INTRODUCTION

We have studied that Industrial Revolution and Green Revolution

have great contributions in the modern development. New
researches

and

investigation

in

Science

and

Technology

strengthened our efforts for development in industrial and

agricultural sectors. However, environmentalists the world over
dont have a better feeling for it as most of the modern
development have been adopted at the cost of our natural
environment

and

its

resources.

As

such,

the

modern

developments have been adopted at the cost of our natural

environment

and

development

has

its
been

resources.
declared

As
to

such,
be

the

modern

unsustainable.

sustainable development takes care of environment and supports

all the sections of the society. It is based on equity and
preservation of natural resources. In the present project we are
going to study about the impact of modern development with
special reference to Globalization and Liberalization.

IMPACT OF DEVELOPMENT ON ENVIRONMENT

Modern development has immense impact on different sectors of
natural environment. It has changed the pattern of land use and
vast areas of land including wet lands etc. Vast tracks of forests
have been cleared for the utilization of the forest land for the
extension

of

agriculture,

building

of

apartments

and

establishment of factories. Most of our resources especially fossil

fuels have been depleted considerably. Human activities of

industrialization, mining and quarrying, misuse and overuse of

resources etc. have caused serious pollutions in air, water and on
land together with causing habitat destruction and even the
extinction of several species of plants and animals. Let us discuss
these impacts in more details.

Land reclamation

Reclaiming in Perth, Australia 1964

Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the

process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land
reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.
Habitation

The entire East Coast Park in Singapore was built on reclaimed land with a man-made
beach.

The creation of new land was for the need of human activities.
Notable examples in the West include large parts of the
Netherlands, parts of New Orleans (which is partially built on land
that was once swamp); much of San Francisco's waterfront has
been reclaimed from the San Francisco Bay; Mexico City (which is
situated at the former site of Lake Texcoco); Helsinki (of which
the major part of the city center is built on reclaimed land); the
Cape Town foreshore; the Chicago shoreline; the Manila Bay
shoreline; Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts; Battery Park City,
Manhattan; Liberty State Park, Jersey City; the port of Zeebrugge
in Belgium; the southwestern residential area in Brest, Belarus,
the polders of the Netherlands; and the Toronto Islands, Leslie
Street Spit, and the waterfront in Toronto. In the Far East, Hong
Kong, Macau, Japan, the southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen, the
Philippine capital Manila, and the city-state of Singapore, where
land is in short supply, are also famous for their efforts on land
reclamation. One of the earliest and famous project was the
Praya

Reclamation

Scheme,

which

added 50

to

60 acres

(240,000 m2) of land in 1890 during the second phase of

construction. It was one of the most ambitious projects ever
taken during the Colonial Hong Kong era. Some 20% of land in
the Tokyo Bay area has been reclaimed. Monaco and the British
territory of Gibraltar are also expanding due to land reclamation.
The city of Rio de Janeiro was largely built on reclaimed land, as
was Wellington, New Zealand.
Artificial islands are an example of land reclamation. Creating an
artificial island is an expensive and risky undertaking. It is often
considered in places that are densely populated and flat land is

scarce. Kansai International Airport (in Osaka) and Hong Kong

International Airport are examples where this process was
deemed necessary. The Palm Islands, The World and hotel Burj alArab off Dubai in the United Arab Emirates are other examples of
artificial islands.
Agriculture
Agriculture

was

drive

for

land

reclamation

before

industrialisation. In South China, farmers reclaimed paddy fields

by enclosing an area with a stone wall on the sea shore near
river mouth or river delta. The species of rice that grow on these
grounds are more salt tolerant. Another use of such enclosed
land is creation of fish ponds. It is commonly seen on the Pearl
River Delta and Hong Kong. These reclamation also attracts
species of migrating birds.
A related practice is the draining of swampy or seasonally
submerged wetlands to convert them to farmland. While this
does not create new land exactly, it allows commercially
productive use of land that would otherwise be restricted to
wildlife habitat. It is also an important method of mosquito
control.
Beach restoration
Beach rebuilding is the process of repairing beaches using
materials such as sand or mud from inland. This can be used to
build up beaches suffering from beach starvation or erosion from
longshore drift. It stops the movement of the original beach
material through longshore drift and retains a natural look to the

beach. Although it is not a long-lasting solution, it is cheap

compared to other types of coastal defences.
Landfill
As human overcrowding of developed areas intensified during
the 20th century, it has become important to develop land re-use
strategies for completed landfills. Some of the most common
usages are for parks, golf courses and other sports fields.
Increasingly, however, office buildings and industrial uses are
made on a completed landfill. In these latter uses, methane
capture is customarily carried out to minimize explosive hazard
within the building.
An example of a Class A office building constructed over a landfill
is the Dakin Building at Sierra Point, Brisbane, California. The
underlying fill was deposited from 1965 to 1985, mostly
consisting of construction debris from San Francisco and some
municipal wastes. Aerial photographs prior to 1965 show this
area to be tidelands of the San Francisco Bay. A clay cap was
constructed over the debris prior to building approval.
A notable example is Sydney Olympic Park, the primary venue
for the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, which was built atop an
industrial wasteland that included landfills.
Another strategy for landfill is the incineration of landfill trash at
high temperature via the plasma-arc gasification process, which
is currently used at two facilities in Japan, and will be used at a
planned facility in St. Lucie County, Florida.

Environmental impact

Parts (highlighted in brown) of the San Francisco Bay were reclaimed from wetlands for
urban use.

Draining wetlands for ploughing, for example, is a form of habitat

destruction. In some parts of the world, new reclamation projects
are restricted or no longer allowed, due to environmental
protection laws.
Environmental legislation
Hong Kong legislators passed the Protection of the Harbour
Ordinance in 1996 in an effort to safeguard the increasingly
threatened

Victoria

development.
Land amounts added

Harbour

against

encroaching

land

Land reclamation in Hong Kong: Grey (built), red (proposed or under development).
Most of the urban area of Hong Kong is on the reclaimed land .

Netherlands - about 1/5 land from land reclamation or

about 7,000 km2.

South Korea - As of 2006, 38 percent or 1,550 km2 of

coastal

wetlands

reclaimed,

including

400

km2

at

Saemangeum.

Singapore - 20% of the original size or 135 km2. As of

2003, plans for 99 km

more are to go ahead, despite the

fact that disputes persist with Malaysia over Singapore's

extensive land reclamation works.

Hong Kong - (Main article: Land reclamation in Hong

Kong)
Praya Reclamation Scheme began in the late 1860s and
consisted of two stages totaling 50 to 60+ acres. Hong
Kong Disneyland, Hong Kong International Airport, and its
predecessor, Kai Tak Airport, were all built on reclaimed
land. In addition, much reclamation has taken place in

prime locations on the waterfront on both sides of Victoria

Harbour. This has raised environmental issues of the
protection of the harbour which was once the source of
prosperity of Hong Kong, traffic congestion in the Central
district, as well as the collusion of the Hong Kong
Government with the real estate developers in the territory.
In addition, as the city expands, new towns in different
decades were mostly built on reclaimed land, such as Tuen
Mun, Tai Po, Shatin-Ma On Shan, West Kowloon, Kwun Tong
and Tseung Kwan O.

Macau - 170% of the original size or 17 km2

Mumbai

Tokyo Bay, Japan - 249 km2.

Kobe, Japan - 23 km2 (1995).

Bahrain - 76.3% of original size of 410 km2(19312007).

New Zealand - significant areas of land totalling several

hundred

hectares

have

been

reclaimed

along

the

harbourfront of Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin. In

Dunedin - which in its early days was nicknamed "Mudedin"
- around 2.5 km2, including much of the inner city and
suburbs of Dunedin North, South Dunedin and Andersons
Bay is reclaimed from the Otago Harbour, and a similar
area in the suburbs of St Clair and St Kilda is reclaimed
swampland.

Deforestation

Jungle burned for agriculture in southern Mexico.

Deforestation in the Gran Chaco, Paraguay

Deforestation and increased road-building in the Amazon Rainforest are a

significant concern because of increased human encroachment upon wild
areas, increased resource extraction and further threats to biodiversity.

Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where

the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of
deforestation include conversion of forestland to agriculture or
urban use.
The term deforestation is often misused to describe any activity
where all trees in an area are removed. However in temperate
mesic climates, the removal of all trees in an areain
conformance with sustainable forestry practicesis correctly
described as regeneration harvest. In temperate mesic climates,
natural regeneration of forest stands often will not occur in the
absence of disturbance, whether natural or anthropogenic.
Furthermore,
mimics

that

biodiversity
found

after

after

regeneration

natural

harvest

disturbance,

often

including

biodiversity loss after naturally occurring rainforest destruction.

Deforestation occurs for many reasons: trees or derived charcoal

are used as, or sold, for fuel or as lumber, while cleared land is
used as pasture for livestock, plantations of commodities, and
settlements. The removal of trees without sufficient reforestation
has resulted in damage to habitat, biodiversity loss and aridity. It
has adverse impacts on biosequestration of atmospheric carbon
dioxide. Deforested regions typically incur significant adverse soil
erosion and frequently degrade into wasteland.
Disregard or ignorance of intrinsic value, lack of ascribed value,
lax forest management and deficient environmental laws are
some of the factors that allow deforestation to occur on a large
scale. In many countries, deforestation, both naturally occurring
and human induced, is an ongoing issue. Deforestation causes
extinction, changes to climatic conditions, desertification, and
displacement of populations as observed by current conditions
and in the past through the fossil record.
Among countries with a per capita GDP of at least US$4,600, net
deforestation rates have ceased to increase.
Causes
There are many causes of contemporary deforestation, including
corruption of government institutions, the inequitable distribution
of wealth and power, population growth and overpopulation, and
urbanization. Globalization is often viewed as another root cause
of deforestation, though there are cases in which the impacts of
globalization (new flows of labor, capital, commodities, and
ideas) have promoted localized forest recovery.

