Environment and Natural Resources

2.1 Core concepts

Environmental issues are no longer the preserve of geographers and naturalists — they have become "central to politics" because the planet's life-support systems are coming under intolerable strain (NCERT §Environmental Concerns, p. 82). The symptoms: Cultivable land worldwide is barely expanding and existing agricultural land is losing fertility; grasslands are overgrazed, fisheries over-harvested, and water bodies depleted and polluted, restricting food production. According to the UNDP Human Development Report 2016, 663 million people in developing countries lack safe water and 2.4 billion lack sanitation, causing the death of more than three million children each year (NCERT p. 82). Natural forests stabilise climate, moderate water supplies and harbour most terrestrial biodiversity; their destruction and the steady decline of stratospheric ozone (the "ozone hole") endanger ecosystems and human health. Coastal pollution from land-based activities is increasing globally; the open sea remains relatively clean but coastal waters are becoming severely polluted (NCERT pp. 82–83).

The political moment of this awareness, NCERT tells us, came in the 1960s. The **Club of Rome's 1972 book Limits to Growth dramatised possible resource depletion against rising population, and the newly created United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) began holding international conferences (NCERT p. 83). The defining institutional moment was the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development — the Earth Summit — held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992, attended by 170 states, thousands of NGOs and many MNCs (NCERT pp. 83–84). The intellectual prelude was the Brundtland Report of 1987, Our Common Future, which warned that traditional patterns of economic growth were not sustainable in the long term and gave currency to the term sustainable development**.

At Rio, the North–South divide was visible. The Northern (First World) states focused primarily on ozone depletion and global warming, treating the environment as a stand-alone problem. The Southern (Third World) states insisted on the link between economic development and environmental management — without development, they argued, the South could not afford the environmental investments the North demanded (NCERT p. 84). The Summit nevertheless produced conventions on climate change, biodiversity and forestry, and recommended a sweeping list of development practices called Agenda 21. Critics — many from the South — argued that Agenda 21 was biased in favour of economic growth rather than ecological conservation (NCERT p. 84).

The "Global Commons" are areas outside any state's sovereign jurisdiction that require common governance. The Latin term res communis humanitatis captures the idea: these belong to humanity as a whole. NCERT names four: the earth's atmosphere, Antarctica, the ocean floor and outer space (NCERT §Protection of Global Commons, p. 85). Antarctica alone extends over 14 million sq km — 26 per cent of the world's wilderness, 90 per cent of all terrestrial ice and 70 per cent of the planet's fresh water. Since 1959, activities on the continent have been limited to scientific research, fishing and tourism. The major cooperative agreements on commons are the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, the 1987 Montreal Protocol (on ozone-depleting substances), and the 1991 Antarctic Environmental Protocol; the ozone hole over Antarctica was discovered in the mid-1980s (NCERT pp. 85–86).

The Rio Declaration (1992) made formal the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" (CBDR) — accepting that all states share responsibility for the global environment but developed countries bear greater responsibility given their historical contribution to degradation (NCERT §CBDR, pp. 86–87). The 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) required parties to act "on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities." On this principle, China, India and other developing countries were exempted from the binding greenhouse-gas reduction targets of the Kyoto Protocol — agreed in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, which set greenhouse-gas reduction targets for industrialised countries. The greenhouse gases targeted include carbon dioxide, methane and hydrofluorocarbons (NCERT p. 87).

The global commons differ from common property resources — resources owned and managed by a community whose members share rights and duties for use and maintenance. The Indian example par excellence is the sacred grove along the South Indian forest belt, where village communities have for centuries managed forest tracts under religious sanction (NCERT §Common Property Resources & Sacred Groves box, p. 88).

India's stand is set out at length (NCERT §India's Stand on Environmental Issues, pp. 88–90). India signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol in August 2002 and ratified the Paris Climate Agreement on 2 October 2016. India has one of the world's largest renewable-energy programmes. The Indian argument rests on the historical responsibility principle: India's per capita emissions are predicted to rise from 0.9 tonnes in 2000 to 1.6 tonnes by 2030, still less than half the 2000 world average of 3.8 tonnes. India's key domestic measures — the National Auto-fuel Policy, the Energy Conservation Act 2001 and the Electricity Act 2003 (encouraging renewables).

The section on environmental movements (NCERT pp. 90–92) emphasises diversity: forest movements in the South (Mexico, Chile, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil), anti-mining campaigns (against the Western Mining Corporation in the Philippines), and anti-dam/pro-river movements such as India's Narmada Bachao Andolan, which is rooted in non-violence. The first anti-dam movement in the North was the early-1980s campaign to save Australia's Franklin River.

