Issues in Environmental Protection: A Third World Perspective

Abstract

Humanity’s ability to manipulate its surroundings is enormous and ranges from the obvious — such as damming rivers — to the subtle — for example the effects of DDT on the reproduction of wildlife. The modern concern about the environment started in the late 1960s, when proposals were made for a ‘right’ to environmental quality. The proposals of the early environmentalists mostly involved tools such as environmental impact assessments, the imposition of duties and regulations on private industries and corporations, and state powers to monitor potentially polluting activities in both the public and private sectors. However the assessment of environmental damage does not stop at measuring pesticide residues and the amount of mercury in fish. It involves the quality of all life on earth, and indeed the ability of human beings to interact with nature and survive in the long run. It also means that pollution, the destruction of species and natural areas, and the depletion of resources can not be placed second to people’s materialism and their desire for technological progress.