The World Environment 1972–1992: Two decades of challenge

876 Pages·1992·28.61 MB·English

by  Mostafa K. Tolba, Osama A. El-Kholy (auth.), Osama A. El-Kholy (eds.)

THE WORLD
ENVIRONMENT
1972-1992
The problems that overwhelm us today
are precisely those we failed to solve decades ago.
M. K. Toiba (1982)
The United Nations Environment Programme
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was
established in 1972 by the General Assembly of the United
Nations with a mandate to 'safeguard and enhance the
environment for the benefit of present and future generations'.
It does so with the help of a small Secretariat in Nairobi,
Kenya, making it the first United Nations body with
headquarters in a developing country.
Working with other members of the international
community, UNEP helps to monitor, assess and manage the
global environment. Earthwatch facilities use satellite data
and aerial photography, while a world-wide network of
collection-points gathers, collates and distributes the data.
UNEP experts translate the data into workable information for
today's decision-makers.
UNEP provides a range of services for protecting the world's
environment: they include legal instruments to protect the
ozone layer; digitalized maps for use by national planners; an
international regime to manage shared water resources;
advice to industry, and agreements to protect the world's seas
from land-based sources of pollution.
THE WORLD
ENVIRONMENT
1972-1992
Two decades of challenge
Edited by
Mostafa K. Tolba, United Nations Environment Programme,
Nairobi, Kenya and
Osama A. El-Kholy, Cairo University, Egypt
in association with
E. El-Hinnawi, National Research Centre, Egypt,
M. W. Holdgate, IUCN-The World Conservation Union, Switzerland,
D. F. McMichael. Environment and Heritage Consultants, Australia, and
R. E. Munn, University of Toronto, Canada.
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
First edition 1992
© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Chapman & Hali in 1992
ISBN 978-94-010-5011-1 ISBN 978-94-011-2280-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-2280-1
Prepared for publication by Anagram Editorial Service, Guildford, UK, and
Hardlines Illustration and Design, Charlbury, Oxford, UK.
Index compiled by Paul Nash.
This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for
educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the
copyright-holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. UNEP
would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this publi-
cation as a source.
No use ofthis publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial
purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from the Dnited
Nations Environment Programme.
The designations of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation
ofthe material herein, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever
on the part ofthe publisher or the participating organizations concerning the
legal status of any country, territory or area, or of its authorities, or
concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data available.
Contents
Foreword vii
Editor's preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
PART ONE: THE ISSUES 1
Chapter 1 Air pollution 5
Chapter 2 Ozone depletion 33
Chapter 3 Climate change 61
Chapter 4 Availability of fresh water 83
Chapter 5 Coastal and marine degradation 105
Chapter 6 Land degradation 131
Chapter 7 Deforestation and habitat loss 157
Chapter 8 Loss of biological diversity 183
Chapter 9 Environmental hazards 215
Chapter 10 Toxic chemicals and hazardous wastes 247
PART TWO: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 277
Chapter 11 Agriculture and fisheries 281
Chapter 12 Industry 321
Chapter 13 Energy 373
Chapter 14 Transport 405
Chapter 15 Tourism 449
Chapter 16 Population and resources 473
Chapter 17 Human settlements 505
Chapter 18 Health 529
Chapter 19 Peace and security 569
PART THREE: THE RESPONSE 599
Chapter 20 Understanding the environment 603
Chapter 21 Perceptions and attitudes 659
Chapter 22 National responses 693
Chapter 23 International responses 737
PART FOUR: LOOKING AHEAD 799
Chapter 24 Challenges and opportunities 801
Appendix A Contributors to the report 825
Appendix B Reviewers. participants and commentators in workshops 827
Index 837
Foreword
Our planet is under siege. Assaults on the atmosphere - the greenhouse effect,
the depletion of the ozone layer and increasing air pollution - pose a still-
unquantified threat to human life. The dumping of hazardous wastes, and land-
based sources of pollution, present a similar threat to the oceans. On land we
are destroying a tropical forest the size of Austria every year, and more than
a hundred species of wild plants and animals are lost forever each day.