Resource geopolitics is the most concrete demonstration of how natural resources shape world politics (NCERT pp. 92–95). The driving question is "who gets what, when, where and how." Oil is the single most important resource: West Asia (the Gulf) accounts for about 30 per cent of global oil production and 64 per cent of known reserves, with Saudi Arabia holding a quarter of the world's reserves, and Iraq second. Water disputes typically involve downstream (lower riparian) states objecting to upstream (upper riparian) dams, diversion or pollution — examples include the Israel–Syria–Jordan conflict of the 1950s–60s over the Jordan and Yarmuk rivers, and the Turkey–Syria–Iraq dispute over the Euphrates.

The rights of indigenous peoples (NCERT pp. 95–97). The UN defines indigenous populations as "descendants of peoples who inhabited the present territory of a country at the time when persons of a different culture or ethnic origin arrived there." There are roughly 30 crore indigenous people worldwide; in India they are identified with the Scheduled Tribes, around 8 per cent of population. The World Council of Indigenous Peoples was formed in 1975 and became the first of 11 indigenous NGOs to receive consultative status in the UN. NCERT emphasises that indigenous communities — whose traditional lifestyles depend on subsistence agriculture, hunting, gathering and fishing in close communion with forest and water resources — have suffered disproportionately from the conversion of common lands into private property, from mining and dam projects, and from forced displacement. Their political demands — recognition as distinct peoples, secure land rights, protection of customary self-governance, and a meaningful voice in international environmental negotiations — are now an integral part of the global environmental conversation.

The overarching analytical thread is that environmental issues cannot be separated from questions of justice between states and within them. The Rio model — sustainable development plus CBDR plus common-property recognition — is presented as the practical synthesis of these claims, even though it remains contested. The Indian position, as NCERT presents it, holds together three commitments simultaneously: full participation in the multilateral climate regime (Kyoto in 2002, Paris in 2016); insistence on the historical-responsibility principle so that developing countries' per-capita emissions are not capped at unfair levels; and strong domestic legislation (Energy Conservation Act 2001, Electricity Act 2003, National Auto-fuel Policy) to drive an indigenous transition. Together, these moves position India as both a beneficiary of CBDR and an active claimant in shaping its evolution.

2.2 Definitions to memorise

2.3 Diagrams / processes to remember

• Rio Earth Summit timeline — 1972 Limits to Growth → 1987 Brundtland Report → 1992 Rio Summit → 1997 Kyoto Protocol → 2002 India ratifies Kyoto → 2016 Paris Agreement ratified by India (NCERT pp. 83, 84, 87, 88, 90).
• The North–South divide diagram in environmental priorities — North: ozone, global warming; South: linkage between economic development and environmental management (NCERT p. 84).
• Antarctica fact-box — 14 million sq km area, 26% of world wilderness, 90% terrestrial ice, 70% planetary fresh water (NCERT p. 85).
• West-Asia oil geography — ~30 per cent global production, ~64 per cent known reserves; Saudi Arabia = 1/4 world reserves; Iraq second (NCERT p. 93).
• Process map — Awareness (§Environmental Concerns) → Rio 1992 (§Environmental Concerns) → Global Commons (§Global Commons) → CBDR + UNFCCC + Kyoto (§CBDR) → Common Property + India's stand (§India's Stand) → Environmental movements (§Environmental Movements) → Resource geopolitics (§Resource Geopolitics) → Indigenous rights (§Indigenous Peoples).

2.5 Key Articles / Treaties / Events

2.4 Common confusions / NTA trap points

• The Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro (1992), NOT in Stockholm (1972) or Johannesburg (2002).
• The Brundtland Report Our Common Future came in 1987, five years BEFORE the 1992 Rio Summit — students often invert this.
• The Kyoto Protocol was agreed in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan (not at Rio); India ratified it in August 2002.
• "Global commons" specifically means atmosphere, Antarctica, ocean floor and outer space — students often add forests or oceans-in-general, which is wrong.
• CBDR does NOT mean developing countries have no duty; it means developed countries bear greater responsibility because of historical emissions.
• The first anti-dam movement in the North was about the Franklin River in Australia, not Narmada — Narmada Bachao Andolan is an Indian (Southern) example.
• Common property resources ≠ global commons — common property is community-managed (sacred groves); global commons are outside any state's sovereignty.
• India's per-capita emissions in 2030 are predicted at 1.6 tonnes, still less than half the world average of 3.8 tonnes (2000) — distractors invert this.
• The 2 October 2016 date for Indian ratification of Paris is exact — trap items shift the month/year.
• The Saudi share of world oil reserves is a quarter (25%) — not half.
• Iraq is the second largest reserves-holder in the Gulf, not Iran.
• UNDP HDR 2016 is the source of the water-and-sanitation fact sheet (p. 82), not UNEP or WHO.