Background Paper
The practical role of trade unions in improving environmental protection and sustainable development

Trade union education programmes allow workers and their representatives to improve their knowledge and provide them with a basic grounding in environmental and sustainable development issues so that they can fulfil their functions as responsible trade unionists. The aim is firstly, to create a clear awareness of the issues involved, and secondly, to be able to use the knowledge gained for effective action to bring about improvements without having to rely on others to find solutions. This is an important concept, for while other parties may be responsible for a large part of environmental damage as well as development policy, trade unions obviously need to develop their own policies and strategy in this area so that their interests are not sacrificed in the process of change. In addition, it is becoming increasingly apparent that some of the issues and trends involved in today's environmental challenges are going to require imaginative and moral solutions, so that as many parties as may be affected should be able to contribute.

A basic knowledge of the issues involved, while it cannot be a means to power on its own, is the first step in that direction and will demonstrate the linkages in what at first sight may appear to be specific, local problems, as well as stimulate ideas for priorities.

This chapter will outline the kinds of environmental and sustainable development problems that the world faces and the areas that the trade unions believe must be priorities for action. It can form the basis for ideas and provide a resource which can be used for education and campaign work by trade unionists and educators in this field. Not all the issues outlined will be of priority for all countries or all trade unions, but they can promote discussion and action as appropriate.

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Population growth

Rapid growth in world population is one of the most important factors influencing the environment today. With world population figures standing at 5 billion in 1987, the United Nations now projects that world population will reach 6 billion by the year 2000. It further predicts that this figure may reach 10 billion by 2050 and continue to grow for the next century to 11.6 billion before it starts to fall. Analyses differ, however, and it is also thought quite possible that the world's population could reach equilibrium at 14.2 billion by the year 2100.

This rate of growth already compromises many governments' efforts to provide food, health care, shelter, education and fuel. The gap between numbers and resources is even more compelling when so much of this population growth is concentrated in lower-income countries and in environmentally disadvantaged areas. Demographic trends suggest that 90 per cent of the projected increase in population by the year 2050 will live in low-income African, Asian and Latin American countries.

Much has been said about the need to halt or at least reduce population growth, especially in regard to these countries, but the solution is not so straightforward as it may seem. As the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions points out in its policy document Environment and development: the trade union agenda, ⁸ population control is largely a function of improvement in the standard of living, and not the reverse as some insist. Pressures for population growth will cease when wealth and development are seen as guaranteed to the poor in developing countries. Developing countries that are in many cases already encountering significant degradation of their natural resources and environment will need to achieve rapid economic growth if they are to meet even the minimum needs of their population. This economic growth will need to be achieved without placing unsustainable pressures on local and global environmental resources.

However, population growth rates are not the challenge solely of those countries with a high rate of increase: an additional person in an industrialized country consumes far more resources and places far greater pressures on the global commons (air, water, etc.) than an additional person in the Third World.

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Poverty

The World Commission on Environment and Development recognizes poverty as both a major cause and effect of environmental problems. The Declaration of Philadelphia states that "... poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere..."

There are more hungry people in the world today than ever before, and their numbers are growing. About 40 per cent of the world's poor are in Bangladesh, India and other South East Asian countries. Another 20 per cent are in China. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for about 15 per cent, as does East Asia (principally Indonesia). Latin America, North America and the Middle East account for about 3 per cent each.

Inequalities between areas and individual countries represent great differences both in the quality of life, and in the capacities of societies to improve their quality of life in the future. Most of the world's poorest economies depend on agricultural products for increased export earnings, which puts pressure on good land for commercial use. This pushes out subsistence farmers, destroys forests and encourages mass migration to cities where a growing number of poor live in slums and shanty towns. The net result is environmental stress with increased "natural" disasters such as the consequences of flood or drought. Poverty, and the massive unemployment that goes hand in hand with it, has led to both the degradation of the environment and the denial of human dignity and social status. Environmental problems therefore have to be examined in the light of world poverty and International inequality.

In order to break this vicious circle it is necessary to improve access to education and income-generating activities, especially for women and indigenous peoples. Such action to alleviate poverty can play an important role in promoting and achieving economic growth through an environmentally sound and sustainable use of local resources.

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Urbanization

In 1940 only one person in eight lived in an urban area. In 1960 this figure was one in five, and in 1980 nearly one in three. By the turn of the century, almost half the world's population will live in urban centres.

Particular concern has been shown at the growth in the size of cities, especially in developing countries. The UN has estimated that by the year 2000 more than two-thirds of the 30 largest cities will be in developing countries. Current trends mean that Third World cities could add a further three-quarters of a billion people by the year 2000. . At the same time cities of industrialized countries, could grow by 111 million people.