In 2000 the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization

(FAO) found that "the role of population dynamics in a local
setting

may

vary

from

decisive

to

negligible,"

and

that

deforestation can result from "a combination of population

pressure and stagnating economic, social and technological
conditions."
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, the overwhelming direct
cause of deforestation is agriculture. Subsistence farming is
responsible for 48% of deforestation; commercial agriculture is
responsible for 32% of deforestation; logging is responsible for
14% of deforestation and fuel wood removals make up 5% of
deforestation.
The degradation of forest ecosystems has also been traced to
economic incentives that make forest conversion appear more
profitable than forest conservation. Many important forest
functions have no markets, and hence, no economic value that is
readily apparent to the forests' owners or the communities that
rely on forests for their well-being. From the perspective of the
developing world, the benefits of forest as carbon sinks or
biodiversity reserves go primarily to richer developed nations
and there is insufficient compensation for these services.
Developing countries feel that some countries in the developed
world, such as the United States of America, cut down their
forests

centuries

ago

and

benefited

greatly

from

this

deforestation, and that it is hypocritical to deny developing

countries the same opportunities: that the poor shouldn't have to
bear the cost of preservation when the rich created the problem.

Experts do not agree on whether industrial logging is an

important contributor to global deforestation. Some argue that
poor people are more likely to clear forest because they have no
alternatives, others that the poor lack the ability to pay for the
materials and labour needed to clear forest. One study found
that population increases due to high fertility rates were a
primary driver of tropical deforestation in only 8% of cases.
Some commentators have noted a shift in the drivers of
deforestation over the past 30 years. Whereas deforestation was
primarily driven by subsistence activities and governmentsponsored development projects like transmigration in countries
like Indonesia and colonization in Latin America, India, Java etc.
during late 19th century and the earlier half of the 20th century.
By the 1990s the majority of deforestation was caused by
industrial factors, including extractive industries, large-scale
cattle ranching, and extensive agriculture.
Environmental problems
Atmospheric
Deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography.
Deforestation is a contributor to global warming, and is often
cited as one of the major causes of the enhanced greenhouse
effect. Tropical deforestation is responsible for approximately
20% of world greenhouse gas emissions. According to the
Intergovernmental

Panel

on

Climate

Change

deforestation,

mainly in tropical areas, could account for up to one-third of total

anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. But recent calculations

suggest that carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and

forest degradation (excluding peatland emissions) contribute
about 12% of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions with
a range from 6 to 17%. Trees and other plants remove carbon (in
the form of carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere during the
process of photosynthesis and release oxygen back into the
atmosphere during normal respiration. Only when actively
growing can a tree or forest remove carbon over an annual or
longer timeframe. Both the decay and burning of wood releases
much of this stored carbon back to the atmosphere. In order for
forests to take up carbon, the wood must be harvested and
turned into long-lived products and trees must be re-planted.
Deforestation may cause carbon stores held in soil to be
released. Forests are stores of carbon and can be either sinks or
sources depending upon environmental circumstances. Mature
forests alternate between being net sinks and net sources of
carbon dioxide (see carbon dioxide sink and carbon cycle).
Reducing emissions from the tropical deforestation and forest
degradation (REDD) in developing countries has emerged as new
potential to complement ongoing climate policies. The idea
consists in providing financial compensations for the reduction of
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation".
Rainforests are widely believed by laymen to contribute a
significant amount of world's oxygen although it is now accepted
by scientists that rainforests contribute little net oxygen to the
atmosphere and deforestation will have no effect on atmospheric
oxygen levels. However, the incineration and burning of forest

plants to clear land releases large amounts of CO 2, which

contributes to global warming.
Forests are also able to extract carbon dioxide and pollutants
from the air, thus contributing to biosphere stability.
Hydrological
The water cycle is also affected by deforestation. Trees extract
groundwater

through

their

roots

and

release it

into

the

atmosphere. When part of a forest is removed, the trees no

longer evaporate away this water, resulting in a much drier
climate. Deforestation reduces the content of water in the soil
and groundwater as well as atmospheric moisture. Deforestation
reduces soil cohesion, so that erosion, flooding and landslides
ensue. Forests enhance the recharge of aquifers in some locales,
however, forests are a major source of aquifer depletion on most
locales.
Shrinking forest cover lessens the landscape's capacity to
intercept, retain and transpire precipitation. Instead of trapping
precipitation, which then percolates to groundwater systems,
deforested areas become sources of surface water runoff, which
moves much faster than subsurface flows. That quicker transport
of surface water can translate into flash flooding and more
localized floods

than would occur with the forest cover.

Deforestation also contributes to decreased evapotranspiration,

which lessens atmospheric moisture which in some cases affects
precipitation levels downwind from the deforested area, as water
is not recycled to downwind forests, but is lost in runoff and

returns directly to the oceans. According to one study, in

deforested north and northwest China, the average annual
precipitation decreased by one third between the 1950s and the
1980s.
Trees, and plants in general, affect the water cycle significantly:

their canopies intercept a proportion of precipitation, which

is then evaporated back to the atmosphere (canopy
interception);

their litter, stems and trunks slow down surface runoff;

their roots create macropores - large conduits - in the soil

that increase infiltration of water;

they contribute to terrestrial evaporation and reduce soil

moisture via transpiration;

their litter and other organic residue change soil properties

that affect the capacity of soil to store water.

their leaves control the humidity of the atmosphere by

transpiring. 99% of the water absorbed by the roots moves
up to the leaves and is transpired.[44]

As a result, the presence or absence of trees can change the

quantity of water on the surface, in the soil or groundwater, or in
the atmosphere. This in turn changes erosion rates and the
availability of water for either ecosystem functions or human
services.

The forest may have little impact on flooding in the case of large
rainfall events, which overwhelm the storage capacity of forest
soil if the soils are at or close to saturation.
Tropical rainforests produce about 30% of our planet's fresh
water.[37]
Soil

Deforestation for the use of clay in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. The hill
depicted is Morro da Covanca, in Jacarepagu

Undisturbed

forests

have

very

low

rate

of

soil

loss,

approximately 2 metric tons per square kilometer (6 short tons

per square mile). Deforestation generally increases rates of soil
erosion, by increasing the amount of runoff and reducing the
protection of the soil from tree litter. This can be an advantage in
excessively leached tropical rain forest soils. Forestry operations
themselves also increase erosion through the development of
roads and the use of mechanized equipment.

China's Loess Plateau was cleared of forest millennia ago. Since

then it has been eroding, creating dramatic incised valleys, and
providing the sediment that gives the Yellow River its yellow
color and that causes the flooding of the river in the lower
reaches (hence the river's nickname 'China's sorrow').
Removal of trees does not always increase erosion rates. In
certain regions of southwest US, shrubs and trees have been
encroaching on grassland. The trees themselves enhance the
loss of grass between tree canopies. The bare intercanopy areas
become highly erodible. The US Forest Service, in Bandelier
National Monument for example, is studying how to restore the
former ecosystem, and reduce erosion, by removing the trees.
Tree roots bind soil together, and if the soil is sufficiently shallow
they act to keep the soil in place by also binding with underlying
bedrock. Tree removal on steep slopes with shallow soil thus
increases the risk of landslides, which can threaten people living
nearby. However most deforestation only affects the trunks of
trees, allowing for the roots to stay rooted, negating the
landslide.
Ecological
Deforestation results in declines in biodiversity. The removal or
destruction of areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded
environment

with

reduced

biodiversity.

Forests

support

biodiversity, providing habitat for wildlife; moreover, forests

foster

medicinal

conservation.

With

forest

biotopes

being

irreplaceable source of new drugs (such as taxol), deforestation

can

destroy

genetic

variations

(such

as

crop

resistance)

irretrievably.
Since the tropical rainforests are the most diverse ecosystems on
Earth and about 80% of the world's known biodiversity could be
found in tropical rainforests, removal or destruction of significant
areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment
with reduced biodiversity.
It has been estimated that we are losing 137 plant, animal and
insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation,
which equates to 50,000 species a year. Others state that
tropical rainforest deforestation is contributing to the ongoing
Holocene mass extinction. The known extinction rates from
deforestation rates are very low, approximately 1 species per
year

from

mammals

and

birds

which

extrapolates

to

approximately 23,000 species per year for all species. Predictions

have been made that more than 40% of the animal and plant
species in Southeast Asia could be wiped out in the 21st century.
Such predictions were called into question by 1995 data that
show that within regions of Southeast Asia much of the original
forest has been converted to monospecific plantations, but that
potentially endangered species are few and tree flora remains
widespread and stable.
Scientific

understanding

of

the

process

of

extinction

is

insufficient to accurately make predictions about the impact of

deforestation on biodiversity. Most predictions of forestry related
biodiversity loss are based on species-area models, with an
underlying assumption that as the forest declines species

diversity will decline similarly. However, many such models have

been proven to be wrong and loss of habitat does not necessarily
lead to large scale loss of species. Species-area models are
known to overpredict the number of species known to be
threatened in areas where actual deforestation is ongoing, and
greatly overpredict the number of threatened species that are
widespread.
Economic impact
Damage to forests and other aspects of nature could halve living
standards for the world's poor and reduce global GDP by about
7% by 2050, a major report concluded at the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Bonn. Historically utilization
of forest products, including timber and fuel wood, have played a
key role in human societies, comparable to the roles of water and
cultivable land. Today, developed countries continue to utilize
timber for building houses, and wood pulp for paper. In
developing countries almost three billion people rely on wood for
heating and cooking.
The forest products industry is a large part of the economy in
both developed and developing countries. Short-term economic
gains made by conversion of forest to agriculture, or overexploitation of wood products, typically leads to loss of long-term
income and long term biological productivity (hence reduction in
nature's services). West Africa, Madagascar, Southeast Asia and
many other regions have experienced lower revenue because of
declining timber harvests. Illegal logging causes billions of dollars
of losses to national economies annually.