When the General Assembly of the United Nations established UNEP it
charged us with reporting on the changing state of the world's environment,
tracking the underlying causes of change, and working with governments to
develop responses to those changes.
Every year since 1974, UNEP has produced a State of the Environment report,
focusing on one or more emerging environmental issues and always stressing
the human factor - the impact of environmental quality on people and society.
Three times since its inception (1982, 198 7 and 1992) UNEP has undertaken
a more wide-ranging study. The results of the present study are the most
disturbing of the three.
However, not all the signs are negative. Throughout the 19 70s and into the
1980s, UNEP was able to report progress in some important areas. Environmental
monitoring capacity was being rapidly improved in many parts of the world,
and Ministries of the Environment were being set up in an attempt to deal with
environmental threats in a more coherent way.
Now I am obliged to report to governments and the public that progress has
slowed. The commitment to set up ministries and to enter into international
agreements has not always led to an equal commitment to action. Environment
Ministries exist, but their role in national decision-making is frequently
marginal. Agreements have been entered into freely, but the will to enforce
them has often been lacking.
There is a paradox here. On the one hand public concern has been growing
steadily, as manifested by the growing power and influence of 'green
consumers'. The narrow concern over pollution seen in the late 1960s and
early 1970s has blossomed into a wider debate about the root causes of
environmental degradation and its ultimate consequences. The popular media
qUickly and correctly connected the great African famines of the last decade not
only with drought but also with the deterioration of the natural resource base.
Discussions about global warming now focus not only on the immediate
problem but also on the decision-making processes that encourage industry and
consumers to burn energy now and ask questions later.
On the other hand. the pace of government action has faltered. Even at a time
of enormous upheaval, when governments are being ousted for failing to be
responsive enough to their constituencies, the slow-down is evident. A regional
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THE WORW ENVIRONMENT 1972-1992
agreement on sulphur dioxide and a global agreement on ozone-depleting
chemicals led to a general optimism that the world was developing a more
coherent response to a range of environmental problems. Some are saying that
the optimism was misplaced. These agreements may be nothing more than
isolated successes, reached in the face of immediate and overwhelming public
pressure, rather than a sign of things to come. For while the biosphere continues
to take a beating, the apathy persists. The goal of marrying economic
development and environmental quality remains remote. None the less, the two
treaties signed at the Earth Summit on climate change and biodiversity offer
a ray of hope.
UNEP takes very seriously its obligation to report on the state of the
environment, and it is not with any satisfaction that I am forced to report this
failure of political will. But that is the conclusion we have reached in UNEP,
on the basis not only of our own work but also on inputs from over thirty of
the world's leading scholars.
Yet, in the face of all this I do retain a certain optimism. I have seen what
can be accomplished when there is a will, and I have seen the speed and cost-
effectiveness of these isolated responses. This report documents those
accomplishments. It is my belief that when this new resolve is manifested we
will learn the full benefit ofliving in harmony with our environment. The World
Environment 1972-1992 records not only our descent into apathy but also the
positive examples that offer a path towards a more rational future. That path
must lead us towards a global partnership: a partnership not just of words, but
also of actions.
Mostafa K. Tolba
Executive Director, UNEP
Nairobi
viii
Editors' preface
The World Environment 1972-1992 looks back over the past 20 years and
reviews some of the trends: progress in some areas offset by accelerating
destruction in others. It also looks into the future, not so much in an attempt
to predict how governments and communities will act, but more as an effort
to present a spectrum of issues that must be addressed if a decent environment
and sustainable development are to become realities.
Along with advances in the way in which information is gathered, there has
also been a shift in the issues themselves. A number of issues that attracted little
or no attention in 1972 have now taken on a new significance. At the time
of writing, for example, nations are being brought back to the negotiating table
to discuss again the impact on stratospheric ozone of chlorine and bromine
compounds. Even after a largely successful international campaign against
chlorofluorocarbons and halons there is evidence that the ozone layer is not out
of danger.
