The term technology refers to the
application of knowledge for practical purposes and for easy way of doing
things. The field of green technology encompasses a continuously evolving group
of methods and materials from techniques for generating energy to non toxic
cleaning products and ensuring safety of planet earth. The current expectation
is that this green technology will bring innovation and changes in daily life
of similar magnitude that can be attributed to the information technology
explosion over the last few decades[1]. As
the name implies green technology is one that has a green purpose in essence
and purpose. By green we do not mean the colour but however, the Mother Nature
is quite green and the long and short term impact an invention has on the
environment is what we are talking about by green technology. Green inventions
are environmentally friendly inventions that often involve things such as
recycling, energy efficiency, renewable resources, safety and health concerns
and more[2].
One of the best known examples of
green technology would be the solar cell. Yet another simple invention that can
be considered green is the reusable water bottle. The natural question is why
do we go green as of now? The world has a fixed amount of natural resources and
some of which are already depleted or ruined by now. For example, household
batteries and electronics often contain dangerous chemicals that can pollute
the groundwater after disposal thereby contaminating our soil and water with
chemicals that cannot be removed from the drinking water supply and the food
crops grown on contaminated soil. The risks to human health are great with out
going green.
This is observed that going green
will bring about sustainable development. So life on the planet will be far
easier and peaceful if we adopt green technologies for development and
industrial progress.
Sustainable development has been
defined in many ways, but the most frequently quoted definition is from Our
Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report[3].
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
It contains within it two key concepts: the concept of needs, in particular the essential
needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and
the idea of limitations
imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the
environment's ability to meet present and future needs[4]."
To use the traditional definition,
sustainable development is "development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs", in other words ensuring that today's growth does not jeopardize
the growth possibilities of future generations. Sustainable development thus
comprises three elements - economic, social and environmental - which have to
be considered in equal measure at the political level. The strategy for
sustainable development, adopted in 2001 and amended in 2005, is complemented
inter alia by the principle of integrating environmental concerns with policies
and decisions in many of governments, organizations, global conferences etc
which impact on the environment and ecological concerns of even developed and
rest of the world[5].
The concept of sustainable
development is both controversial and paradoxical. It is controversial because
most people understand (correctly) that it may lead to changes in lifestyles.
It is paradoxical because it entails reconciling goals that appear to be
mutually exclusive. So many people think (incorrectly) that there are more
important and urgent priorities[6].
Global
environmental Apartheid
Sustainable development has become
the leading environmental theme of our time. Like most great issues, the
discussion about sustainable development involves an argument about our future.
It is a concept of both common sense and controversy. It reflects common sense
because no one is for a mode of life that diminishes our capital stock,
which would make future generations poorer, or degrades our living conditions,
which would make current and future generations less healthy. Yet sustainable
development is also a subject of controversy because of the difficulty of
comprehending the myriad linkages between environmental factors in a dynamic
world[7].
It is clear that there exist an
unequal exchange between global north and global south in respect of achieving
sustainable development by strictly following the guidelines stipulated and
actions to be undertaken by each government under the UNO. Some people, often
those described as environmentalists, claim that sustainable development is an
oxymoron. They critique the North's industrial economies and highly consumptive
life styles as incorrigible assaults on the integrity of Mother Earth. They
feel that people who talk about sustainable development are kidding themselves.
Industrialized society is such an evil and is having such a negative impact on
the ecosystem and on a majority of human beings within it that industrialized
development cannot be salvaged. It must be scrapped, and we should start over
with something smaller scale and more "appropriate[8]."
A second critique holds that
sustainable development is either too environmentally or too business oriented;
not enough attention is paid to the needs of poor people and those most
adversely affected by environmental impacts, who, in this society, usually are
ethnic/racial minorities[9].