The new procedures to get amounts of wood are causing more

harm to the economy and overpowers the amount of money
spent by people employed in logging. According to a study, "in
most

areas

studied,

the

various

ventures

that

prompted

deforestation rarely generated more than US$5 for every ton of

carbon they released and frequently returned far less than
US$1". The price on the European market for an offset tied to a
one-ton reduction in carbon is 23 euro (about US$35).
Forest transition theory

The forest transition and historical baselines.

The forest area change may follow a pattern suggested by the

forest transition (FT) theory, whereby at early stages in its
development a country is characterized by high forest cover and
low deforestation rates (HFLD countries).
Then deforestation rates accelerate (HFHD, high forest cover high deforestation rate), and forest cover is reduced (LFHD. low
forest cover - high deforestation rate), before the deforestation
rate slows (LFLD, low forest cover - low deforestation rate), after
which forest cover stabilizes and eventually starts recovering. FT
is not a law of nature, and the pattern is influenced by national

context (e.g., human population density, stage of development,

structure

of

the

economy),

global

economic

forces,

and

government policies. A country may reach very low levels of

forest cover before it stabilizes, or it might through good policies
be able to bridge the forest transition.
FT depicts a broad trend, and an extrapolation of historical rates
therefore tends to underestimate future BAU deforestation for
counties at the early stages in the transition (HFLD), while it
tends to overestimate BAU deforestation for countries at the
later stages (LFHD and LFLD).
Countries with high forest cover can be expected to be at early
stages of the FT. GDP per capita captures the stage in a countrys
economic development, which is linked to the pattern of natural
resource use, including forests. The choice of forest cover and
GDP per capita also fits well with the two key scenarios in the FT:
(i) a forest scarcity path, where forest scarcity triggers forces
(e.g., higher prices of forest products) that lead to forest cover
stabilization; and
(ii) an economic development path, where new and better offfarm employment opportunities associated with economic growth
(= increasing GDP per capita) reduce profitability of frontier
agriculture and slows deforestation.

Resource depletion

Resource depletion is an economic term referring to the

exhaustion of raw materials within a region. Resources are
commonly divided between renewable resources and nonrenewable resources. (See also Mineral resource classification.)
Use of either of these forms of resources beyond their rate of
replacement is considered to be resource depletion.
Resource depletion is most commonly used in reference to the
farming, fishing, mining, and fossil fuels.
Causes of resource depletion

Over-consumption/excessive

or

unnecessary

use

of

resources

Non-equitable distribution of resources

Overpopulation

Slash and burn agricultural practices, currently occurring in

many developing countries

Technological and industrial development

Erosion

Irrigation

Mining for oil and minerals

Aquifier depletion

Forestry

Pollution or contamination of resources

Minerals and oil

Materials removed from the Earth are needed to provide humans
with food, clothing, and housing and to continually upgrade the
standard of living. Some of the materials needed are renewable
resources, such as agricultural and forestry products, while
others are nonrenewable, such as minerals. The USGS reported
in Materials Flow and Sustainability (1998) that the number of
renewable resources is decreasing, meanwhile there is an
increasing demand for nonrenewable resources. Since 1900 the
use of construction materials such as stone, sand, and gravel,
has soared. The large-scale exploitation of minerals began in the
Industrial Revolution around 1760 in England and has grown
rapidly ever since. Todays economy is largely based on fossil
fuels, minerals and oil. The value increases because of the large
demand, but the supply is decreasing. This has resulted in more
efforts to drill and search other territories. The environment is
being abused and this depletion of resources is one way of
showing the affects. Mining still pollutes the environment, only
on a larger scale. The US government has produced the Clean Air
Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act of 1976 in order to regulate certain aspects of
mining but it is truly up to the individual states to regulate it.

Oil in the Arctic

Oil has become one of the top resources used in America. Drilling
for oil has become a major issue. America is more abundant in
coal but the effects on the atmosphere are far worse than oil.
Geologists consider northern Alaska to be the last, untouched oil
field in North America. Environmental experts are worried that oil
and gas development will seriously harm the area. In 2002 the
USGS assessed the NPRA and found a significantly greater supply
of

petroleum

(5,900,000 barrels

13,200,000,000 barrels

(2.10109

m3)

(938,000
m3))

than

to

previously

estimated. Only up to 5,600,000,000 barrels (890,000,000 m3) of

this petroleum are technically and economically recoverable at
existing market prices. The USGS suspects that there may be as
much as 83.2 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas in
the same area. Transportation of this gas to markets would
require a new pipeline. There is already a pipeline system in
place for oilthe Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), which lies
between the NPRA and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
(ANWR). The ANWR is a 19-million-acre (77,000 km 2) area of
wilderness along the Alaska-Canada border. It, too, is being
considered for oil exploration, a move strongly opposed by
environmentalists. The future of the refuge lies in the hands of
the federal government. The administration of George H. W. Bush
made drilling there a major foundation of the national energy
policy.

Under

the

Clinton

administration

oil

and

mineral

development was prohibited within the wildlife refuge. In April

2002, following heated debate; the U.S. Senate killed a proposal
by the administration of George W. Bush to let oil companies drill

in ANWR. Republicans raised the issue again in the fall of 2003,

citing the need for the nation to reduce its dependence on oil
imported from the Middle East.
Wetlands
A wetland is a term used to describe areas that are often
saturated

by

enough

surface

or

groundwater

to

sustain

vegetation that is usually adapted to saturated soil conditions,

such as cattails, bulrushes, red maples, wild rice, blackberries,
cranberries, and peat moss. Because some varieties of wetlands
are rich in minerals and nutrients and provide many of the
advantages of both land and water environments they contain
diverse species and possibly even form a food chain. When
human activities take away resources many species are affected.
Many species act as an ecosystem. Years ago people assumed
wetlands were useless so it was not a large concern when they
were being dug up. Many people want to use them for
developing homes etc. On the other side of the argument people
believe the wetlands are a vital source for other life forms and a
part of the life cycle.
Wetlands provide services for:
1) Food and habitat
2) Improving water quality
3) Commercial fishing
4) Floodwater reduction

5) Shoreline stabilization
6) Recreation
Some loss of wetlands resulted from natural causes such as
erosion, sedimentation (the buildup of soil by the settling of fine
particles over a long period of time), subsidence (the sinking of
land because of diminishing underground water supplies), and a
rise in the sea level. However, 95% of the losses since the 1970s
have been caused by humans, especially by the conversion of
wetlands to agricultural land. More than half (56%) the losses of
coastal wetlands resulted from dredging for marinas, canals, port
development, and, to some extent, from natural shoreline
erosion. The conversion of wetlands causes the loss of natural
pollutant sinks. The dramatic decline in wetlands globally
suggests not only loss of habitat but also diminished water
quality.
Erosion
Erosion is the process in which the materials of the Earth's crust
are worn and carried away by wind, water, and other natural
forces. The destruction of forest (deforestation) and native
grasses has allowed water and wind greater opportunity to erode
the soil. Changes in river flow human activity have dramatically
shifted the runoff patterns of water and the sediment load of
rivers that deposit into lakes and oceans. Erosion has become a
problem in much of the world in areas that are over farmed or
where topsoil cannot be protected.

Agricultural lands are the main source of eroded soil. According

to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), approximately 20
percent of the nation's land is set aside for cropland. Threequarters of this land is actively used to grow crops for harvesting.
The remainder is used for pasture or is idled for various reasons.
Demands on the Earth to feed growing populations and changes
in the Earth's landscape caused by human activities have
speeded up soil erosion. Soil erosion has increased to the point
where it far exceeds the natural formation of new soil, and
experts consider the problem to be of epidemic proportions.

Pollution and environmental degradation

the rapid growing population and economic development is

leading to a number of environmental issues in India because
of the uncontrolled growth of urbanization and industrialization,
expansion and massive intensification of agriculture, and the
destruction of forests.
Major environmental issues are Forest and Agricultural land
degradation, Resource depletion (water, mineral, forest, sand,
rocks etc.,), Environmental degradation, Public Health, Loss of
Biodiversity,Loss of resilience in ecosystems, Livelihood Security
for the Poor.[1]
It is estimated that the countrys population will increase to
about 1.26 billion by the year 2016. The projected population

indicates that India will be the first most populous country in the
world and China will be ranking second in the year 2050. [2] India
having 18% of the world's population on 2.4% of world's total
area has greatly increased the pressure on its natural resources.
Water shortages, soil exhaustion and erosion, deforestation, air
and water pollution afflicts many areas.
India's water supply and sanitation issues are related to many
environmental issues.
Major issues
One of the primary causes of environmental degradation in a
country could be attributed to rapid growth of population, which
adversely affects the natural resources and environment. The
uprising population and the environmental deterioration face the
challenge of sustainable development. The existence or the
absence of favorable natural resources can facilitate or retard
the process of socio-economic development. The three basic
demographic factors of births (natality),deaths (mortality) and
human

migration

(migration)

and

immigration

(population

moving into a country produces higher population) produce

changes in population size, composition, distribution and these
changes raise a number of important questions of cause and
effect.

Population

growth

and

economic

development

are

contributing to many serious environmental calamities in India.

These include heavy pressure on land,land degradation, forests,
habitat

destruction

and

loss

of

biodiversity.

