Discuss the problems facing the international community in convincing developed nations to enter into, implement and enforce treaty obligations. How does the international community address the issues raised by developing nations as a disincentives to par

1 . Introduction

The global environment , in its magnificent entireness , is unburdened by boundaries that distance peoples and communities on the ground , created by manmade issues of race , language , and religion or through greed conquest and political machination . Man , despite his many victories over nature is helpless in the face of universal natural forces and unable to protect the limited environs of his homeland from global environmental developments . While this ensures that even the most powerful nations are not able to restrict natural forces like the rains and the winds , it also

leads to the effects of environmental degradation in one area manifesting themselves in peculiar ways in distant locations . Sulphur emissions in one country cause acid rain in another . Depletion of the ozone layer from CFCs used in one nation can lead to skin cancer on the opposite side of the world . The global environment is an integrated , yet evolving system . Such drivers of environmental change as population pressure and pollution know no boundaries in fact the waste generated from such phenomena is released into the global commons of the seas and the air . When forests are cut down the ensuing carbon sequestration hastens global climate change . This is however only part of the devastation that occurs because forests also perform a variety of other ecosystem services , which include improving air quality , enriching soil providing renewable resources , regulating hydrology , and contributing to biodiversity . The occurrence of many such natural phenomena are choked and their benefits lost when peoples and communities act unthinkingly and under the belief that their natural resources are theirs to do with as they (Barrett , 2005

Recent decades have seen the emergence of a global agreement amongst nations to act together to resist further environmental depredation and promote sustainable development , which in turn has resulted in the signing of numerous treaties and the enactment of laws concerning diverse environmental issues . While treaties and laws have been agreed upon and signed , their actual implementation has been inadequate due to reasons that include differing perceptions of individual nations about the various provisions of these agreements and their potential to impact national or regional objectives , as well as available infrastructure systems and resources (Victor , 2001 ) This assignment aims to delve into and investigate the reasons for these differences , especially the ones that exist between developing and developed nations , the impact of these issues upon global and regional environmental conditions and the actions needed to correct the situation

2 . Commentary

International law has become very relevant to the environment in recent decades . Most nations , including Australia have entered into various treaties , conventions and agreements , many of them at the initiative of the United Nations . Important treaties signed since the beginning of the eighties include the Montreal Protocol on the Ozone Layer , the Convention on the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal , the Convention on Biological Diversity , the World Heritage Convention and the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change . The task of governing these treaties...