Such rapid and polarized growth can strain the capacity of municipal authorities and central government to cope with negative effects on land use, city planning, public services, water supplies and waste disposal systems, transport and housing. This situation will inevitably have an adverse effect on health, especially of the urban poor. Indeed, a 1992 study by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme of air quality in 20 megacities with populations of 10 million or more points to increases in lung, heart and brain damage as more people move to cities. The study highlights the role of traffic fumes, open refuse burning, sewage systems and industrial and manufacturing processes as major causes of health problems. Moreover, while it was found that such major cities as London and New York have significantly improved their air quality, cities in developing countries - and especially Mexico City - were identified as the most polluted.

Rapid urbanization also has an effect on the environment in the form of uncontrolled physical expansion consuming good agricultural land, or, equally disastrous, ecologically fragile. land, which could worsen the consequences of flood or landslide. Increased demand for fuel and food also puts pressure on the surrounding area, as does the need to dispose of ever-increasing quantities of urban wastes.

This focus on urbanization in developing countries does not mean that cities of industrialized countries are without problems. These cities account for a high share of the world's resource use, energy consumption and environmental pollution. They face deteriorating infrastructure, inner city decay and environmental degradation. The difference remains, however, that most industrialized countries have the means and resources to tackle decline, and some have even succeeded in reversing such trends. The issue for industrialized countries is ultimately one of political and social choice, whereas developing countries are not in the same situation - they have a major urban crisis on their hands.

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Desertification

Desertification has been defined as the diminution or destruction of the biological potential of land. There are a number of reasons which account for the present loss in agricultural potential from desertification, but human activities are now considered the most important., and natural causes such a: drought seen only as contributing factors. This shift in perception of cause is important, for it is now clear that desertification can be prevented or even reversed by a change in human activities.

The exodus from rural areas to urban centres has resulted in increased pressure on many ecosystems, both by consuming good agricultural land and by intensifying demands for fuel, food and water. In many instances the consequence has been mismanagement or over-exploitation of farm land and water resources, with traditional, more ecologically sustainable systems of agriculture giving way to unsustainable practices.

Other elements in the degradation of soil and desertification include the adoption of intensive agricultural techniques relying on monoculture, the use of sophisticated machinery, the addition of agrochemicals and the irrigation of soil to raise productivity. Paradoxically, as agricultural and plantation workers know to their bitter experience, such misuse of products has given rise to health hazards, to contamination of soil, crops and waterways, to increased resistance of pests to pesticides, and to soil erosion and loss of soil fertility.

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Deforestation

Deforestation is closely linked to desertification and is one of the leading causes of land degradation. Forests and woodlands constitute one of the earth's main natural resources: half the world's population depend on forests for fuel, and they are home to millions of plant and animal species which represent a rich source of biodiversity.

Nevertheless, the world's forests are quickly diminishing. Recent estimates show, for instance, an annual rate of deforestation in Latin America and the Caribbean of over 7 million hectares, amounting to 200 million hectares of land cleared over the past 30 years in the region. Clearance and destruction are threatening, in the short term, to make the forests of Latin America disappear altogether, jeopardizing the stability of the region and the ecological equilibrium of the whole world. ⁹

Attention has focused mainly on deforestation of tropical rain forests in developing countries. In these countries sheer poverty is forcing greater numbers of people to invade forest areas in search of land for crops and fuel. At the same time, governments desperate to raise foreign exchange earnings and employment, and to finance economic development programmes are turning to the forests as an easily exploitable resource. The net result is that destruction of forests in most developing countries is accelerating.

Forest damage from pollution in industrialized countries has meant that the continued existence of forests in temperate climates is also threatened. Therefore industrialized countries' appeals to protect tropical rain forests can hardly be convincing if, at the same time, no measures are taken to protect their own forests. Moreover, forest management activities, particularly in the form of subsidies, in some industrialized countries, and government tariffs on processed wood products from developing countries mean that forestry output worldwide is not durable.

Trade unions representing those workers whose livelihoods depend on forests and forest products are aware of the challenge and have come to the conclusion that it is in their own best interests to protect and wisely manage the forests that provide them with work and income. If forests are managed sparingly and carefully, including policies to allow developing countries to be able to benefit from converting timber into higher value added products, then wood, as a self-renewing resource, will still be available for centuries to come. For instance, it has been estimated that the world's pulp and paper needs could be met by careful management of an area of 200 by 200 kilometres, or 4 million hectares.