Changing

consumption pattern has led to rising demand for energy. The

final outcomes of this are air pollution, global warming, climate

change, water scarcity and water pollution.
Environmental issues in India include various natural hazards,
particularly cyclones and annual monsoon floods, population
growth,

increasing

individual

consumption,

industrialization,

infrastructural development, poor agricultural practices, and

resource

maldistribution

have

led

to

substantial

human

transformation of Indias natural environment. An estimated 60%

of cultivated land suffers from soil erosion, waterlogging, and
salinity. It is also estimated that between 4.7 and 12 billion tons
of topsoil are lost annually from soil erosion. From 1947 to 2002,
average annual per capita water availability declined by almost
70% to 1,822 cubic meters, and overexploitation of groundwater
is problematic in the states of Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar
Pradesh. Forest area covers 18.34% of Indias geographic area
(637000 km). Nearly half of the countrys forest cover is found
in the state of Madhya Pradesh (20.7%) and the seven states of
the northeast (25.7%); the latter is experiencing net forest loss.
Forest cover is declining because of harvesting for fuel wood and
the expansion of agricultural land. These trends, combined with
increasing industrial and motor vehicle pollution output, have led
to atmospheric temperature increases, shifting precipitation
patterns, and declining intervals of drought recurrence in many
areas.
The

Indian

Agricultural

Research

Institute

of

Parvati

has

estimated that a 3 C rise in temperature will result in a 15 to

20% loss in annual wheat yields. These are substantial problems
for a nation with such a large population depending on the

productivity of primary resources and whose economic growth

relies heavily on industrial growth. Civil conflicts involving natural
resourcesmost notably forests and arable landhave occurred
in eastern and northeastern states.
Pollution
Water pollution
Out of India's 3,119 towns and cities, just 209 have partial
treatment facilities, and only 8 have full wastewater treatment
facilities (WHO 1992). 114 cities dump untreated sewage and
partially cremated bodies directly into the

Ganges River.

Downstream, the untreated water is used for drinking, bathing,

and washing. This situation is typical of many rivers in India as
well as other developing countries.
Open defecation is widespread even in urban areas of India.
Water resources have not therefore been linked to either
domestic or international violent conflict as was previously
anticipated by some observers. Possible exceptions include some
communal violence related to distribution of water from the
Kaveri River and political tensions surrounding actual and
potential population displacements by dam projects, particularly
on the Narmada River. Punjab is today another hotbed of
pollution, for example, Buddha Nullah, a rivulet which run
through Malwa region of Punjab, India, and after passing through
highly populated Ludhiana district, before draining into Sutlej
River, a tributary of the Indus river, is today an important case
point in the recent studies, which suggest this as another Bhopal

in making. A joint study by PGIMER and Punjab Pollution Control

Board in 2008, revealed that in villages along the Nullah,
calcium, magnesium, fluoride, mercury, beta-endosulphan and
heptachlor pesticide were more than permissible limit (MPL) in
ground and tap waters. Plus the water had high concentration of
COD and BOD (chemical and biochemical oxygen demand),
ammonia,

phosphate,

chloride,

chromium,

arsenic

and

chlorpyrifos pesticide. The ground water also contains nickel and

selenium, while the tap water has high concentration of lead,
nickel and cadmium.
The Mithi River, which flows through the city of Mumbai, is
heavily polluted.
The Ganges

Millions depend on the polluted Ganges river.

Main article: Pollution of the Ganges

To know why 1,000 Indian children die of diarrhoeal sickness

every day, take a wary stroll along the Ganges in Varanasi. As it
enters the city, Hinduisms sacred river contains 60,000 faecal
coliform bacteria per 100 millilitres, 120 times more than is
considered safe for bathing. Four miles downstream, with inputs

from 24 gushing sewers and 60,000 pilgrim-bathers, the

concentration is 3,000 times over the safety limit. In places, the
Ganges becomes black and septic. Corpses, of semi-cremated
adults or enshrouded babies, drift slowly by.
The Economist on December 11, 2008
More than 400 million people live along the Ganges River. An
estimated 2,000,000 persons ritually bathe daily in the river,
which is considered holy by Hindus. In the Hindu religion it is said
to flow from the lotus feet of Vishnu (for Vaisnava devotees) or
the hair of Shiva (for Saivites). The spiritual and religious
significance could be compared to what the Nile river meant to
the ancient Egyptians. While the Ganges may be considered
holy, there are some problems associated with the ecology. It is
filled with chemical wastes, sewage and even the remains of
human and animal corpses which carry major health risks by
either direct bathing in the water (e.g.: Bilharziasis infection), or
by drinking (the Fecal-oral route).
The Yamuna
NewsWeek describes Delhi's sacred Yamuna River as "a putrid
ribbon of black sludge" where fecal bacteria is 10,000 over safety
limits despite a 15-year program to address the problem. Cholera
epidemics are not unknown.
Air pollution

Air pollution is high in Indian cities.

See also: Global warming in India

Indian cities are polluted by vehicles and industry emissions.

Road dust due to vehicles also contributing up to 33% of air
pollution In cities like Bangalore, around 50% of children suffer
from asthma. India has emission standard of Bharat Stage II
(Euro II) for vehicles since 2005.
One of the biggest causes of air pollution in India is from the
transport system. Hundreds of millions of old diesel engines
continuously burning away diesel which has anything between
150 to 190 times the amount of sulphur out European diesel has.
Of course the biggest problems are in the big cities where there
are huge concentrations of these vehicles. On the positive side,
the government appears to have noticed this massive problem
and the associated health risks for its people and is slowly but
surely taking steps. The first of which was in 2001 when it ruled
that its entire public transport system, excluding the trains, be
converted from diesel to compressed gas (CPG). Electric
rickshaws are being designed and will be subsidised by the
government but the supposed ban on the cycle rikshaws in Delhi
will require a huge increase on the reliance of other methods of
transport, mainly those with engines.

It also appeared that the excessive pollution was having an

adverse effect on the Taj Mahal. After a court ruling all transport
in the area was shut down shortly followed by the closure of all
industrial factories in the area. The air pollution in the big cities is
rising to such an extent that it is now 2.3 higher than the amount
recommended by WHO (world health organization). (Pollution
through Cremation by Savita Sethi published by Paryavaran
Sanrakshan Nyas 2005)
Noise pollution
The Supreme Court of India gave a significant verdict on noise
pollution in 2005. Unnecessary honking of vehicles makes for a
high decibel level of noise in cities. The use of loudspeakers for
political purposes and by temples and mosques make for noise
pollution in residential areas.
Recently Government of India has set up norms of permissible
noise levels in urban and rural areas. How they will be monitored
and implemented is still not sure.
Land pollution
Land pollution in India is due to pesticides and fertilizers as well
as corrosion In March 2009, the issue of Uranium poisoning in
Punjab came into light, caused by fly ash ponds of thermal power
stations, which reportedly lead to severe birth defects in children
in the Faridkot and Bhatinda districts of Punjab.

ECONOMIC

REFORMS:

LIBERALIZATION

AND

GLOBALIZATION

LIBERALIZATION
In general, liberalization (or liberalisation) refers to a
relaxation of previous government restrictions, usually in areas of
social or economic policy. In some contexts this process or
concept is often, but not always, referred to as deregulation.
Liberalization

of

autocratic

regimes

may

precede

democratization (or not, as in the case of the Prague Spring).

In the arena of social policy it may refer to a relaxation of laws
restricting for example divorce, abortion, homosexuality or
drugs.
Most often, the term is used to refer to economic liberalization,
especially trade liberalization or capital market liberalization.
Although

economic

liberalization

is

often

associated

with

privatization, the two can be quite separate processes. For

example, the European Union has liberalized gas and electricity
markets, instituting a system of competition; but some of the

leading European energy companies (such as EDF and Vattenfall)

remain partially or completely in government ownership.
Liberalized and privatized public services may be dominated by
just a few big companies particularly in sectors with high capital
costs, or high such as water, gas and electricity. In some cases
they may remain legal monopoly at least for some part of the
market (e.g. small consumers).
Liberalization is one of three focal points (the others being
privatization and stabilization) of the Washington Consensus's
trinity strategy for economies in transition. An example of
Liberalization is the "Washington Consensus" which was a set of
policies created and used by Argentina
There is also a concept of hybrid liberalisation as, for instance, in
Ghana where cocoa crop can be sold to a variety of competing
private companies, but there is a minimum price for which it can
be sold and all exports are controlled by the state.
Economic liberalization
Economic liberalization is a very broad term that usually
refers to fewer government regulations and restrictions
in the economy in exchange for greater participation of
private

entities;

the

doctrine

is

associated

with

neoliberalism. The arguments for economic liberalization

include greater efficiency and effectiveness that would
translate to a "bigger pie" for everybody.

Most

first

world

countries,

in

order

to

remain

globally

competitive, have pursued the path of economic liberalization:

partial or full privatisation of government institutions and assets,
greater labour-market flexibility, lower tax rates for businesses,
less restriction on both domestic and foreign capital, open
markets, etc. British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote that:
"Success will go to those companies and countries which are
swift to adapt, slow to complain, open and willing to change. The
task of modern governments is to ensure that our countries can
rise to this challenge."
In developing countries, economic liberalization refers more to
liberalization

or

further

"opening

up"

of

their

respective

economies to foreign capital and investments. Three of the

fastest growing developing economies today; Brazil, China and
India, have achieved rapid economic growth in the past several
years or decades after they have "liberalized" their economies to
foreign capital.
Many countries nowadays, particularly those in the third world,
arguably have no choice but to also "liberalize" their economies
in order to remain competitive in attracting and retaining both
their domestic and foreign investments. In the Philippines for
example, the contentious proposals for Charter Change include
amending the economically restrictive provisions of their 1987
constitution.
The total opposite of a liberalized economy would be North
Korea's economy with their closed and "self sufficient" economic
system. North Korea receives hundreds of millions of dollars

worth of aid from other countries in exchange for peace and

restrictions in their nuclear programme. Another example would
be oil rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and United Arab
Emirates, which see no need to further open up their economies
to foreign capital and investments since their oil reserves already
provide them with huge export earnings.
Liberalisation of services in the developing world
Potential benefits of trade liberalisation
The service sector is probably the most liberalised of the sectors.
Liberalisation offers the opportunity for the sector to compete
internationally, contributing to GDP growth and generating
foreign exchange. As such, service exports are an important part
of many developing countries' growth strategies. India's IT
services have become globally competitive as many companies
have outsourced certain administrative functions to countries
where costs are lower. Furthermore, if service providers in some
developing economies are not competitive enough to succeed on
world markets, overseas companies will be attracted to invest,
bringing with them international best practices and better skills
and technologies. The entry of foreign service providers is not
necessarily a negative development and can lead to better
services for domestic consumers, improve the performance and
competitiveness of domestic service providers, as well as simply
attract FDI/foreign capital into the country. In fact, some research
suggest a 50% cut in service trade barriers over a five- to 10year period would create global gains in economic welfare of
around $250 billion per annum.