So-called "Third World" countries from the global South have reacted
negatively to the issue of conditionality. They claim that sustainable
development is a dangerous imposition of more conditions to be placed on aid
and investments from industrialized countries. Even though official development
aid is at its lowest point since 1970 as a percentage of GDP (gross domestic
product) among the G7 countries, private investment is transforming parts of
the South. It has nearly quadrupled since 1990, reaching approximately $170
billion this year. And recipient countries do not want the industrialized North
to attach more restricting strings on either aid or investment in the guise of
environmental protection. The term
"development" itself is a problem. To many it suggests a western,
ethnocentric view of a belief in ongoing progress; this linear view of history
clashes with other cultural views of history, e.g., circular or spiraling
worldviews. Thus these critics propose alternative language, such as
sustainable communities, because community is a central building block
of societies in all their diversity[10].
Why
failure to achieve sustainable development
Over the years there seems neither
neither the developed countries nor the developing countries have achieved
anything to ensure cleaner technologies. However there are some grave concerns
over sustainable development and greener technologies. A global system of
apartheid, empty belly versus full stomach and full discrepancy exist in the global
management of environmental concerns.
Sustainable development often means
designing pollution and waste out of the manufacturing cycle (industrial
ecology) and thinking about a product in terms of its total life span, beyond
its point of sale (also known as product life cycle management). Additionally,
clean production may require a substantial investment in new technology and
plants that is prohibitive to small business enterprises. These requirements
challenge businesses and industries in virtually all sectors of an economy to
change what they are doing and how they are doing it. What makes the task of
change even harder is the fact that many established businesses and industries
have been subsidized directly or indirectly through tax benefits conferred by
national governments, which enhances the reluctance of businesses to change.
But some businesses have pioneered change by embracing concepts of a
restorative economy and natural capitalism[11].
Moreover,
people faced with exposure and hunger will also contribute to environmental
degradation to meet basic life needs. Whether in a developed or a developing
country, poverty and the inability to meet basic needs for food, shelter, and
care make some human communities even more vulnerable to environmentally
degraded conditions of work, living, recreation, and education. Conflicts arise
as these communities strive to participate in environmental decision making and
decisions concerning the use of natural resources. These communities are often
not welcomed into dialogue at a meaningful and early stage and are forced to
seize opportunities to participate in controversial ways. In the United States,
the environmental justice movement has pioneered processes of public
participation designed to ensure community involvement with environmental
decision making. Internationally, the United Nations has developed the Aarhus
Convention to assure such participation. Banks and other international lenders
are beginning to require such community participation in development projects.
For example, the World Bank now requires community participation and
accountability to communities in its lending programs under the Equator
Principles. Additionally, ethnically stigmatized groups, women, and those
disadvantaged by informal social forces are striving to use these methods and
others to participate in environmental and economic decision making. In the
United States, these efforts are being developed through the environmental
justice movement. Internationally, the United Nations supports efforts to build
strong nongovernmental organizations through which these and other community
interests can be effectively championed. The United Nations activities are
being developed through the Civil Society initiatives[12].
There is a strong international and
national push for a new kind of environmentalism that includes sustainable
development. Like all the environmental policies before it, sustainable
development policies will need to have accurate, timely, and continuous data of
all environmental impacts to be truly effective. So far, knowledge needs about
environmental impacts generate strong political controversies. In the United
States, most of the industry information is self-reported, the environmental
laws are weakly enforced, and environmental governmental agencies are new.
Sustainability will be controversial because it will open old controversies
like right-to-know laws, corporate audit and anti-disclosure laws, citizen
monitoring of environmental decisions, the precautionary principle, true cost
accounting, unequal enforcement of environmental laws, and cumulative impacts[13].
Major
reversal measures to global environmental threats
Undoubtedly all of us accept that
in the past several decades, environmental threats and challenges are
continuously becoming evident and alarming. The biochemistry of the planet
earth is affected by global warming, climate change, ozone depletion,
deforestation, species extinction, pollution, desertification and soil erosion.
