Explain in detail how

global environmental
problems can be solved.
Group 6
Global environmental problems
• Environmental problems such as:
• Pollution – water, air,
• climate change,
• desertification,
• extinction of wildlife species and
• loss of biodiversity;
• environmental issues have become global problems due to
their transboundary nature.
Resource depletion
• One answer to this problem is to recycle the resources we
have already used and to use them over and over.
• As a way to make this happen, governments can do more
research to find new ways to recycle and reuse our resources.
• they can give tax incentives to new businesses that want to go
into the recycling business as a way to make money.
• Thus, the profit motive can be used to help solve resource
depletion problem.
• An additional way to solve the problem of depletion is to use
different alternative resources in place of the resources we are
currently using.
• For example, instead of relying on oil and coal to produce much of
our energy, we can use solar, water, and wind power
• These kinds of energies of the sun, the wind, and water power are
not used up and can be used over and over
• If we especially want to address the problems of global warming
and acid rain, we will need to use less oil and coal and more solar,
water, and wind power.
• as a way of diffusing opposition by the oil and gas industries, we
could give these industries tax incentives to create a profit-making
industry based on the selling of solar, wind, and water power.
• these oil and coal industries could begin to switch over to new kinds
of power to market.
• This process is already occurring; the oil company known as BP has
invested $2.9 billion in wind, solar, and biofuels as a way to make
profit through these new energy sources (“An Introduction to
Alternative Energy,” 2009).
Deforestation
• developed countries could provide money for developing
countries to plant millions of new trees to replace the trees
that have been used up for firewood.
• As you might already know, as there is a disappearance of
trees and entire rainforests, there is less rainfall and hence less
fresh water for the people to drink and use in farming.
• With increasing populations in developing countries with
decreasing rainfall, this is a recipe for disaster. Hence, we need
to plant trees to stop and reverse the process of forest
depletion.
Overpopulation
• A more long-term solution is to provide these countries with
birth control devices at low cost or no cost;
• the training on how to use them, and the transportation to get
these devices to inaccessible areas.
• This should begin to slow down population growth
• should help to put less pressure on natural resources and the
environment.
• there would not be as much pressure to acquire more land to
produce more food and to consume more timber for firewood.
Protection of wetlands
• The nature of wetlands in answering global environmental issues
has led many countries to enter into agreement.
• Ramsar Convention is one of the more important legal instruments
of international importance in protecting wetlands.
• Strengthening wetlands protection by means of international law is
a critical move as it addresses global environmental issues.
• The Ramsar convention also aimed at wildlife habitat protection on
a global scale.
• Wetlands provide habitat for a wide variety of indigenous and
migratory bird species.
• The Convention provides a framework for national action and
international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of
wetlands and their resources.
Global agreements and laws
• Multilateral treaty regimes offer a favourable and effective
platform for cooperation in solving conflicts of global
environmental problems.
Climate change
• The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone
Layer (a protocol to the Vienna Convention for the Protection
of the Ozone Layer) agreed on 16 September 1987,
• is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer
by phasing out the production of numerous substances that
are responsible for ozone depletion.
• The Kyoto Protocol (1997) works to prevent climate change by
limiting the emission of greenhouse gases.
• The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which opened for
signature in 1992.
• the Montreal Protocol treaty regime and the Kyoto Protocol treaty
regime have a legal obligation to cooperate in effectively regulating
the global atmosphere.
Protection of wildlife species
• CITES- Convention on International trade For Endangered
Species of Wild fauna and Flora.
• Signed in Washington D.C on 3 March 1973
• Amended at Bonn, on 22 June 1979
• Conserve biodiversity and contribute to its sustainable use by
ensuring no species of wild fauna and flora becomes or remain
subject to unsustainable exploitation by international trade.
Threat to Biodiversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is an international
legally-binding treaty with three main goals:
1. Conservation of biodiversity;
2. Sustainable use of biodiversity;
3. Fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the
use of genetic resources.
Its overall objective is to encourage actions which will lead to a
sustainable future
Transboundary Movement of hazardous
substances and their disposal
• The Basel Convention - is an international treaty that was designed
to reduce the movements of hazardous waste from developed to
less developed countries.
• The Bamako Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa and
the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of
Hazardous Wastes within Africa (1994) - uses a format and language
similar to that of the Basel convention, but it is much stronger in
prohibiting all imports of hazardous waste.