Potential risks of trade liberalisation

Yet, trade liberalisation also carries substantial risks that
necessitate careful economic management through appropriate
regulation by governments. Some argue foreign providers crowd
out domestic providers and instead of leading to investment and
the transfer of skills, it allow foreign providers and shareholders
to capture the profits for themselves, taking the money out of
the country. Thus, it is often argued that protection is needed to
allow domestic companies the chance to develop before they are
exposed to international competition. Other potential risks
resulting from liberalisation, include:

Risks of financial sector instability resulting from global

contagion

Risk of brain drain

Risk of environmental degradation

However, researchers at thinks tanks such as the Overseas

Development Institute argue the risks are outweighed by the
benefits and that what is needed is careful regulation [4]. For
instance, there is a risk that private providers will skim off the
most profitable clients and cease to serve certain unprofitable
groups of consumers or geographical areas. Yet such concerns
could be addressed through regulation and by a universal service
obligations in contracts, or in the licensing, to prevent such a
situation from occurring. Of course, this bears the risk that this
barrier to entry will dissuade international competitors from

entering the market (see Deregulation). Examples of such an

approach include South Africa's Financial Sector Charter or Indian
nurses who promoted the nursing profession within India itself,
which has resulted in a rapid growth in demand for nursing
education and a related supply response.

GLOBALIZATION
Globalisation (or globalization) describes the process by
which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become
integrated through a global network of political ideas through
communication, transportation, and trade. The term is most
closely associated with the term economic globalization: the
integration of national economies into the international economy
through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration,
the spread of technology, and military presence. However,
globalization is usually recognized as being driven by a
combination of economic, technological, sociocultural, political,
and

biological

factors.

The

term

can

also

refer

to

the

transnational circulation of ideas, languages, or popular culture

through acculturation. An aspect of the world which has gone
through the process can be said to be globalised.
Definitions
According

to

the

Oxford

English

Dictionary,

the

word

'globalization' was first employed in a publication entitled

Towards New Education in 1952, to denote a holistic view of
human

experience

in

education.

An

early

description

of

globalization was penned by the American entrepreneur-turnedminister Charles Taze Russell who coined the term 'corporate
giants' in 1897, although it was not until the 1960s that the term
began to be widely used by economists and other social
scientists. The term has since then achieved widespread use in
the mainstream press by the later half of the 1980s. Since its
inception, the concept of globalization has inspired numerous
competing definitions and interpretations, with antecedents
dating back to the great movements of trade and empire across
Asia and the Indian Ocean from the 15th century onwards.
The United Nations ESCWA says globalization "is a widely-used
term that can be defined in a number of different ways. When
used in an economic context, it refers to the reduction and
removal of barriers between national borders in order to facilitate
the flow of goods, capital, services and labor... although
considerable barriers remain to the flow of labor... Globalization
is not a new phenomenon. It began towards the end of the
nineteenth century, but it slowed down during the period from
the start of the First World War until the third quarter of the
twentieth century. This slowdown can be attributed to the
inward-looking policies pursued by a number of countries in
order to protect their respective industries... however, the pace
of globalization picked up rapidly during the fourth quarter of the
twentieth century..."

HSBC, the world's largest bank, operates across the globe. Shown here is the HSBC
Global Technology Centre in Pune, India which develops software for the entire HSBC
group.

Tom J. Palmer of the Cato Institute defines globalization as "the

diminution or elimination of state-enforced restrictions on
exchanges across borders and the increasingly integrated and
complex global system of production and exchange that has
emerged as a result."
Thomas L. Friedman has examined the impact of the "flattening"
of the world, and argues that globalized trade, outsourcing,
supply-chaining, and political forces have changed the world
permanently, for both better and worse. He also argues that the
pace of globalization is quickening and will continue to have a
growing impact on business organization and practice.
Herman

E.

Daly

argues

that

sometimes

the

terms

internationalization and globalization are used interchangeably

but

there

is

significant

"internationalization"

(or

formal

difference.

internationalisation)

The

refers

to

term
the

importance of international trade, relations, treaties etc. owing to

the (hypothetical) immobility of labor and capital between or
among nations.

Finally, Takis Fotopoulos argues that globalization is the result of

systemic trends manifesting the market economy's grow-or-die
dynamic,

following

the

rapid

expansion

of

transnational

corporations. Because these trends have not been offset

effectively by counter-tendencies that could have emanated from
trade-union action and other forms of political activity, the
outcome has been globalization. This is a multi-faceted and
irreversible phenomenon within the system of the market
economy and it is expressed as: economic globalization, namely,
the opening and deregulation of commodity, capital and labour
markets which led to the present form of neoliberal globalization;
political globalization, i.e., the emergence of a transnational elite
and the phasing out of the all powerful nation-state of the statist
period; cultural globalization, i.e., the worldwide homogenisation
of culture; ideological globalization; technological globalization;
social globalization.

IMPACT OF LIBERALIZATION AND GLOBALIZATION

LIBERALIZATION

Impact on agriculture
The World Trade Organization (WTO) (1995) is the successor of
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the main
goals of the WTO are to create free trade and to avoid

protectionism. The main problems within the WTO arise on the

areas of intellectual property rights, services and agriculture.1
Regarding agriculture, the problems arise mainly due to the
major differences in agriculture policies of the developed and
developing

countries.

While

developed

countries

tend

to

subsidize their farmers heavily (which depress world prices and

induce

production),

low-income

countries

tend

to

impose

relatively high taxes on farmers in the export sector as an

important source of fiscal revenue. High taxation of agriculture is
associated with lower growth in agriculture, mainly because the
taxes are high and the tax revenues in agriculture are low and
inefficient. But in many developing countries agriculture is a
large share in the gross domestic product (GDP) and the taxes on
agriculture are necessary for broader developmental programs.
This is one of the reasons that most attention has been given to
reduce the negative effects of developed countries on developing
countries, through opening the markets and remove developed
countries subsidy policies. 2
The European Union (EU) has one of the highest levels of
protectionism (mainly in sugar) and with the expansion of the EU
more countries increase their protectionism. The WTO tries to
decrease the amount of protectionism, but reforms are not easy
and often require bargained compromises and compensation
schemes for the losers to get agreement on further reducing high
levels of agriculture protection. 2,3
According to the 2006 World bank study, full trade liberalization
would give a gain of 9% in global agriculture export for the
developing countries. Full liberalization would however cause a
decrease in subsidies in other countries. This would give an

increase in prices which would have a negative effect on poor

importing developing countries. Even within countries this will
give differences; net-selling farmers will benefit while net-buyer
households may lose due to higher food prices if they are not
compensated for the increase. 2
This indicates that not everybody will gain from agriculture trade
liberalization but in general when developed and developing
country agriculture policies are combined (the latter mainly in
increasing their agriculture efficiency and tax reforms) the
proportion of population experiencing poverty will diminish. 2
There are however also disadvantages of full trade liberalization
of agriculture. Agriculture is different from other economic
sectors as agriculture is subject to unstable weather and market
conditions which can cause high prices during a harvest failure
and low prices due to oversupply in the next season as farmers
will increase their production. Secondly agriculture is different
because it has important implications on public health, as food
has to be safe and secure. Examples are dioxins in poultry, mad
cow disease (BSE) and genetically modified organisms. 2,4
In developing countries it is harder to adjust to the high food
standards of the developed countries, as both the materials as
the methods (e.g. knowing which chemicals can be used and
which not.) are missing. Only opening the market will therefore
not be enough. Besides this, the full trade
and non-safe foods which will have an effect on public health.
More education and opportunity to raise the amount of safe
agriculture in developing countries is necessary to increase the
world public health. Full trade liberalization alone will therefore

alone be not beneficial; other measurements have to be taken at

the same time.
1) R. Gilpin, The challenge of global capitalism, the world
economy in the 21th century. Princeton university press 2000
2) World development report2008 chapter 4 reforming trade,
price and subsidy policies
- Low-income countries tend to impose relatively high taxes on
farmers in the export sector as an important source of fiscal
revenue while developed countries tend to heavily subsidize
farmers (which depresses world prices)
- The economic and social costs of todays trade, price and
subsidy policies in world agriculture are large and suppress
agriculture output growth in developing countries. Correcting
those policy and investment failures can accelerate growth and
reduce poverty
3) M. Cini, European union politics, oxford university press 2007
4) Daugbjerg, Swinbank, Curbing agricultural exceptionalism: the
EU response to external challenge. The world economy 2008

Impact on tobacco consumption

The recent trend towards the increased liberalization of trade in
most goods and

services has significantly reduced high-tariff and non-tariff

barriers

to

trade

in

tobacco

and

tobacco

products

and

contributed to the sharp increase in tobacco use in many lowincome and middle-income

countries.