Global warming threatens to destabilize every bioregion on Earth in the new
millennium. Several scientists predict climate changes of unprecedented
magnitude. Changes that are now leading to worldwide loss of agricultural
products, rising of oceans, floods, super hurricanes and could also lead to the
whole destruction of the entire ecosystems. The atmospheric ozone depletion is
causing additional cancers and deaths from exposure to deadly ultraviolet
radiation. Ultraviolet rays also greatly decrease the growing capacity of
plants and seriously weakening the immune systems of humans and animals,
raising famine and pestilence. We are even witnesses to mass deforestation
which is being done to give way to cattle pastures and cultivation and to
provide logs for commercial and residential purposes. Cutting of trees are
leading to massive soil erosion. Desertification makes the entire land surfaces
of the planet in danger. Globally, a potentially catastrophic reduction in the
gene pool of edible plants and animals has happened in just a few decades and
is rapidly worsening. Researches show that every six minutes we are losing a
species and we are experiencing now the loss of more than 15 percent of the
entire planet and animal kingdom. Many of these species play a critical role in
human survival, in providing us with food, fiber, pharmaceuticals and an array
of useful substances and products[14].
In the past three decades there has
been a global awakening regarding environmental issues. Considerable progress
has been made in addressing a variety of very complex and technical problems
associated with a historical disregard of these issues. But environmental
issues continue to be some of the most important and perplexing problems facing
all governments today. Part of the difficulty facing politicians and the public
is the technical complexity of the subject. A full understanding of the risks
is often limited to scientists who specialize in a particular field of
knowledge. On some issues there is serious disagreement among scientists which
puts lay policy makers in a very difficult dilemma. The resolution of environmental problems also
involves a careful balancing of competing interests and values. Business
interests frequently resist attempts at environmental regulation and this
resistance usually reflects a public demand for products and development. Some
environmental activists oppose many aspects of further human economic
development because of threats to the remainder of the ecosystem. Others are
chiefly concerned about current and future threats to the health of the human
population. Environmental issues present special
difficulties for developing countries. These countries pose the biggest
potential threat of exacerbating threats to the environment. But absent massive
infusions of assistance from richer countries, they simply cannot afford to
match environmental controls being adopted by developed countries[15].
At the global level there has been
many efforts encounter the challenge of environmental threat way back from
Stockholm conference 1972, Nairobi Conference 1982, Rio de Janeiro 1992, Johannesburg 2002 and finally Durban 2012 has
been a series of global conferences hosted by the UNO gathered to try and reach
a deal to stop global warming. However most of the series of actions taken in
almost all the global policy responses. Kyoto protocol has been one of such
historic meet where some controversial decisions have been taken which by any
means is objectionable to a host of countries in the global south.
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in
Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997. Due to a complex ratification process,
it entered into force on 16 February 2005.
In short, the Kyoto Protocol is what “operationalizes” the Convention.
It commits industrialized countries to stabilize greenhouse gas
emissions based on the principles of the Convention. The Convention itself only
encourages countries to do so.
KP, as it is referred to in short, sets binding emission reduction
targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community in its first
commitment period. Overall, these targets add up to an average five per cent
emissions reduction compared to 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008
to 2012 (the first commitment period).
KP was structured on the principles of the Convention. It only binds
developed countries because it recognizes that they are largely responsible for
the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere, which are the
result of more than 150 years of industrial activity. KP places a heavier
burden on developed nations under its central principle: that of “common but
differentiated responsibility”. In Doha, Qatar, on 8 December 2012, the Doha
Agreement to the Kyoto Protocol was adopted. This launched a second commitment
period, starting on 1 January 2013 until 2020[16].
Alliance
between LDC and DC on Environmental Challenges
Developing countries will be
affected most by climate change, the poorest least developed countries LDCs and
Small Island developing States (SIDS) in particular, as these do not have
sufficient resources to prepare for and adapt to current changes of global
environmental challenges. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), Africa is particularly vulnerable to this challenge.
Specifically, Africa will be exposed to water stress, extreme weather events
and food insecurity associated with drought and desertification[17].
While multilateral environmental
agreements (MEAs) like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) recognize the enormous global challenges posed by climatic
changes, these agreements often fall short on pragmatic financial and other
mechanisms to assist the most vulnerable countries in addressing these
challenges. Contemporary climate change diplomacy mirrors this phenomenon, as
science and global politics interact and converge to confront the
vulnerabilities of SIDS where sustainable livelihoods are threatened by climate
change-induced food, water, health and other insecurities[18].
