NCERT Textbook - Environment and Natural Resources | Political Science Class 12 - Humanities/Arts PDF Download

 Page 1


Overview This chapter examines the growing 
significance of environmental as 
well as resource issues in world 
politics. It analyses in a comparative 
perspective some of the important 
environmental movements against 
the backdrop of the rising profile of 
environmentalism from the 1960s 
onwards. Notions of common 
property resources and the global 
commons too are assessed. We 
also discuss, in brief, the stand 
taken by India in more recent 
environmental debates. Next follows 
a brief account of the geopolitics of 
resource competition. We conclude 
by taking note of the indigenous 
peoples’ voices and concerns from 
the margins of contemporary world 
politics.
Chapter 6
Environment and 
Natural Resources
The 1992 Earth Summit has brought environmental issues to 
the centre-stage of global politics. The pictures above show 
rainforest and mangroves.
Chapter 6.indd   81 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
Page 2


Overview This chapter examines the growing 
significance of environmental as 
well as resource issues in world 
politics. It analyses in a comparative 
perspective some of the important 
environmental movements against 
the backdrop of the rising profile of 
environmentalism from the 1960s 
onwards. Notions of common 
property resources and the global 
commons too are assessed. We 
also discuss, in brief, the stand 
taken by India in more recent 
environmental debates. Next follows 
a brief account of the geopolitics of 
resource competition. We conclude 
by taking note of the indigenous 
peoples’ voices and concerns from 
the margins of contemporary world 
politics.
Chapter 6
Environment and 
Natural Resources
The 1992 Earth Summit has brought environmental issues to 
the centre-stage of global politics. The pictures above show 
rainforest and mangroves.
Chapter 6.indd   81 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
Contemporary World Politics
82
Environm Ental Con CErns 
in Global Politi Cs In this book we have discussed 
‘world politics’ in a fairly limited 
sense: wars and treaties, rise 
and decline of state power, 
the relationship between the 
governments that represent their 
countries in the international 
arena and the role of inter-
governmental organisations. In 
Chapter 5, we expanded the scope 
of world politics to include issues 
like poverty and epidemics. That 
may not have been a very difficult 
step to take, for we all think that 
governments are responsible for 
controlling these. In that sense 
they fall within the scope of world 
politics. Now consider some other 
issues. Do you think they fall 
within the scope of contemporary 
world politics?
 Throughout the world, 
cultivable area is barely 
expanding any more, and a 
substantial portion of existing 
agricultural land is losing 
fertility. Grasslands have been 
overgrazed and fisheries over-
harvested. Water bodies have 
suffered extensive depletion 
and pollution, severely 
restricting food production. 
 According to the Human 
Development Report 2016 of the 
United Nations Development 
Programme, 663 million people 
in developing countries have 
no access to safe water and 
2.4 billion have no access to 
sanitation, resulting in the 
death of more than three 
million children every year. 
 Natural forests — which 
help stabilise the climate, 
moderate water supplies, 
and harbour a majority of the 
planet’s biodiversity on land—
are being cut down and people 
are being displaced. The loss 
of biodiversity continues due 
to the destruction of habitat 
in areas which are rich in 
species. 
 A steady decline in the total 
amount of ozone in the Earth’s 
stratosphere (commonly 
referred to as the ozone 
hole) poses a real danger 
to ecosystems and human 
health.
 Coastal pollution too is 
increasing globally. Although 
the open sea is relatively 
clean, the coastal waters are  
Politics in forests, 
politics in water, 
politics in 
atmosphere! What is 
not political then?
Around the Aral Sea, thousands of people have had to leave their 
homes as the toxic waters have totally destroyed the fishing industry. 
The shipping industry and all related activities have collapsed. 
Rising concentrations of salt in the soil have caused low crop yields. 
