Global economic & military rivalries causing environment deterioration

The very uneasy & unbearable weather and the overall deteriorating environmental conditions in coastal areas all over the world have become the new trend of our planet’s environment. The economic & military rivalries among different countries around the world are to be blamed.

Such rivalries have been causing excessive industrialization and increasing trend of production & usage of military hardwares for conflicts & wars that are further causing environment of our planet to deteriorate drastically.

The global & regional economic rivalries are pushing the rival states to thrust for an unprecedented & unchecked militarization of different geopolitical hotspots of our globe and to propel for producing, acquiring & using destructive weapons. Such economic & military rivalries have been the reason behind worsening weather conditions in victim countries with flat & low-lying coastal areas.

Geo-economic rivalries & the resulting pollution

The “industrialized” countries had already done enormous damage to our planet’s environment in each of their attempt to supersede the other in industrial revolution and in terms of the size of economy. The same is happening in case of “young industrialized” economies and in case of the current “industrializing” economies. In the race of economic might, the victims have always been the environment and the human beings.

The effects of industrial competition among the economic powers are far reaching and liable to affect the eco-system for many years to come. One particularly damaging effect is the dumping of harmful used-water from industrial sites into open oceans, seas or rivers, damaging many of the water sources around the globe and, thus, causing health issues to the people who use such water for different purposes. For instance, the same water is used by the farmers for irrigation purpose which affects the quality of food that is produced, causing health issues to the people who consume those foods. Moreover, industrial competition among the economic powers have pushed them to increase their industrial capacities to an excessive level and, thus, causing immense air pollution which has taken toll on the environment and the health of the human being. The human and the environment are at risk from exposure to radiation from different sources, including radioactive materials, accelerators, electrical installations, mobile broadcasting centres etc. The most alarming effect of this economic competition among the economic powers is the global warming, which result from the smoke and greenhouse gases that are being released by industries into the air.

Environmental impacts of militarization

The heavy economic competitions among the global & regional economic powers are resulting in geopolitical rivalries among themselves. These countries, therefore, are resorting to heavily arming their arsenals with weapons, from light firearms to heavily destructive firearms, to barrel bombs and chemical weapons, to nuclear missiles. Some state-players are also resorting to wars & proxy wars.

The wars around the globe have been seriously impacting the natural environments of not only the war-torn countries, but also most of the countries around the globe. The weaponry & military vehicles used in the war zones have been producing many hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and sulphur dioxide – all of which are immensely injurious to our planet’s environment. Air pollutions from weaponry & military vehicles have, over the years, adversely affected human health. Increase in cancer, birth defects, and other adverse health conditions are associated with war-related environmental damage.

Rise in temperatures & sea-level

The urge for economic supremacy among the powerful economies around the globe has increased the human activities of burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. Such a trend is altering the relatively stable and liveable environmental conditions of our planet. Such burning of fossil fuels, which release carbons that have previously been locked up in coal, oil and natural gas for millions of years, cause gradual rise in average global temperatures. Such gradual rise in average global temperatures (global warming) poses a number of threats: (i) the threat to human health increases by many times, (ii) ecosystem is damaged due to higher temperatures, (iv) changing weather patterns cause irreversible damage to agriculture, (iv) coastal areas are vulnerable to the lethal combination of “rising sea level” and increasing number of severe ocean storms that are caused by the melting of mountain-ice and polar glaciers.

The effects of the continuation of the rise in sea-levels are deep. It would submerge under water many areas around the globe, especially the coastal ones; and perhaps it will not take decades for the coastlines to change. The rise in sea-levels has been causing more floods, especially during storms. Higher sea-levels have increased the size of the flow of water that the super-storms generally bring into inland from the ocean. Some short term impacts of rise in sea-level are regularly experienced these days by many victims around the globe. The Tsunami is an ideal example of what sort of disaster the rise in sea-level could lead us up to.

Developing countries with flat & low-lying coastal areas

The global & regional economic & military rivalries have been causing environmental deterioration around the globe and developing countries having flat & low-lying coastal areas are among the victims of such deteriorating environmental conditions. Besides the major problems of poverty and illiteracy, these countries’ vulnerability to environmental deterioration is very alarming. The overall economic developments of these countries have been troubled to a considerable extent by the adverse effects of deteriorating global environmental conditions.

With flat and low-lying landscape, the coastal areas of these countries are highly vulnerable to floods and storms. Among the major impacts of the environmental deterioration – particularly of the global warming – the increasing rise in sea-level every year has been the most alarming one so far, with the possibility of submerging a substantial percentage of the total coastal landmass of these countries under water.

A prediction made in 2007 by the UK Department for International Development suggests that there is the possibility that 6-8% of ‘flood-prone’ Bangladesh may be submerged under water by 2030. From the 4th assessment report published by the International Panel on Climate Change or IPCC, it appears that a substantial portion of coastal areas of Myanmar is predicted to be submerged under water by 2050.

In long run, the coastline and coastal cities of many developing countries having flat & low-lying landscape will be lost because of rise in sea-level. But in the short term, sea-level rise will cause more damage through floods and powerful storms that might bring water into inland with them, causing devastation like that of the Tsunami. Substantial portion of the total population of these countries live in the coastal areas, where majority of the population are affected, directly or indirectly, by coastal floods or tidal flows, salinity, tropical cyclones, erosion of river-bank etc. With the rise of sea-level “even by a metre”, these countries could lose a substantial percentage of their total landmass under water, turning millions of inhabitants living in the coastal areas into climate refugees.

Observations

German scholars from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PICIR) warned that if incentives of the global warming are not reduced immediately worldwide, a series of unstoppable events will be triggered, causing dramatic rise in sea-levels and the total annihilation of coastal cities inhabited by millions of people. Therefore, in line with the suggestion from PICIR, the incentives of global warming, which, among others, includes the worldwide economic & military competition, must be reduced. Otherwise, millions of coastal inhabitants around the globe would face a survival threat.

Developing countries with flat & low-lying coastal areas are likely to experience more ‘immediate’ adverse impacts of environmental deterioration. Agriculture, industry, school, hospitals, roads, bridges, livelihoods, marine resources, forestry, biodiversity, human health and other utility services will suffer severely.

All in all, it is high time for “affected” & “to be affected” countries to start working together on real solutions with utmost urgency in the global & regional level.

Bahauddin Foizee
Bahauddin Foizee
Bahauddin Foizee is an international affairs analyst and columnist, and regularly writes on greater Asia-Pacific, Indian Oceanic region and greater Middle East geopolitics. He also - infrequently - writes on environment & climate change and the global refugee crisis. Besides Modern Diplomacy, his articles have appeared at The Diplomat, Global New Light of Myanmar, Asia Times, Eurasia Review, Middle East Monitor, International Policy Digest and a number of other international publications. His columns also appear in the Dhaka-based national newspapers, including Daily Observer, Daily Sun, Daily Star, The Independent, The New Nation, Financial Express, New age and bdnews24com. He previously taught law at Dhaka Centre for Law & Economics and worked at Bangladesh Institute of Legal Development.