Essence of International Environmental Law to Address the Effects of Climate Change

Introduction

Environmental problems are enormous around the world and the same are threatening the global environment. In most cases, such problems are caused by the rapid growth of population and poverty. The uncontrolled growth of urbanization and industrialization, expansion and massive intensification of agriculture, and the destruction of forests are the root causes of environmental crises around the world. Major environmental issues include forest and agricultural degradation of land, resource depletion, environmental degradation, poor public health, loss of biodiversity, loss of resilience in ecosystems, livelihood security for the poor. The increasing rate of population in comparison to the resources availability aggravates the environmental problems. Lack of resources in developing countries causes obstacles in providing proper sanitation and clean water facilities to the public.

People are indiscriminately destroying the forests for managing their fuel and furniture as being necessitated by the overpopulation. Because of continuous growth of population, the governments cannot afford their citizens with adequate food, shelter, employment and other necessary amenities for a decent livelihood. Again, the growth and expansion of the industries affect the environment for emission of greenhouse gases.

Global processes such as climate change inflict the consequences of behaviors that originate at great distances in time and space and necessitate coordinated cross-scale efforts that exceed the national economic and political capacities of poor states (Pelling, 2003). Climate change and sustainable development are inter-linked and priority issues in the development continuum. Any adverse impact on the environment and biodiversity can cause restricting the resources and limiting the options.