Over

the past two

decades, the various bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade

agreements that many nations have adopted have led to
significantly greater competition in domestic tobacco markets.
This

increased

competition

has

almost

certainly

been

accompanied by reduced prices for tobacco products and

dramatic increases in the advertising and promotion of these
products. There are several basic reasons why international trade
in tobacco and tobacco products has arisen.
There are several basic reasons why international trade in
tobacco and tobacco products has arisen Grise (1990) and
Chaloupka and Corbett (1998), for example, suggest the
following:
(1) a countrys inability to domestically produce tobacco and
tobacco products in sufficient quantity to satisfy domestic
demand for these products;
(2) a countrys inability to domestically produce tobacco and
tobacco products of sufficiently high quality to satisfy domestic
demand;
(3) differences in prices among countries for different types and
qualities of tobacco and tobacco products; and
(4) the importing of unmanufactured tobacco for use in
producing tobacco productsfor exports.
In addition, in some countries, tobacco and/or tobacco products
are an important source of foreign currency. In recent years, for

example, Zimbabwe exported nearly all of its tobacco crop, with

these exports accounting for nearly one-quarter of its total
export earnings (Maravanyika 1998).
Global trade in tobacco and tobacco products, while not
insignificant, would have been much higher in the past had there
not been a variety of restrictive trade policies and other policies
protecting domestic tobacco growers and producers of tobacco
products from foreign competition (Grise 1990). These barriers
include high tariffs on imported tobacco and/or tobacco products,
quotas or complete bans on imports, domestic price-support
programs,

marketing

restrictions,

licensing

requirements,

restricted product lists, exchange controls, domestic content

requirements, and subsidies on cultivation or production (Grise
1990).
There are few rationales for trade barriers that are economically
justifiable, including the temporary protection of an infant
industry and the use of protectionistic interventions as a
temporary strategy for promoting economic development. As
evidence

on

the

health

consequences

of

smoking

has

accumulated, some have argued for restricting tobacco-related

trade as a way to reduce the death and disease resulting from
tobacco use. (While the World Bank does not seek to restrict
trade, it does restrict the use of Bank funds (see Box). Similar
arguments have been used to defend trade restrictions in the
case of other goods with negative externalities. These arguments
are most well developed in the area of environmental policies
(see, for example, Anderson and Blackhurst 1992), with recent
research adapting these arguments to consider the negative
externalities associated with tobacco use (Shi and Hsieh 1998).

In practice, however, trade restrictions have often been used to

protect state-owned monopolies on tobacco production and
distribution that generate a significant share of total government
revenues in these countries.Moreover, the arguments that health
concerns are a justification for limiting trade have typically not
been accompanied by strong efforts to reduce the consumption
of domestically produced cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Box: The World Banks policy on tobacco
The World Banks activities in the health sectorincluding sector
work, policy
dialogue, and lendingdiscourage the use of tobacco products.
The World Bank does not lend directly for, invest in, or guarantee
investments
or loans for, tobacco production, processing, or marketing.
Exceptions, which
must be approved, may be allowed for countries that are heavily
dependent on
tobacco as a source of income (especially for poor farmers and
farm workers)
and foreign exchange earnings (i.e. those where tobacco
accounts for more than
10% of exports). The World Bank seeks to help these countries
diversify away
from tobacco.
To the extent practicable, the World Bank does not lend indirectly
for tobacco
production activities, although some indirect support of the
tobacco economy

may occur as an inseparable part of a project that has a broader

set of objectives
and outcomes (e.g. rural roads).
Unmanufactured and manufactured tobacco, tobacco processing
machinery
and equipment, and related services are included in the negative
list of imports
in World Bank Loan Agreements.
Tobacco and tobacco-related producer or consumer imports may
be exempt
from borrowers agreements with the World Bank to liberalize
trade and reduce
tariff levels.
Source: the World Bank (1991).
In general, economic theory predicts that barriers to trade in
tobacco and tobacco products will reduce the total supply of
these products while raising the quantity supplied by domestic
growers and producers. Consequently, the prices for raw
tobacco, cigarettes, and other tobacco products are likely to be
higher under this scenario than they would in the absence of the
trade barriers. Given the well-documented evidence on the
effects of price on tobacco use, higher prices will lead to reduced
cigarette smoking and lower use of other tobacco products.
Given the clear links between tobacco use and adverse health
outcomes ,the reduced consumption will lead in the long-term to
improved health. Domestic suppliers will generally benefit from
their higher levels of growing and production and from the higher
prices they receive. Foreign suppliers, however, will usually be

worse off as a result of their reduced access to protected

markets.
In contrast, increasing trade liberalization, as a result of bilateral,
regional, and multilateral trade agreements, is likely to have the
opposite effect. Reductions in the barriers to tobacco-related
trade will likely lead to greater competition in the markets for
tobacco and tobacco products, reductions in the prices for
tobacco products, and increased advertising and promotion of
these products. The increases in advertising and promotion will
not only result from the efforts of entrants to gain a foothold in
the newly opened markets, but are also likely to reflect increased
activity by existing firms attempting to maintain their market
shares in the more competitive environment.Given the inverse
relationship between price and consumption, as well as the
positive relationship between advertising/promotion and demand
cigarette smoking and other tobacco use will likely increase
under this scenario as tobacco markets become more open. As a
result, the death and disease resulting from tobacco use will also
increase.
However, the liberalization of trade in other goods and services is
expected to have substantial economic benefits, including
increased incomes, greater employment, more stable prices,
greater innovation, and more rapid economic growth (World
Trade Organization 1998a;Yellen 1998), with perhaps the greatest
impact in developing countries(Edwards 1992). Edwards, for
example, in a sample of 30 developing countries, found strong
evidence that growth was higher in countries with more liberal
trade policies. There is strong evidence on the link between
income

and

health,

particularly

at

lower

income

levels,

suggesting that overall trade liberalization can lead to improved

health outcomes (Preston 1976; Chaloupka and Corbett 1998).
However, the increased tobacco use in developing countries that
results from increased incomes is likely to, at least partially,
offset the health benefits of liberalized trade in other goods and
services.
Economic and social impacts
Economic and social impacts of trade liberalization
Before providing a review of the different country studies, it is
useful to present the theoretical arguments underpinning the
impact

of

trade

on

economic

growth

and

its

broader

development outcomes.
Trade and growth
Most of the economic literature considers that trade liberalization
leads to an increase in welfare derived from an improved
allocation of domestic resources. Import restrictions of any kind
create an anti-export bias by raising the price of importable
goods relative to exportable goods. The removal of this bias
through trade liberalization will encourage a shift of resources
from the production of import substitutes to the production of
export-oriented goods. This, in turn, will generate growth in the
short to medium term as the country adjusts to a new allocation
of resources more in keeping with its comparative advantage
(McCulloch, Winters and Cirera, 2001). This process is neither
smooth nor automatic. On the contrary, it is expected to create
adjustment costs, encompassing a wide variety of potentially
disadvantageous short-term outcomes. These outcomes may

include a reduction in employment and output, the loss of

industry- and firm-specific human capital, and macroeconomic
instability

arising

from

balance-of-payments

difficulties

or

reductions in government revenue (Matusz and Tarr, 1999). The

size of the adjustment costs depends on the speed with which
resources make the
transition from one sector to another.
However, trade liberalization in and of itself has not yet been
unambiguously and universally linked to subsequent economic
growth. Despite the vast literature looking at this link, numerous
empirical studies have not found the evidence conclusive.
Rodriguez and Rodrik (1999) argue that the literature is largely
uninformative, and that there is a significant gap between the
conclusions derived from theory and the facts. According to the
authors, a number of factors explain this gap. In many cases, the
indicators of openness used by researchers are problematic, as
measures of trade barriers are highly correlated with other
sources of poor economic performance. In other cases, the
empirical strategies used to ascertain the link between trade
policy and growth has serious shortcomings, the removal of
which results in significantly weaker findings. Moreover, the
simultaneous implementation of other far-reaching reforms
makes it difficult to disentangle the impact of the trade
liberalization process. This being said, it is also important to note
that although trade openness has not been unequivocally linked
to higher growth, it has certainly not been identified as a
hindrance.
Overall, it may be fair to say that openness, by leading to lower
prices, better information and newer technologies, has a useful

role to play in promoting growth. But it must be accompanied by

appropriate complementary policies (most notably, education,
infrastructure, financial and macroeconomic policies) to yield
strong growth results. The precise mix of trade and other policies
that is needed will strongly depend on the specific circumstances
of each country. It is therefore important to focus on the detailed
pathways through which trade liberalization in each country has
an impact on poverty (McCulloch, Winters and Cirera, 2001).
See box below
Box : Trade and poverty reduction
Trade liberalization helps the poor in the same way it helps other
consumers, by lowering prices of imported goods and keeping
prices of import substitutes low, thus increasing real incomes.
Price transmission
The impact of trade liberalization depends on how changes in
border prices are translated into
changes in the prices actually charged to households. Price
transmission depends on:
the competitive structure of the distribution sector;
the way in which government institutions such as marketing
organizations operate; and
the extent products traded.
Enterprises
The shift in resources between industries that often accompanies
trade liberalization can have a significant impact on wages and
employment. Thus trade liberalization also affects households
through its impact on profits, and, thereby, on employment and
wages.

There are two opposite ways in which this may occur:

If wages are flexible and labour is fully employed, then price
changes caused by trade liberalization will be reflected in wage
changes, with employment remaining the same.
Alternatively, if there is a large pool of workers who move in
and out of jobs when circumstances change, then trade
liberalization will cause changes in employment. In reality, both
effects

occur

simultaneously.

The

balance

between

them

depends on the relative flexibility of wages and employment, as

well as on the capacity of the dynamic sectors to absorb the
unemployed and those being laid off from declining sectors.
Taxes and spending
There is a general concern that trade liberalization may lead to a
loss of government revenues as trade taxes are reduced or
eliminated, and that in an effort to maintain macroeconomic
stability, governments may cut social expenditures or impose
new taxes which could disproportionately affect the poor.
The key lessons here are that:
Liberalization often does not have to lead to revenue cuts if
tariff peaks and exemptions are also tackled.
It is important to look at the poverty effects of alternative
forms of taxation, introduced to cover any shortfall, particularly
consumption taxes.
It is generally possible to protect social and anti-poverty
expenditures, even if expenditures do decline.
Sound macroeconomic management is far more important than
maintaining social expenditure. Therefore, it should be noted that
trade liberalization can have a positive, negative or neutral effect

on government revenue, depending on the reforms introduced

and the particular circumstances of a country.
Empirical evidence
Because of the complexity of the linkages between trade reform
and poverty, the empirical evidence is limited to studies on
general market reforms, on the one hand, and case studies on
the other.

