute a tangible reality”
weak elites who wanted to minimise threats to their
rule
avoiding chaos in recognition of the mosaic of
racial and national distribution
states to act as the motor of pan-African unity
End of Third World
Non-aligned world
Developing world
Global south
– Geographical determination
– But Australia and New Zealand in south; India
and China north of equator
Contemporary challenges
Reduction in aid and investment from North to
South
Rise in racism and anti-immigration policies in the
North
Pressure on the South on debt rescheduling and
trade access for Northern firms (creation of new
markets)
Continued subsidies to Northern companies
– i.e. $300bn to farmers in North per year
– G8 gave $8bn to Africa in aid in 2001-02