Climate Change And International Politics

Accustomed to understanding security primarily a matter spatial exercise in distancing and boundary making on the part of states and their military alliances to secure borders and institutions from outside threats, the nations of the world have so far given a short shrift to the gravity of environmental degradation as a non-traditional security threat, or as a factor or catalyst of intrastate or interstate conflict, or at worst, a security threat to entire humanity until the shafts of retaliatory responses of the infuriated climate change to the cloddish and brutish power of the rich industrialized nations to destroy it by its emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, pointed toward man menacing with funereal and cascading consequences of global warming. Thus, climate change, which has so far been on the fringe of human concern, or in American President's view a myth or a hoax, has catapulted into the center stage of great political flare up among the nations of the world on the issue of apportioning the responsibility on rich industrialized nations or the populous South to mitigate the dangers of climate change, which seems to be mired in the contradiction between North's advocacy of inequity in having uncontested access to the atmosphere as carbon sinks, and equity while disabusing the atmosphere of the carbon debris. Not walking on trodden furrows, this book expatiates on the desideratum of a paradigm shift from faith in the Newtonian mechanistic view of the universe to a faith in the profundity of Eastern wisdom and new insights presently found in science, which see both nature and human beings as warp and woof woven beautifully into the divine tapestry.
About Author :
Narottam Gaan, Ph.D. and D.Litt. has been imparting teaching in Political Science in different colleges in Orissa since 1978 with unflinching commitment and dedication. Not being lured by the lucre of Allied Services (ICS) in 1983, he left the job to remain in the academic life. Publication of innumerable articles and papers in various journals in India and abroad, and eight books including this stand as a testament to his scholarship and deep acquaintance with a wide ranging subjects concerning policy makers, statesmen, scholars, social scientists and humanity at large. Privileged to visit Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia on an Austrian government scholarship, he attended many conferences and programmes abroad and received advanced degree in international studies from European University Centre for Peace Studies, Stadtschlaining, Austria. His present work on environment, security, development, peace, human security and economic rethinking and various national and international issues challenging the established views on state, sovereignty and national security, entities him to be one of the few celebrated scholars working in India. As a prolific writer, he has earned encomium from both laymen and readers in India and abroad.
Contents :
Preface Acknowledgements Introduction : Climate as a Factor in International Politics Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change Global Warming : Causes and Consequences Major International Conferences on Climate Change Measures of Kyoto Protocol International Cooperation and Constraints Climate Change and Threats to Human Security Conclusion Bibliography Index