GLOBALIZATION

Globalization has various aspects which affect the world in

several different ways

Industrial - emergence of worldwide production markets

and broader access to a range of foreign products for
consumers and companies. Particularly movement of
material

and

goods

between

and

within

national

boundaries. International trade in manufactured goods

increased more than 100 times (from $95 billion to $12
trillion) in the 50 years since 1955. China's trade with
Africa rose sevenfold during 2000-07 alone.

Financial - emergence of worldwide financial markets and

better access to external financing for borrowers. By the
early part of the 21st century more than $1.5 trillion in
national currencies were traded daily to support the

expanded levels of trade and investment. As these

worldwide

structures

grew

more

quickly

than

any

transnational regulatory regime, the instability of the

global financial infrastructure dramatically increased, as
evidenced by the Financial crisis of 20072010.

As of 20052007, the Port of Shanghai holds the title as the World's busiest port.

Economic - realization of a global common market, based

on the freedom of exchange of goods and capital. The
interconnectedness of these markets, however, meant that
an economic collapse in one area could impact other areas.
With globalization, companies can produce goods and
services in the lowest cost location. This may cause jobs to
be moved to locations that have the lowest wages, least
worker protection and lowest health benefits. For Industrial
activities this may cause production to move to areas with
the least pollution regulations or worker safety regulations.

Almost all notable worldwide IT companies have a presence in India. Four Indians were
among the world's top 10 richest in 2008, worth a combined $160 billion. In 2007,
China had 415,000 millionaires and India 123,000.

Job Market- competition in a global job market. In the past,

the economic fate of workers was tied to the fate of
national economies. With the advent of the information age
and improvements in communication, this is no longer the
case. Because workers compete in a global market, wages
are less dependent on the success or failure of individual
economies. This has had a major effect on wages and
income distribution.

Health Policy - On the global scale, health becomes a

commodity. In developing nations under the demands of
Structural

Adjustment

Programs,

health

systems

are

fragmented and privatized. Global health policy makers

have shifted during the 1990s from United Nations players
to financial institutions. The result of this power transition
is an increase in privatization in the health sector. This
privatization fragments health policy by crowding it with
many

players

with

many

private

interests.

These

fragmented policy players emphasize partnerships and

specific interventions to combat specific problems (as

opposed to comprehensive health strategies). Influenced
by global trade and global economy, health policy is
directed by technological advances and innovative medical
trade. Global priorities, in this situation, are sometimes at
odds with national priorities where increased health
infrastructure and basic primary care are of more value to
the public than privatized care for the wealthy.

Political - some use "globalization" to mean the creation of

a world government which regulates the relationships
among governments and guarantees the rights arising
from social and economic globalization. Politically, the
United States has enjoyed a position of power among the
world powers, in part because of its strong and wealthy
economy. With the influence of globalization and with the
help of the United States own economy, the People's
Republic of China has experienced some tremendous
growth within the past decade. If China continues to grow
at the rate projected by the trends, then it is very likely
that in the next twenty years, there will be a major
reallocation of power among the world leaders. China will
have enough wealth, industry, and technology to rival the
United States for the position of leading world power.

Among the political effects some scholars also name the

transformation of sovereignty. In their opinion, 'globalization
contributes to the change and reduction of nomenclature and
scope of state sovereign powers, and besides it is a bilateral
process: on the one hand, the factors are strengthening that

fairly undermine the countries' sovereignty, on the other most

states voluntarily and deliberately limit the scope of their
sovereignty'.

Informational - increase in information flows between

geographically

remote

locations.

Arguably

this

is

technological change with the advent of fibre optic

communications, satellites, and increased availability of
telephone and Internet.

Language - the most popular first language is Mandarin

(845 million speakers) followed by Spanish (329 million
speakers) and English (328 million speakers). However the
most popular second language is undoubtedly English, the
"lingua franca" of globalization:
o About 35% of the world's mail, telexes, and cables
are in English.
o Approximately 40% of the world's radio programs are
in English.
o English is the dominant language on the Internet.

Competition - Survival in the new global business market

calls for improved productivity and increased competition.
Due to the market becoming worldwide, companies in
various industries have to upgrade their products and use
technology skillfully in order to face increased competition.

Ecological - the advent of global environmental challenges

that might be solved with international cooperation, such
as climate change, cross-boundary water and air pollution,
over-fishing of the ocean, and the spread of invasive
species. Since many factories are built in developing
countries with less environmental regulation, globalism and
free trade may increase pollution and impact on precious
fresh water resources(Hoekstra and Chapagain 2008). On
the

other

hand,

economic

development

historically

required a "dirty" industrial stage, and it is argued that

developing

countries

should

not,

via

regulation,

be

prohibited from increasing their standard of living.

London is a city of considerable diversity. As of 2008, estimates were published that

stated that approximately 30% of London's total population was from an ethnic
minority group. The latest official figures show that in 2008, 590,000 people arrived to
live in the UK whilst 427,000 left, meaning that net inward migration was 163,000.

Cultural - growth of cross-cultural contacts; advent of new

categories of consciousness and identities which embodies
cultural diffusion, the desire to increase one's standard of
living and enjoy foreign products and ideas, adopt new

technology and practices, and participate in a "world

culture". Some bemoan the resulting consumerism and loss
of languages. Also see Transformation of culture.
o Spreading of multiculturalism, and better individual
access to cultural diversity (e.g. through the export
of

Hollywood).

Some

consider

such

"imported"

culture a danger, since it may supplant the local

culture, causing reduction in diversity or even
assimilation. Others consider multiculturalism to
promote peace and understanding between people.
A third position that gained popularity is the notion
that multiculturalism to a new form of monoculture in
which no distinctions exist and everyone just shift
between various lifestyles in terms of music, cloth
and other aspects once more firmly attached to a
single culture. Thus not mere cultural assimilation as
mentioned above but the obliteration of culture as
we know it today. In reality, as it happens in countries
like the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia or New
Zealand, people who always lived in their native
countries maintain their cultures without feeling
forced by any reason to accept another and are
proud

of

it

even

when

they're

acceptive

of

immigrants, while people who are newly arrived

simply keep their own culture or part of it despite
some minimum amount of assimilation, although
aspects of their culture often become a curiosity and

a daily aspect of the lives of the people of the

welcoming countries.
o Greater

international

travel

and

tourism.

WHO

estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at

any one time. In 2008, there were over 922 million
international tourist arrivals, with a growth of 1.9%
as compared to 2007.
o Greater immigration, including illegal immigration.
The IOM estimates there are more than 200 million
migrants around the world today. Newly available
data show that remittance flows to developing
countries reached $328 billion in 2008.
o Spread of local consumer products (e.g., food) to
other countries (often adapted to their culture).
o Worldwide fads and pop culture such as Pokmon,
Sudoku, Numa Numa, Origami, Idol series, YouTube,
Orkut, Facebook, and MySpace; accessible only to
those who have Internet or Television, leaving out a
substantial portion of the Earth's population.

The construction of continental hotels is a major consequence of globalization process

in affiliation with tourism and travel industry, Dariush Grand Hotel, Kish, Iran

o Worldwide sporting events such as FIFA World Cup

and the Olympic Games.
o Incorporation of multinational corporations into new
media. As the sponsors of the All-Blacks rugby team,
Adidas

had created a

parallel website with a

downloadable interactive rugby game for its fans to

play and compete.

Social - development of the system of non-governmental

organisations as main agents of global public policy,
including humanitarian aid and developmental efforts.

Technical
o Development of a Global Information System, global
telecommunications

infrastructure

and

greater

transborder data flow, using such technologies as the

Internet, communication satellites, submarine fiber
optic cable, and wireless telephones
o Increase in the number of standards applied globally;
e.g.,

copyright

agreements.

Legal/Ethical

laws,

patents

and

world

trade

o The creation of the international criminal court and

international justice movements.
o Crime importation and raising awareness of global
crime-fighting efforts and cooperation.
o The emergence of Global administrative law.

Religious
o The spread and increased interrelations of various
religious groups, ideas, and practices and their ideas
of the meanings and values of particular spaces.

Cultural effects

Globalization has influenced the use of language across the

world. This street in Hong Kong, a former British colony, shows
various signs, a few of which incorporate both Chinese and
British English.

Japanese McDonald's fast food as evidence of corporate globalization and the

integration of the same into different cultures.

"Culture" is defined as patterns of human activity and the

symbols that give these activities significance. Culture is what
people eat, how they dress, the beliefs they hold, and the
activities they practice. Globalization has joined different cultures
and made it into something different.
Culinary culture has become extensively globalized. For example,
Japanese noodles, Italian meatballs, Indian curry, French cheese,
and American burgers and fries have become popular outside
their countries of origin. Two American companies, McDonald's
and Starbucks, are often cited as examples of globalization, with
over

31,000

and

18,000

locations

operating

worldwide,

respectively.
Another common practice brought about by globalization is the
usage of Chinese characters in tattoos. These tattoos are popular
with today's youth despite the lack of social acceptance of
tattoos in China. Also, there is a lack of comprehension in the
meaning of Chinese characters that people get, making this an
example of cultural appropriation.

