Should Rich Countries Pay More for Environmental Damage?

Today, the callfor saving our earth has been emphasized in the worldwide. In this case, many environmentalists claim that rich nations should bear more responsibilities for the environmental unbalance than poorer nations. In this essay, I would like to look at some of the reasons why advanced countries should be responsible for the damage they have done to our earth.

First of all, developed countries have their historical responsibility and obligation to pay more for the worsening environment. It is believed that, in the last two hundred years during the process of industrialization, a great amount of environmental debt has been owed by rich nations. They have consumed enormous natural resources and released immeasurable amount of greenhouse gases and the development they made was based on the sacrifice of the environment.

Second, according to United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (UNMEA) , developed countries only account for fifteen per cent of the world’s population, but use over eighty five per cent of its resources. In order to satisfy their high consumption of lifestyle, a form of environmental colonism has recently been developed by transferring their resource-intensive and polluting industries to developing countries. Without these industries, it seems that rich nations have their environmental standard raised so as to combat the global environmental crisis. However, they turn a blind eye on the reality that any problems can be relocated except the pollution.

Furthermore, in terms of the existing situation of environmental damage, developed countries are capable of making more efforts financially and scientifically. For example, sufficient funds can be provided for poorer countries to control pollution and new energy efficient technology can be developed to cater for the demand of human activities.

In conclusion, taking all the above arguments into consideration, advanced countries are essential to control and ameliorate the environmental crisis and they should bear more responsibilitiesto the damage in our planet.