Numerous studies have been conducted. In fact locals joke that if 
everyone who’d come to study the Aral had brought a bucket of 
water, the sea would be full by now. Source: www.gobartimes.org
Chapter 6.indd   82 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
Page 3


Overview This chapter examines the growing 
significance of environmental as 
well as resource issues in world 
politics. It analyses in a comparative 
perspective some of the important 
environmental movements against 
the backdrop of the rising profile of 
environmentalism from the 1960s 
onwards. Notions of common 
property resources and the global 
commons too are assessed. We 
also discuss, in brief, the stand 
taken by India in more recent 
environmental debates. Next follows 
a brief account of the geopolitics of 
resource competition. We conclude 
by taking note of the indigenous 
peoples’ voices and concerns from 
the margins of contemporary world 
politics.
Chapter 6
Environment and 
Natural Resources
The 1992 Earth Summit has brought environmental issues to 
the centre-stage of global politics. The pictures above show 
rainforest and mangroves.
Chapter 6.indd   81 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
Contemporary World Politics
82
Environm Ental Con CErns 
in Global Politi Cs In this book we have discussed 
‘world politics’ in a fairly limited 
sense: wars and treaties, rise 
and decline of state power, 
the relationship between the 
governments that represent their 
countries in the international 
arena and the role of inter-
governmental organisations. In 
Chapter 5, we expanded the scope 
of world politics to include issues 
like poverty and epidemics. That 
may not have been a very difficult 
step to take, for we all think that 
governments are responsible for 
controlling these. In that sense 
they fall within the scope of world 
politics. Now consider some other 
issues. Do you think they fall 
within the scope of contemporary 
world politics?
 Throughout the world, 
cultivable area is barely 
expanding any more, and a 
substantial portion of existing 
agricultural land is losing 
fertility. Grasslands have been 
overgrazed and fisheries over-
harvested. Water bodies have 
suffered extensive depletion 
and pollution, severely 
restricting food production. 
 According to the Human 
Development Report 2016 of the 
United Nations Development 
Programme, 663 million people 
in developing countries have 
no access to safe water and 
2.4 billion have no access to 
sanitation, resulting in the 
death of more than three 
million children every year. 
 Natural forests — which 
help stabilise the climate, 
moderate water supplies, 
and harbour a majority of the 
planet’s biodiversity on land—
are being cut down and people 
are being displaced. The loss 
of biodiversity continues due 
to the destruction of habitat 
in areas which are rich in 
species. 
 A steady decline in the total 
amount of ozone in the Earth’s 
stratosphere (commonly 
referred to as the ozone 
hole) poses a real danger 
to ecosystems and human 
health.
 Coastal pollution too is 
increasing globally. Although 
the open sea is relatively 
clean, the coastal waters are  
Politics in forests, 
politics in water, 
politics in 
atmosphere! What is 
not political then?
Around the Aral Sea, thousands of people have had to leave their 
homes as the toxic waters have totally destroyed the fishing industry. 
The shipping industry and all related activities have collapsed. 
Rising concentrations of salt in the soil have caused low crop yields. 
Numerous studies have been conducted. In fact locals joke that if 
everyone who’d come to study the Aral had brought a bucket of 
water, the sea would be full by now. Source: www.gobartimes.org
Chapter 6.indd   82 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
83
Environment and Natural Resources
becoming increasingly polluted 
largely due to land-based 
activities. If unchecked, 
intensive human settlement 
of coastal zones across the 
globe will lead to further 
deterioration in the quality of 
marine environment. 
You might ask are we not 
talking here about ‘natural 
phenomena’ that should be 
studied in geography rather than 
in political science. But think 
about it again. If the various 
governments take steps to check 
environmental degradation 
of the kind mentioned above, 
these issues will have political 
consequences in that sense. 
Most of them are such that no 
single government can address 
them fully. Therefore they have 
to become part of ‘world politics’. 
Issues of environment and 
natural resources are political in 
another deeper sense. Who causes 
environmental degradation? 
Who pays the price? And who is 
responsible for taking corrective 
action? Who gets to use how 
much of the natural resources 
of the Earth? All these raise the 
issue of who wields how much 
power. They are, therefore, deeply 
political questions.
Although environmental 
concerns have a long history, 
awareness of the environmental 
consequences of economic growth 
acquired an increasingly political 
character from the 1960s onwards. 
