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Global Environmental Threats
| Article
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17457 |
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Section : |
SPECIAL SECTION
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1990 |
4,025 Words |
| Author
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Carol W. Rendall
Carol W. Rendall is a member of the staff of the Johns Hopkins
Foreign Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank
specializing in international affairs. She recently
coauthored, with Wilfred L. Kohl, The World, OPEC, and the
World Oil Market: The London Agreement of 1983. |
As the East-West conflict loses its intensity, global environmental threats are becoming increasingly critical foreign policy concerns. Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev has called for a shift toward "ecological security"; British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government has called for international actions to halt global warming; and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl considers environmental issues "the most important question" of the next century.
In the United States, George F. Kennan recently stated in Foreign Affairs that the "devastating effect of industrialization and overpopulation" on the world's natural environmental become "an unprecedented and supreme danger". Kennan was referring to the serious deterioration of the earth's ability to support life due to changes in its climate as well as its biological and chemical cycles, arising from the accumulation of wastes in the atmosphere and aggravated by the continuing loss of forests worldwide. The possible political effects of such changes are already being considered by Western governments. Peaceful relations between nations could be threatened as the disruption of present climate patterns seriously affects the availability of water and food for existing populations. Millions of people might have to be relocated as a result of rising sea levels.
How did these changes in the earth's atmosphere come about? The world's population, which now exceeds five billion, has doubled since the end of World War II. Another billion people will be added by the year 2000. Rapid economic growth has also occurred in this period, causing the population to accelerate. As fossil fuel use has increased, so have emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides, which have caused acid rain and urban ozone problems to develop in many regions.
Carbon dioxide, which is also emitted when fossil fuels are burned, causes heat to be trapped in the atmosphere and is a major cause of the greenhouse effect. The accumulated buildup of greenhouse gases, it is believed, has already increased the earth's temperature, and if it is not controlled it may induce a drastic change in the earth's climate. This could have serious and far-reaching effects. Agriculture could be adversely affected, as patterns of rainfall shift: Semi-arid regions could turn into deserts; sea levels could rise, flooding coastal areas; and ocean currents could be affected, further altering the climate.
Depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer is another outstanding threat to the world community. A proposal was made earlier this
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