GLOBAL WARMING
          IN AN UNEQUAL WORLD
           a case of environmental colonialism
                     ANIL AGARWAL
                     SUNITA NARAIN
             CENTRE FOR SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT
       GLOBAL WARMING
       IN AN UNEQUAL WORLD
         a case of environmental colonialism
       ANIL AGARWAL
       SUNITA NARAIN
       CENTRE FOR SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT
       NEW DELHI
    p-ii Global Warming Book
       We are also very grateful to all chose who spent time giving us comments,
       particularly Dr S K Sinha of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, 
       Dr V Asthana of the Tata Energy Research Institute. Several people in the
       government who helped us cannot be named for obvious reasons.
       Cartoons: Rustam Vania
       Cover: Rustam Vania
       © 1991 Centre for Science and Environment
       First Reprint: February, 1996
       Second reprint: October, 2003
       Published by Centre for Science and Environment,
       41, Institutional Area, Tughlakabad, New Delhi - 110062
       Tel: 91-11- 2995 5124, 2995 6110, 2995 6394, 2995 6399
       Fax: 91-11- 2995 5879
       E mail: cse@cseindia.org  Website: www.cseindia.org
                 GLOBAL WARMING
                 IN AN UNEQUAL WORLD
                 The idea that developing countries like India and        undertake rice agriculture and animal care pro-
                 China  must share the blame for heating up the           grammes (activities which produce methane).
                 earth and destabilising its climate, as espoused             Behind the global rules and the global disci-
                 in a recent study published in the United States         pline that is being thrust upon the hapless Third
                 by the World Resources Institute in collabora-           World, there is precious little global sharing or
                 tion with the United  Nations, is an excellent           even an effort by the West to understand the per-
                 example of  enviromental colonialism.                    spectives of the other two-thirds. How can we
                     The report of the World Resources Institute          visualise any kind of global management, in a
                 (WRI), a Washington- based private research              world so highly divided between the rich and the
                 group, is based less on science and more  poor, the powerful and the powerless, which
                 on politically motivated and mathematical  does not have a basic element of economic jus-
                 jugglery (1). Its main intention seems to be to          tice and equity. One American is equal to, god
                 blame developing countries for global warming            knows, how many Indians or Africans in terms of
                 and perpetuate the current global inequality             global resource consumption. 
                 in the use of the earth’s environment and its                The entire debate on the prospects of
                 resources.                                               impending doom is in many ways an excellent
                     A detailed look at the data presented by WRI         opportunity for the world to truly realise the
                 itself leads to the conclusion that India and China      concept of one world. A world which is interde-
                 cannot be held responsible even for a single kg of       pendent and which cannot  withstand  the cur-
                 carbondioxide or methane that is accumulating in         rent levels of  consumption  and exploitation,
                 the earth’s atmosphere. Carbondioxide and                especially the levels now prevalent in the West.
                 methane are two of the most important gases con-         We had hoped that Western environmentalists
                 tributing to global warming. The accumulation in         would seize  this opportunity to force their coun-
                 the earth’s atmosphere of these gases is mainly the      tries to `dedevelop’ as they have used up the
                 result of the gargantuan consumption of the devel-       world’s ecological capital and continue to
                 oped countries, particularly the United States.          overuse it even today. Sadly, instead, the focus
                     The WRI report is entirely designed to blame         today is on poor developing countries and their
                 developing countries for sharing the responsibil-        miniscule resource use is frowned upon as hys-
                 ity for global warming. Global warming is a              teria  is built up about their potential increase  in
                 phenomenon that could lead to major climatic             consumption. For instance, in the negotiations to
                 disturbances, drying up of rain over large areas,        reduce ozone destructive gases, the common
                 and melting of the ice caps leading to countries         refrain has been that the future potential of CFC
                 like Maldives disappearing completely and  production in India and China — which together
                 India and Bangladesh losing a large part of their        produce only two per cent of the responsible
                 coastline.                                               chemicals today — constitutes a threat to global
                     The WRI report is already being quoted wide-         survival. As their consumption is bound to
                 ly and its figures will definitely be used to influ-     increase, the dream of every Chinese to own  a
                 ence the deliberations on the proposed, legally-         refrigerator, is being described as a global curse. 
                 binding, global climate convention. This kind of             The Washington-based Worldwatch Institute
                 data will be used by the US government to                points out in a recent paper : “.... there remains
                 strengthen its position, which it took during the        the extraordinarily difficult question  of whether
                 ozone negotiations, that it will not pay for eco-        carbon emissions should be limited in develop-
                 logical reparations. The US government agreed            ing countries, and if so at what level. It is a simple
                 to the paltry amounts negotiated at the London           fact of atmospheric science that the planet will
                 1990 meeting for a global ozone fund only after          never be able to support a population of 10 bil-
                 considerable pressure from European countries,           lion people emitting carbon at, say, the rate of
                 particularly the Scandinavian countries.                 Western Europe today. This would imply carbon
                     Many  developing countries fear that the pro-        emission’s of four times the current level, or as
                 posed  climate convention will put serious brakes        high as 23 billion tonnes per year”2
                                                                                                               .
                 on their development by limiting their ability to            Gus Speth, WRI’s president in an article in
                 produce energy, particularly from coal (which  is        Environment magazine puts it more bluntly
                 responsible for producing carbondioxide),  and           “Deforestation and other land use changes now
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