The Club of Rome, a global 
think tank, published a book in 
1972 entitled Limits to Growth, 
dramatising the potential depletion 
of the Earth’s resources against the 
backdrop of rapidly growing world 
population. International agencies, 
including the United Nations 
Environment Programme (UNEP), 
began holding international 
conferences and promoting 
detailed studies to get a more 
coordinated and effective response 
to environmental problems. Since 
then, the environment has emerged 
as a significant issue of global 
politics.
 The growing focus on 
environmental issues within the 
arena of global politics was firmly 
consolidated at the United Nations 
Conference on Environment 
and Development held in Rio 
de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 
1992. This was also called the 
Earth Summit. The summit was  
Collect news 
clippings 
on reports 
linking 
environment 
and politics 
in your own 
locality.
Global Warming       © Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
Why do you think the fingers are designed like chimneys and the 
world made into a lighter? 
Chapter 6.indd   83 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
Page 4


Overview This chapter examines the growing 
significance of environmental as 
well as resource issues in world 
politics. It analyses in a comparative 
perspective some of the important 
environmental movements against 
the backdrop of the rising profile of 
environmentalism from the 1960s 
onwards. Notions of common 
property resources and the global 
commons too are assessed. We 
also discuss, in brief, the stand 
taken by India in more recent 
environmental debates. Next follows 
a brief account of the geopolitics of 
resource competition. We conclude 
by taking note of the indigenous 
peoples’ voices and concerns from 
the margins of contemporary world 
politics.
Chapter 6
Environment and 
Natural Resources
The 1992 Earth Summit has brought environmental issues to 
the centre-stage of global politics. The pictures above show 
rainforest and mangroves.
Chapter 6.indd   81 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
Contemporary World Politics
82
Environm Ental Con CErns 
in Global Politi Cs In this book we have discussed 
‘world politics’ in a fairly limited 
sense: wars and treaties, rise 
and decline of state power, 
the relationship between the 
governments that represent their 
countries in the international 
arena and the role of inter-
governmental organisations. In 
Chapter 5, we expanded the scope 
of world politics to include issues 
like poverty and epidemics. That 
may not have been a very difficult 
step to take, for we all think that 
governments are responsible for 
controlling these. In that sense 
they fall within the scope of world 
politics. Now consider some other 
issues. Do you think they fall 
within the scope of contemporary 
world politics?
 Throughout the world, 
cultivable area is barely 
expanding any more, and a 
substantial portion of existing 
agricultural land is losing 
fertility. Grasslands have been 
overgrazed and fisheries over-
harvested. Water bodies have 
suffered extensive depletion 
and pollution, severely 
restricting food production. 
 According to the Human 
Development Report 2016 of the 
United Nations Development 
Programme, 663 million people 
in developing countries have 
no access to safe water and 
2.4 billion have no access to 
sanitation, resulting in the 
death of more than three 
million children every year. 
 Natural forests — which 
help stabilise the climate, 
moderate water supplies, 
and harbour a majority of the 
planet’s biodiversity on land—
are being cut down and people 
are being displaced. The loss 
of biodiversity continues due 
to the destruction of habitat 
in areas which are rich in 
species. 
 A steady decline in the total 
amount of ozone in the Earth’s 
stratosphere (commonly 
referred to as the ozone 
hole) poses a real danger 
to ecosystems and human 
health.
 Coastal pollution too is 
increasing globally. Although 
the open sea is relatively 
clean, the coastal waters are  
Politics in forests, 
politics in water, 
politics in 
atmosphere! What is 
not political then?
Around the Aral Sea, thousands of people have had to leave their 
homes as the toxic waters have totally destroyed the fishing industry. 
The shipping industry and all related activities have collapsed. 
Rising concentrations of salt in the soil have caused low crop yields. 
Numerous studies have been conducted. In fact locals joke that if 
everyone who’d come to study the Aral had brought a bucket of 
water, the sea would be full by now. Source: www.gobartimes.org
Chapter 6.indd   82 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
83
Environment and Natural Resources
becoming increasingly polluted 
largely due to land-based 
activities. If unchecked, 
intensive human settlement 
of coastal zones across the 
globe will lead to further 
deterioration in the quality of 
marine environment. 
