International Environmental Policy

Sovereignty is a bedrock principle of international relations and foreign policy. However, sovereignty does not imply that all countries have the same capacity to create, implement, and enforce effective laws within their national territory. Regrettably, many countries are currently unable to protect some of the most important natural resources within their own national boundaries. In particular, many poor, developing countries struggle to preserve and conserve some of the most important environmental resources that make up the natural wealth of their nation. In addition, many wealthy countries exploit critical natural resources unsustainably in the name of profit, economic development, and/or poverty alleviation. International environmental agreements to protect these resources from degradation and over-exploitation may be signed, ratified, and endorsed but it does not mean that all countries have the capacity to implement, monitor, or enforce the statues of these agreements. As a consequence, the carrying capacity and ecological health of our planet is in jeopardy.

Globally, there are certain critical natural resources that almost all humans rely upon for subsistence. Healthy forests, sustainable fisheries, clean air, potable water, arable land, and a stable climate are all fundamental natural resources. Describe the status of three of these natural resources across the globe, with a focus on the way human influence has altered the health and overall abundance of those resources. Next, evaluate the social, cultural, political, economic, ethical, and environmental variances between and within countries, and explain how those differences are manifested as disparities in the health and overall abundance of these three global natural resources. Finally, discuss what can be done to reduce the variances within and between countries that drive disparities in the sustainable management of these three global natural resources.

Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support your claims with examples from the required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references.