The internet breaks down cultural boundaries across the world by

enabling

easy,

near-instantaneous

communication

between

people anywhere in a variety of digital forms and media. The

Internet is associated with the process of cultural globalization
because it allows interaction and communication between people
with very different lifestyles and from very different cultures.
Photo sharing websites allow interaction even where language
would otherwise be a barrier.
Positive effects
The development of Third World nations
According to Jagdish Bhagwati, a former adviser to the U.N. on
globalization, although there are obvious problems with overlyrapid development, globalization is a very positive force that lifts
countries out of poverty. According to him, it causes a virtuous
economic cycle associated with faster economic growth. .
The democratizing effect of communications (esp. the
internet)
Exchange of information via the internet is playing a major role in
the democratization of many countries.
The benefits of globalization and financial diversification
Since the mid-1970s, it has been argued that geographic
diversification would eventually generate superior risk-adjusted
returns for long-term global investors by reducing overall
portfolio risk while capturing some of the higher rates of returns

offered by the emerging markets of Asia and Latin America. By

doing so, these institutional investors have contributed to the
financial and economic development of key nations in Asia,
Eastern Europe and Latin America. Typically, for global investors,
India and China constitute both large-scale production platforms
and reservoirs of new consumers, whereas Russia is viewed
essentially as an exporter of oil and commodities- Brazil and
Latin America being somehow "in the middle".
Hastening the end of European / US economic hegemony
A report issued in 2007 by PiercewaterhouseCoopers LLP
predicted that by 2050 the economies of the E7 emerging
economies (the BRIC contries, China, India, Brazil, and Russia,
plus Indonesia and Turkey) will be around 50% larger than the
current G7 (US, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Italy and Canada).
China is expected to overtake the US as the largest economy
around 2025, while India will overtake the US in 2050. A more
recent report isued by Goldman Sachs that was compiled after
China released their GDP growth figures for 2009 predicted that
China is about to overtake Japan and may become the world's
largest economy by 2020. (See the entry on BRIC for more
details)
Increased opportunity in the Third World
Workers in developing countries now have more occupational
choices then ever before. Educated workers in developing
countries are able to compete on the global job market for high
paying jobs. Production workers in developing countries are not

only able to compete, they have a strong advantage over their

counterparts in the industrialized world. This translates into
increased opportunity. Workers have the choice of emigrating
and taking jobs in industrial countries or staying at home to work
in outsourced industries. In addition, the global economy
provides a market for the products of cottage industry, providing
more opportunities.
Negative effects
Globalization has generated significant international opposition
over concerns that it has increased inequality and environmental
degradation. In the Midwestern United States, globalization has
eaten away at its competitive edge in industry and agriculture,
lowering the quality of life.
Some also view the effect of globalization on culture as a rising
concern. Along with globalization of economies and trade, culture
is being imported and exported as well. The concern is that the
stronger, bigger countries such as the United States, may
overrun the other, smaller countries' cultures, leading to those
customs and values fading away. This process is also sometimes
referred to as Americanization or McDonaldization.
Sweatshops

A maquila in Mexico

In many poorer nations, globalization is the result of foreign

businesses utilizing workers in a country to take advantage of the
lower wage rates.
One example used by anti-globalization protestors is the use of
sweatshops by manufacturers. According to Global Exchange
these

"Sweat

Shops"

are

widely

used

by

sports

shoe

manufacturers and mentions one company in particular Nike.

There are factories set up in the poor countries where employees
agree to work for low wages. Then if labour laws alter in those
countries and stricter rules govern the manufacturing process
the factories are closed down and relocated to other nations with
more

business

favorable

policies,

such

as

Cambodia

or

Bangladesh.
There are several agencies that have been set up worldwide
specifically designed to focus on anti-sweatshop campaigns and
education of such. In the USA, the National Labor Committee has
proposed a number of bills as part of The Decent Working
Conditions and Fair Competition Act, which have thus far failed in
Congress. The legislation would legally require companies to

respect human and worker rights by prohibiting the import, sale,

or export of sweatshop goods.
Specifically, these core standards include no child labor, no
forced labor, freedom of association, right to organize and
bargain collectively, as well as the right to decent working
conditions.
There are also concerns about the emergence of "electronic
sweatshops." Shehzad Nadeem writes that the outsourcing of
service

work,

such

as

customer

service

and

Information

Technology work, to India has resulted in longer work hours, an

intense work pace, and temporal displacement manifested in
health problems and alienation from family and friends.
Negative effects of economic liberalization
The world today is so interconnected that the collapse of the
subprime mortgage market in the U.S. has led to a global
financial crisis and recession on a scale not seen since the Great
Depression. According to left-wing ideologists, government
deregulation and failed regulation of Wall Street's investment
banks were important contributors to the subprime mortgage
crisis.
A flood of consumer goods such as televisions, radios, bicycles,
and textiles into the United States, Europe, and Japan has helped
fuel the economic expansion of Asian tiger economies in recent
decades. However, Chinese textile and clothing exports have
recently encountered criticism from Europe, the United States
and some African countries. In South Africa, some 300,000 textile

workers have lost their jobs due to the influx of Chinese goods.
The increasing U.S. trade deficit with China has cost 2.4 million
American jobs between 2001 and 2008, according to a study by
the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). A total of 3.2 million one in
six U.S. factory jobs have disappeared between 2000 and 2007.
Brain drain
Opportunities in rich countries drives talent away from poor
countries, leading to brain drains. Brain drain has cost the African
continent over $4.1 billion in the employment of 150,000
expatriate professionals annually. Indian students going abroad
for their higher studies costs India a foreign exchange outflow of
$10 billion annually.
Income Inequality
The

globalization

consequences
(engineers,

in

of

the

job

developed

attorneys,

market
countries.

scientists,

has

had

Mind

professors,

negative
workers

executives,

journalists, consultants) are able to compete successfully in the

world market and command high wages. Conversely, production
workers and service workers in industrialized nations are unable
to compete with workers in third world countries and either lose
their jobs through outsourcing or are forced to accept wage cuts.
This has resulted in a growing gap between the incomes of the
rich and poor. This trend seems to be greater in the United States
than other industrial countries. Income inequality in the United
States started to rise in the late 1970,s, however the rate of

increase rose sharply in the 21st century; it has now reached a

level comparable with that found in devoloping countries.[ (Cf.
Environmental degradation

Burning forest in Brazil. The removal of forest to make way for cattle ranching was the
leading cause of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon from the mid 1960s. Recently,
soybeans have become one of the most important contributors to deforestation in the
Brazilian Amazon.[

The World watch Institute said the booming economies of China

and India are planetary powers that are shaping the global
biosphere. In 2007, China overtook the United States as the
world's biggest producer of CO2. Only 1 percent of the countrys
560 million city inhabitants (2007) breathe air deemed safe by
the European Union. At present rates, tropical rainforests in
Indonesia would be logged out in 10 years, Papua New Guinea in
13 to 16 years. A major source of deforestation is the logging
industry, driven spectacularly by China and Japan. China and
India are quickly becoming large oil consumers. China has seen
oil consumption grow by 8% yearly since 2002, doubling from
19962006. State of the World 2006 report said the two
countries' high economic growth hid a reality of severe pollution.
The report states:

The world's ecological capacity is simply insufficient to

satisfy the ambitions of China, India, Japan, Europe and the
United States as well as the aspirations of the rest of the
world in a sustainable way
Without more recycling, zinc could be used up by 2037, both
indium and hafnium could run out by 2017, and terbium could be
gone before 2012. It is said that if China and India were to
consume as much resources per capita as United States or Japan
in 2030 together they would require a full planet Earth to meet
their needs. In the long term these effects can lead to increased
conflict over dwindling resources and in the worst case a
Malthusian catastrophe.
Food security
The head of the International Food Policy Research Institute,
stated in 2008 that the gradual change in diet among newly
prosperous

populations

is

the

most

important

factor

underpinning the rise in global food prices. From 1950 to 1984,

as the Green Revolution transformed agriculture around the
world, grain production increased by over 250%. The world
population has grown by about 4 billion since the beginning of
the Green Revolution and most believe that, without the
Revolution, there would be greater famine and malnutrition than
the UN presently documents (approximately 850 million people
suffering from chronic malnutrition in 2005).
It is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain food security in a
world beset by a confluence of "peak" phenomena, namely peak

oil, peak water, peak phosphorus, peak grain and peak fish.
Growing populations, falling energy sources and food shortages
will create the "perfect storm" by 2030, according to the UK
government chief scientist. He said food reserves are at a 50year low but the world requires 50% more energy, food and
water by 2030. The world will have to produce 70% more food by
2050 to feed a projected extra 2.3 billion people and as incomes
rise, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
warned. Social scientists have warned of the possibility that
global civilization is due for a period of contraction and economic
re-localization, due to the decline in fossil fuels and resulting
crisis in transportation and food production. One paper even
suggested that the future might even bring about a restoration of
sustainable local economic activities based on hunting and
gathering, shifting horticulture, and pastoralism.
The journal Science published a four-year study in November
2006, which predicted that, at prevailing trends, the world would
run out of wild-caught seafood in 2048.
Disease
Globalization has also helped to spread some of the deadliest
infectious diseases known to humans. Starting in Asia, the Black
Death killed at least one-third of Europe's population in the 14th
century. Even worse devastation was inflicted on the American
supercontinent by European arrivals. 90% of the populations of
the civilizations of the "New World" such as the Aztec, Maya, and
Inca were killed by small pox brought by European colonization.
Modern modes of transportation allow more people and products

to travel around the world at a faster pace, but they also open
the airways to the transcontinental movement of infectious
disease vectors. One example of this occurring is AIDS/HIV. Due
to immigration, approximately 500,000 people in the United
States are believed to be infected with Chagas disease. In 2006,
the tuberculosis (TB) rate among foreign-born persons in the
United States was 9.5 times that of U.S.-born persons.
Drug and illicit goods trade
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued a
report that the global drug trade generates more than $320
billion a year in revenues. Worldwide, the UN estimates there are
more than 50 million regular users of heroin, cocaine and
synthetic drugs. The international trade of endangered species is
second only to drug trafficking. Traditional Chinese medicine
often incorporates ingredients from all parts of plants, the leaf,
stem, flower, root, and also ingredients from animals and
minerals. The use of parts of endangered species (such as
seahorses, rhinoceros horns, saiga antelope horns, and tiger
bones and claws) has created controversy and resulted in a black
market of poachers who hunt restricted animals. In 2003, 29% of
open sea fisheries were in a state of collapse.