You might ask are we not 
talking here about ‘natural 
phenomena’ that should be 
studied in geography rather than 
in political science. But think 
about it again. If the various 
governments take steps to check 
environmental degradation 
of the kind mentioned above, 
these issues will have political 
consequences in that sense. 
Most of them are such that no 
single government can address 
them fully. Therefore they have 
to become part of ‘world politics’. 
Issues of environment and 
natural resources are political in 
another deeper sense. Who causes 
environmental degradation? 
Who pays the price? And who is 
responsible for taking corrective 
action? Who gets to use how 
much of the natural resources 
of the Earth? All these raise the 
issue of who wields how much 
power. They are, therefore, deeply 
political questions.
Although environmental 
concerns have a long history, 
awareness of the environmental 
consequences of economic growth 
acquired an increasingly political 
character from the 1960s onwards. 
The Club of Rome, a global 
think tank, published a book in 
1972 entitled Limits to Growth, 
dramatising the potential depletion 
of the Earth’s resources against the 
backdrop of rapidly growing world 
population. International agencies, 
including the United Nations 
Environment Programme (UNEP), 
began holding international 
conferences and promoting 
detailed studies to get a more 
coordinated and effective response 
to environmental problems. Since 
then, the environment has emerged 
as a significant issue of global 
politics.
 The growing focus on 
environmental issues within the 
arena of global politics was firmly 
consolidated at the United Nations 
Conference on Environment 
and Development held in Rio 
de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 
1992. This was also called the 
Earth Summit. The summit was  
Collect news 
clippings 
on reports 
linking 
environment 
and politics 
in your own 
locality.
Global Warming       © Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
Why do you think the fingers are designed like chimneys and the 
world made into a lighter? 
Chapter 6.indd   83 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
Contemporary World Politics
84
attended by 170 states, thousands 
of NGOs and many multinational 
corporations. Five years earlier, 
the 1987 Brundtland Report, Our 
Common Future, had warned that 
traditional patterns of economic 
growth were not sustainable in the 
long term, especially in view of the 
demands of the South for further 
industrial development. What 
was obvious at the Rio Summit 
was that the rich and developed 
countries of the First World, 
generally referred to as the ‘global 
North’ were pursuing a different 
environmental agenda than the 
poor and developing countries of 
the Third World, called the ‘global 
South’. Whereas the Northern 
states were concerned with ozone 
depletion and global warming, the 
Southern states were anxious to 
address the relationship between 
economic development and 
environmental management.
The Rio Summit produced 
conventions dealing with climate 
change, biodiversity, forestry, and 
recommended a list of development 
practices called ‘Agenda 21’. But 
it left unresolved considerable 
differences and difficulties. There 
was a consensus on combining 
economic growth with ecological 
responsibility. This approach to 
development is commonly known 
as ‘sustainable development’. 
The problem however was how 
exactly this was to be achieved. 
Some critics have pointed out 
that Agenda 21 was biased 
in favour of economic growth 
rather than ensuring ecological 
conservation.  Let us look at some 
of the contentious issues in the 
global politics of environment.
t h E Prot ECtion of Global 
Commons 
‘Commons’ are those resources 
which are not owned by anyone 
but rather shared by a community.  
This could be a ‘common room’, a 
‘community centre’, a park or a 
river. Similarly, there are some 
Are there different perspectives from which the rich and the poor 
countries agree to protect the Earth?
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
Chapter 6.indd   84 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
Page 5


Overview This chapter examines the growing 
significance of environmental as 
well as resource issues in world 
politics. It analyses in a comparative 
perspective some of the important 
environmental movements against 
the backdrop of the rising profile of 
environmentalism from the 1960s 
onwards. Notions of common 
property resources and the global 
commons too are assessed. We 
also discuss, in brief, the stand 
taken by India in more recent 
environmental debates. Next follows 
a brief account of the geopolitics of 
resource competition. We conclude 
by taking note of the indigenous 
peoples’ voices and concerns from 
the margins of contemporary world 
politics.
Chapter 6
Environment and 
Natural Resources
The 1992 Earth Summit has brought environmental issues to 
the centre-stage of global politics. The pictures above show 
rainforest and mangroves.
