IntroductionIntroductionParticipants at the 1989 New Delhi Conference, Global Warming and Climate Change: Perspectives from Developing Countries, concluded with grim irony that the effects of global warming will be greatest in the developing world whilst the source of the problem is the pollution caused by the industrialized North.
The primary responsibility for global warming lies with the industrialized nations. As the authors of a 1990 assessment by the United States Environmental Protection Agency observed, "most of the greenhouse gas emissions currently committing the world to climate change can be traced to activities by the industrialized countries."
Over the period since 1870, the developing world has been responsible for no more than 15% of total carbon emissions. Today, the industrialized nations, with only a quarter of the world's population, are directly responsible for well over one half the greenhouse gas emissions giving rise to global warming.
The United States, with a mere 4% of the world's population, contributes over a fifth of the global total. A citizen of the United States generates around five metric tons of carbon per year compared with the one metric ton produced by a Vietnamese citizen.
The Response Strategies Working Group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognized the responsibility of the industrialized nations, concluding that "a major part of emissions affecting the atmosphere at present originates in industrialized countries where the scope for change is greatest. Industrialized countries should adopt domestic measures to limit climate change by adapting their own economies in line with future agreements to limit emissions."
The industrialized nations should also "co-operate with developing countries in international action, without standing in the way of the latter's development, by contributing additional financial resources, by appropriate transfer of technology, by engaging in close co-operation concerning scientific observation, by analysis and research, and finally by means of technical co-operation geared to forestalling and managing environmental problems."
However, they also noted that "emissions from developing countries are growing and may need to grow in order to meet their development requirements and thus, over time, are likely to represent an increasingly significant percentage of global emissions. Developing countries have the responsibility, within the limits feasible, to take measures to suitably adapt their economies."
The future contribution of the developing world could rise considerably if, in the process of industrialization, it follows the past example of the North.
As a result of population growth and economic development, some analysts have projected that the total contribution of the developing nations to the problem of global warming may exceed that of the industrialized nations by the middle of the 21st century. Even then, though, the contribution per head of population will remain well below that of the North.
The immediate problem is not the future contribution of the developing nations but the overconsumption of the North in the present-day.
"Developing countries increasingly find themselves put in a position where they are made responsible for global environmental problems they did little to create," observes Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. The weight of responsibility lies with the North.
"The cost of limiting emissions of greenhouse gases has to be borne by those societies who are responsible for the cumulative increase in their concentration levels," concludes Rajendra Pachauri, Director of the Tata Energy Research Institute in New Delhi. It is by these nations that the first and most significant measures must be taken if global warming is to be controlled.
On the basis that the "polluter must pay", it is only right and proper that the North should bear the costs of its past pollution of the atmosphere by taking the initiative in controlling greenhouse gas emissions and by supporting the efforts of developing nations to adopt sustainable models of economic development.
"Introduction: The Scientific Evidence"
Index