The principle of “common but
differentiated responsibilities” recognizes the asymmetries of the
international system, especially the differential levels of technological,
financial, economic and human capacities between industrialized/developed and
developing countries in international environmental negotiations. Despite these
asymmetries, every nation has an obligation to participate in joint efforts to
tackle shared global environmental problems according to each nation’s capacity
and level of development. However, industrialized countries have an obligation
to bear a greater burden of these shared problems[19].
To be sustainable and efficient in
the context of the SIDS, as elsewhere in most of the developing world, climate
change adaptation and mitigation require enormous financial resources,
technology transfer and, most importantly, effective national, regional and
global policy and governance frameworks. In order to develop and strengthen the
coping capacities of the most vulnerable, adaptation and mitigation measures
must be targeted, with the SIDS having clear “ownership” of these measures[20].
Numerous proposals have been made
in climate change negotiations for mechanisms aimed at diffusing green
technology between developing and least developed countries. Most of the
proposals emphasize a form of “public-private partnership”. Because acquiring
the necessary licenses to such technologies would inevitably implicate
intellectual property “rights”, making such technologies available as public
goods in SIDS and most developing countries would prove exceedingly difficult
and raises questions of “who owns the knowledge economy”? To address this
technology conundrum, India has proposed “a global network of innovation
centres that could promote local and regional action both on mitigation and
adaptation, taking into account local circumstances and particularities”[21]
Mere science will not solve the
present environmental challenges. Moreover, the most important solution can be
the political solution, the countries of developing and least developing
countries should have a platform to cooperate and have collective bargaining
and platform of action by which the global negotiation platform will not be in
a position to impose equally binding stipulations in all member states.
Endnotes/Reference
[1]
See( http://www.green-technology.org/what.htm)
accessed on 21-03-2013
[2]
Mary Bellis,
Introduction to Green Technology, About.com
Guide, (http://inventors.about.com/od/greeninventions/p/green_invention.htm) accessed
on 21-03-2013
[3]
See report available at (http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2012/sd_timeline_2012.pdf) accessed
on 21-03-2013
[4]
See What is Sustainable Development?, The International Institute for
Sustainable Development, (http://www.iisd.org/sd/#one) accessed on 21-03-2013
[5]
See Sustainable development, (http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/environment/sustainable_development/index_en.htm)
accessed on 21-03-2013
[6]See Luis T. Gutierrez, Sustainable
Development: Controversial and Paradoxical, Alternative Channel, (http://www.alternativechannel.tv/blog/en/comments/sustainable_development_controversial_and_paradoxical)
accessed on 21-03-2013
[7]
Dr. Steven Hayward, Elizabeth Fowler, and Laura Steadman, published on
April 4, 2000, (http://www.mackinac.org/2838) accessed on 21-03-2013
[8]
Jeffrey Brown, What Is Sustainable Development?(
http://www.globallearningnj.org/iste.htm) accessed on 21-03-2013
[9]
Ibid.
[10]
Ibid.
[11]
Essay on controversies over sustainable development, (http://www.essayempire.com/customessay/sociology-research-papers/globalization-issues/4549.html)
accessed on 21-03-2013
[12]
Ibid.
[13]
Ibid.
[14]
Liwayway Memije-Cruz, Aug 17, 2010 , Global
Environmental Threats and Challenges,(
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6543679-global-environmental-threats-and-challenges)
accessed on 21-03-2013
[15]
What are the most recent
developments regarding environmental matters?
September 2009, (http://www.newsbatch.com/environment.htm)
accessed on 21-03-2013.
[16]
Making those first steps count: An
Introduction to the Kyoto Protocol, UNFCC, (http://unfccc.int/essential_background/kyoto_protocol/items/6034.php)
accessed on 21-03-2013
[17]
Global climate change alliance, (http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/development/sectoral_development_policies/r13016_en.ht)
accessed on 21-03-2013
[18]
Obijiofor Aginam,
2011-12-08, Climate change diplomacy and small island developing states, United
Nations University,( http://unu.edu/publications/articles/climate-change-diplomacy-and-small-island-developing-states.html)
accessed on 21-03-2013
[19]
Ibid.
[20]
Ibid.
[21]
Ibid.
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