Chapter 6.indd   81 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
Contemporary World Politics
82
Environm Ental Con CErns 
in Global Politi Cs In this book we have discussed 
‘world politics’ in a fairly limited 
sense: wars and treaties, rise 
and decline of state power, 
the relationship between the 
governments that represent their 
countries in the international 
arena and the role of inter-
governmental organisations. In 
Chapter 5, we expanded the scope 
of world politics to include issues 
like poverty and epidemics. That 
may not have been a very difficult 
step to take, for we all think that 
governments are responsible for 
controlling these. In that sense 
they fall within the scope of world 
politics. Now consider some other 
issues. Do you think they fall 
within the scope of contemporary 
world politics?
 Throughout the world, 
cultivable area is barely 
expanding any more, and a 
substantial portion of existing 
agricultural land is losing 
fertility. Grasslands have been 
overgrazed and fisheries over-
harvested. Water bodies have 
suffered extensive depletion 
and pollution, severely 
restricting food production. 
 According to the Human 
Development Report 2016 of the 
United Nations Development 
Programme, 663 million people 
in developing countries have 
no access to safe water and 
2.4 billion have no access to 
sanitation, resulting in the 
death of more than three 
million children every year. 
 Natural forests — which 
help stabilise the climate, 
moderate water supplies, 
and harbour a majority of the 
planet’s biodiversity on land—
are being cut down and people 
are being displaced. The loss 
of biodiversity continues due 
to the destruction of habitat 
in areas which are rich in 
species. 
 A steady decline in the total 
amount of ozone in the Earth’s 
stratosphere (commonly 
referred to as the ozone 
hole) poses a real danger 
to ecosystems and human 
health.
 Coastal pollution too is 
increasing globally. Although 
the open sea is relatively 
clean, the coastal waters are  
Politics in forests, 
politics in water, 
politics in 
atmosphere! What is 
not political then?
Around the Aral Sea, thousands of people have had to leave their 
homes as the toxic waters have totally destroyed the fishing industry. 
The shipping industry and all related activities have collapsed. 
Rising concentrations of salt in the soil have caused low crop yields. 
Numerous studies have been conducted. In fact locals joke that if 
everyone who’d come to study the Aral had brought a bucket of 
water, the sea would be full by now. Source: www.gobartimes.org
Chapter 6.indd   82 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
83
Environment and Natural Resources
becoming increasingly polluted 
largely due to land-based 
activities. If unchecked, 
intensive human settlement 
of coastal zones across the 
globe will lead to further 
deterioration in the quality of 
marine environment. 
You might ask are we not 
talking here about ‘natural 
phenomena’ that should be 
studied in geography rather than 
in political science. But think 
about it again. If the various 
governments take steps to check 
environmental degradation 
of the kind mentioned above, 
these issues will have political 
consequences in that sense. 
Most of them are such that no 
single government can address 
them fully. Therefore they have 
to become part of ‘world politics’. 
Issues of environment and 
natural resources are political in 
another deeper sense. Who causes 
environmental degradation? 
Who pays the price? And who is 
responsible for taking corrective 
action? Who gets to use how 
much of the natural resources 
of the Earth? All these raise the 
issue of who wields how much 
power. They are, therefore, deeply 
political questions.
Although environmental 
concerns have a long history, 
awareness of the environmental 
consequences of economic growth 
acquired an increasingly political 
character from the 1960s onwards. 
The Club of Rome, a global 
think tank, published a book in 
1972 entitled Limits to Growth, 
dramatising the potential depletion 
of the Earth’s resources against the 
backdrop of rapidly growing world 
population. International agencies, 
including the United Nations 
Environment Programme (UNEP), 
began holding international 
conferences and promoting 
detailed studies to get a more 
coordinated and effective response 
to environmental problems. Since 
then, the environment has emerged 
as a significant issue of global 
politics.
 The growing focus on 
environmental issues within the 
arena of global politics was firmly 
consolidated at the United Nations 
Conference on Environment 
and Development held in Rio 
de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 
1992. This was also called the 
Earth Summit. The summit was  
Collect news 
clippings 
on reports 
linking 
environment 
and politics 
in your own 
locality.
Global Warming       © Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
Why do you think the fingers are designed like chimneys and the 
world made into a lighter? 