In spite of a new sophistication in monitoring, and in spite of the new issues
now presenting themselves to the international community, a number ofthings
have remained unchanged since the fIrst report eighteen years ago, and even
since Stockholm.
One concern is the flow of information from the Third World. Advances in
remote sensing techniques have led to some progress, but the critical mass of
knowledge necessary for coherent analysis and intelligent policy-making is
often not available in an ordered and up-to-date form. Despite a recent flood
of information, the same is still true of Central and Eastern Europe.
On the management side, a number of the problems that presented
themselves at Stockholm are still with us. Among the most obvious is the way
in which we approach the environment. Despite all the advances and all the
changes, human concern for the environment is still essentially reactive rather
than precautionary, although there is some evidence, particularly in the period
since 1987, that governments are being edged by their constituencies into
taking more preventive action. The basic pattern, however, is one of crisis-and-
response. It is an approach that can - and must - be changed.
The World Environment 1972-1992 offers a look at the environment from
three perspectives. Ten introductory chapters detail the range of environmental
threats and examine how they have unfolded over the past two decades. The
threats include those that were well known two decades ago, such as toxic
chemicals, air and water pollution, and land degradation (desertification,
deforestation and soil loss). They also include those that have emerged over the
period under review - stratospheric ozone depletion, loss of biodiversity and
climate change.
The second section reviews the different sectors of the economy, analysing
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THE WORLD ENVIRONMENT 1972-1992
how each of them has impacted on the human environment. Here, patterns of
development in both developed and developing countries are addressed, and a
closer look is taken at the way in which poverty degrades the environment
through the proliferation of 'dirty' technology, the growth of human populations,
and the pressure to destroy renewable resources.
The final major section of the book analyses the range of responses to the
changing environment. On the scientific front, advances in the natural and
social sciences are discussed: space monitoring, sophisticated computer modelling,
evaluation of natural resources and improved techniques of cost-benefit
analysis. New economic tools for valuing natural resources and for improving
cost-benefit analysis are explained. A range of national responses is examined,
and new international treaties are presented and their effectiveness evaluated.
The impacts of 'green consumerism' and 'green politics' are reviewed.
The body of knowledge has continued to expand rapidly, and for that reason
this report cannot give the last word on the subject. The report was finalized
early in 1992: thus, developments since that time are not covered. Similarly,
technical. economic, legal and political developments that have taken place
since the third quarter of 1991 have, by necessity, been dealt with only
cursorily.
It has been our wish to make this publication as accessible as possible to as
wide a readership as possible. Most of the text can be readily understood without
a strong background in the natural sciences, and it is hoped that it will provide
a useful reference for specialists and non-specialists alike.
M. K. Tolba
O. A. El-Kholy
E. EI-Hinnawi
M. W. Holdgate
D. F. McMichael
R. E. Munn
x
Acknowledgements
A project such as The World Environment 1972-1992 could not be undertaken
by a single author, and I am deeply grateful to the scholars and officials who
have given so much of their time to help me see it through to completion. First,
to my co-editors, it would be unfair simply to offer thanks. Together we made
it happen: they are partners in this enterprise, and share the pride of producing
such a volume. Thanks must also go to the many contributors - from the
academic community and from international organizations - who produced
drafts on specific topics; and with them we must also thank the technical
reviewers: whether they joined us for review meetings or undertook their work
at long range by fax and by phone, their work was critical to us. Thanks also
to the UNEP staff members who contributed in so many ways. And lastly, we
wish to thank those people who made it possible to produce this report almost
a year in advance of its target date - the production editors, graphic artists,
publishers and many others. To all of those who participated in this project we
are deeply indebted, though we, the editors, alone are responsible for any errors
and omissions.
M. K. Tolba
xi