Environmental Issues in Regional Context

Some of the major forms of environmental insecurities in the region are water and air pollution. Water pollution is caused by radioactive waste disposal, industrial waste dumping, oil spills, heavy metals and agricultural chemical runoff (Haque, pg. 213). Some examples of air pollution are emissions from coal-burning factories and power plants in China. Examples of air pollution are the use of products cntaining CFCs and an increase of greenhouse gasses emitted by industrial areas.

Haque states four things that have lead to environmental degradaton: 1) population pressure caused by increasing population 2) the intensive process of land development and urbanization 3) the rapid rates of industrial expansion and 4) the exceptionall high economic growth rate. All of these factors lead to governments priortizing their policies, with environmental concerns coming in at the bottom of the list, after other concerns like population, economy, and industry. Because, after all, governments are supposed to protect and provide for the people but not necessarily the environment. And its really hard to deny and justify denying people food and shelter who are desperately in need of it so that the government can protect the environment. This isn't to say that people can't be fed and sheltered while the environment is protected; but many, if not all, of these countries do not have to resources to do both at the same time, leading to the massive environmental degradation that is rampant in the area.