Chapter 6.indd   83 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
Contemporary World Politics
84
attended by 170 states, thousands 
of NGOs and many multinational 
corporations. Five years earlier, 
the 1987 Brundtland Report, Our 
Common Future, had warned that 
traditional patterns of economic 
growth were not sustainable in the 
long term, especially in view of the 
demands of the South for further 
industrial development. What 
was obvious at the Rio Summit 
was that the rich and developed 
countries of the First World, 
generally referred to as the ‘global 
North’ were pursuing a different 
environmental agenda than the 
poor and developing countries of 
the Third World, called the ‘global 
South’. Whereas the Northern 
states were concerned with ozone 
depletion and global warming, the 
Southern states were anxious to 
address the relationship between 
economic development and 
environmental management.
The Rio Summit produced 
conventions dealing with climate 
change, biodiversity, forestry, and 
recommended a list of development 
practices called ‘Agenda 21’. But 
it left unresolved considerable 
differences and difficulties. There 
was a consensus on combining 
economic growth with ecological 
responsibility. This approach to 
development is commonly known 
as ‘sustainable development’. 
The problem however was how 
exactly this was to be achieved. 
Some critics have pointed out 
that Agenda 21 was biased 
in favour of economic growth 
rather than ensuring ecological 
conservation.  Let us look at some 
of the contentious issues in the 
global politics of environment.
t h E Prot ECtion of Global 
Commons 
‘Commons’ are those resources 
which are not owned by anyone 
but rather shared by a community.  
This could be a ‘common room’, a 
‘community centre’, a park or a 
river. Similarly, there are some 
Are there different perspectives from which the rich and the poor 
countries agree to protect the Earth?
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
Chapter 6.indd   84 14 September 2022   11:04:27
2024-25
85
Environment and Natural Resources
areas or regions of the world which 
are located outside the sovereign 
jurisdiction of any one state, 
and therefore require common 
governance by the international 
community. These are known 
as res communis humanitatis or 
global commons. They include the 
earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica 
(see Box), the ocean floor, and 
outer space. 
Cooperation over the global 
commons is not easy. There 
have been many path-breaking 
agreements such as the 1959 
Antarctic Treaty, the 1987 Montreal 
Protocol, and the 1991 Antarctic 
Environmental Protocol. A major 
problem underlying all ecological 
issues relates to the difficulty of 
achieving consensus on common 
environmental agendas on the 
Very soon we will 
have ecological 
degradation of the 
moon!
The Antarctic continental region extends 
over 14 million square kilometres and 
comprises 26 per cent of the world’s 
wilderness area, representing 90 per cent 
of all terrestrial ice and 70 per cent of 
planetary fresh water. The Antarctic also 
extends to a further 36 million square 
kilometres of ocean. It has a limited 
terrestrial life and a highly productive 
marine ecosystem, comprising a few 
plants (e.g. microscopic algae, fungi and 
lichen), marine mammals, fish and hordes 
of birds adapted to harsh conditions, as 
well as the krill, which is central to marine 
food chain and upon which other animals 
are dependent. The Antarctic plays an 
important role in maintaining climatic 
equilibrium, and deep ice cores provide 
an important source of information about 
greenhouse gas concentrations and 
atmospheric temperatures of hundreds 
and thousands of years ago.
Who owns this coldest, farthest, and windiest continent on globe? There are two claims about it. Some 
countries like the UK, Argentina, Chile, Norway, France, Australia and New Zealand have made legal 
claims to sovereign rights over Antarctic territory.  Most other states have taken the opposite view that 
the Antarctic is a part of the global commons and not subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of any state. 
These differences, however, have not prevented the adoption of innovative and potentially far-reaching 
rules for the protection of the Antarctic environment and its ecosystem. The Antarctic and the Arctic polar 
regions are subjected to special regional rules of environmental protection. Since 1959, activities in the 
area have been limited to scientific research, fishing and tourism. Even these limited activities have not 
prevented parts of the region from being degraded by waste as a result of oil spills.
ANTARCTICA 
Chapter 6.indd   85 14 September 2022   11:04:28
2024-25