in G lobal P olitics

in G lobal P olitics In this book we have discussed ‘world politics’ in a fairly limited sense: wars and treaties, rise and decline of state power, the relationship between the governments that represent their countries in the international arena and the role of inter- governmental organisations. In Chapter , we expanded the scope of world politics to include issues like poverty and epidemics. That may not have been a very difficult step to take, for we all think that governments are responsible for controlling these. In that sense they fall within the scope of world politics. Now consider some other issues. Do you think they fall within the scope of contemporary world politics? Throughout the world, cultivable area is barely expanding any more, and a substantial portion of existing agricultural land is losing fertility. Grasslands have been overgrazed and fisheries over- harvested. Water bodies have suffered extensive depletion and pollution, severely restricting food production. According to the Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme, million people in developing countries have no access to safe water and . billion have no access to sanitation, resulting in the death of more than three million children every year. Natural forests — which help stabilise the climate, moderate water supplies, and harbour a majority of the planet’s biodiversity on land— are being cut down and people are being displaced. The loss of biodiversity continues due to the destruction of habitat in areas which are rich in species. A steady decline in the total amount of ozone in the Earth’s stratosphere (commonly referred to as the ozone hole) poses a real danger to ecosystems and human health. Coastal pollution too is increasing globally. Although the open sea is relatively clean, the coastal waters are Politics in forests, politics in water, politics in atmosphere! What is not political then? Around the Aral Sea, thousands of people have had to leave their homes as the toxic waters have totally destroyed the fishing industry. The shipping industry and all related activities have collapsed. Rising concentrations of salt in the soil have caused low crop yields. Numerous studies have been conducted. In fact locals joke that if everyone who’d come to study the Aral had brought a bucket of water, the sea would be full by now. Source: