Also contributing to the challenges faced by sustainable development are proprietary interests. Every legal entity, including individuals, governments and corporations, will protect its own interests. Changes to the status quo that do not give an entity benefit will be fought in the legal system, with political influence, in the court of public opinion and sometimes even through military means (China invading Tibet to gain access to mineral resources and control of Asia's major river systems, for example). Each entity pushing its own agenda will compromise efforts to implement the type of systemic changes to make development sustainable on a global basis.
Perhaps nowhere are these challenges more in evidence than in the issue of greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement between 184 countries to a global plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Proprietary interests have resulted in the world's biggest polluter, the United States, refusing to ratify the Protocol. In addition, the "development" principle of sustainable development undermines the treaty because it allows major polluters such as China to into the atmosphere and thereby slowing the pace of global warming. Indeed, even if the U.S. came on board, development in China and India alone would nullify any benefits gained by reductions in the developed world. Despite this, Kyoto represents one of the bigger successes in sustainable development. Most globally-oriented initiatives, such as those involving trade (e.g. The Doha Round), have less success in gaining global consensus.
Works Cited:
IISD. (2009). What is sustainable development? International Institute for Sustainable Development Retrieved November 7, 2009 from http://www.iisd.org/sd/#one
UN Division for Sustainable Development. (2009). About. United Nations. Retrieved November 7, 2009 from http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/dsd/dsd_index.shtml
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