A new study from the University of California at Berkeley is the first global study to calculate the real cost of countries' ecological footprints.
A new study from the University of California at Berkeley is the first global study to calculate the real cost of countries' ecological footprints.
The study examined the impacts of the expansion of agriculture, deforestation, overfishing, loss of swamps and ozone completion from 1961 to 2000.
When all these impacts are added up, the portion of the footprint of high-income nations falling on low-income countries is greater than their entire financial debt, or about $1.8 trillion.
Yet another reason for the overwhelming argument supporting the forgiveness of third world debt to international predatory lenders (World Bank and IMF). The study also admits that their calculated cost is conservative because they did not include more complicated factors like loss of habitat and the effects of industrial pollution.
It is time to give up the illusion that wealth is simply created in industrialized nations, divorced from the plight of the poor who increasingly shoulder the burden of our "development." What is commonly referred to as an unprecedented creation of wealth in the 20th century is actually a transfer of wealth from poor countries to rich ones. This wealth is then forced back on poor countries in the form of high-interest loans to provide basic human services.
If we're serious about addressing climate change, we have to stop this stealing/lending cycle and pay back the debt we have incurred. Or we can minimize our responsibility, pay our way through climate change, and leave most of the catastrophic impact to the poor majority of the world who always carry our baggage.