In addition to providing resources and employment, forests also perform a number of other essential functions. Recently attention has been given to the role of forests as the "lungs of the planet", which may influence global warming. Forests are also linked to the general improvement of quality of life and the satisfaction of basic needs such as recreation, leisure and culture. Added to this is the still largely unexplored potential of tropical rain forests with their large genetic diversity as sources of useful foods and medicines. Given the huge biological wealth of forests it is clear that care and protection of forest ecosystems must take very high priority.

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Industrialization

The last decades have witnessed considerable growth in industrial production and trade, particularly in developing countries. While such growth has brought obvious benefits, it frequently has also entailed risks of damage to the environment and human health.

The negative impacts of industrial activity were initially perceived as local problems of air, water and soil pollution. Industrialized countries still suffer from these "traditional" forms of local pollution, but such problems have also risen in some areas of the developing countries. While industrialization is a legitimate and Indispensable need for the development of any country there has been a clear tendency for the pattern of industrial production in developing countries to move towards more capital-intensive activities such as chemicals, metals, machinery and equipment. These heavy industries have traditionally been the most polluting in contrast to light industries. This type of growth in developing countries threatens to increase pollution and resource degradation unless environmental considerations are integrated into industrial planning.

Environmental goals may be hindered in developing countries by the buying of outmoded equipment or processes from industrialized countries. Older or second-hand, cheaper technology may be more attractive financially, but it also tends to be "dirtier", having a negative impact on the environment, or it may even involve the use of unsafe plant, banned in its country of origin, Reliance on such technology should not be seen as an acceptable option for industrialization.

Export of heavily polluting industries that have been strictly regulated in one country to another with less environmental regulation is another problem related to developing countries' efforts to industrialize. While some may say that there is little evidence to suggest that differences in environmental controls drive industries to relocate, there are notable examples, such as the asbestos industry, that show that the problem is not a trivial one. For workers in industrialized countries also, the threat of relocation is very real, and subsequent fears of job losses have implications for environmental strategies. This concept of environment or development is, moreover, a false issue - the real problem is to redefine objectives and afford the means of sustainable development.

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Multinational corporations

The importance of multinational corporations (MNCs) in environmental protection can be seen from the fact that they are connected with a quarter of the world's productive assets, 70 per cent of the products in international trade, 80 per cent of the world's land cultivated for export crops, and the major share of the world's technological innovations. Some chemicals or products are manufactured almost exclusively by MNCs (ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons are one example). MNCs are also key users of raw materials and the global commons.

While MNCs may seem to operate at a higher level of environmental awareness than smaller enterprises, they are more often active in high technology industries, including those with potentially hazardous technologies that require special precautions in design, construction, operation and maintenance. Thus they will necessarily have a large role to play in environmental protection and sustainable development. Some are evolving environmental policies as a result of external influences and internal corporate demands, but this trend is less evident in their activities in developing countries. There is little evidence, for instance, that pollution control technology developed and applied in operations in one country are transferred to similar operations in another. Although exceptions can always be found, the common pattern among MNCs is to leave the management of environmental and other issues to a large extent to local initiative.

A report to UNCED by the Transnational Corporations and Management Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Development on the environmental policies of more than 200 MNCs showed that many have environmental policies that directly reduce costs, mainly through energy conservation and recycling, but less than half apply such measures internationally. It also showed that some environmental considerations, such as atmospheric pollution, toxic wastes, and protection of waterways, take on more importance for MNCs than do other issues such as biodiversity, poverty and urbanization. Even then, half the MNCs surveyed do not follow international directives on environmental protection and management. Also according to the report, a lack of communication on elementary environmental matters between the different operations of an MNC means that the head office is often unaware of the environmental actions of its subsidiaries. For instance, a third of the MNCs surveyed did not know whether their operations in developing countries were situated near reserves of fresh water.

With the current climate of concern for developing countries and environmental issues, and the importance of their corporate image, MNCs may be induced to apply standards that go beyond the actual requirements of national regulation in developing countries. In any case, a degree of international standardization is imperative to limit "pollution havens" which may attract dirty operations, or, conversely, to do away with some governments' concerns that additional costs related to environmental protection and process safety might reduce the future flow of foreign direct investment.

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Small and medium-sized enterprises

The impact of small-scale businesses should not, however, be overlooked, as these are frequently among the worst offenders against environmental regulations in any one country. Having far more limited resources at their disposal than MNCs, they can less readily assimilate or afford the process adaptations and technological innovations necessary to meet environment and product controls.

In terms of the number of workers involved and their contribution to the national economy, smaller enterprises make up the largest segment of industry in most countries and especially in developing countries. The enforcement of environmental measures against both larger and smaller companies, whether they are foreign or domestically owned and run should, as a matter of principle, be homogenous.

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Energy

Industrialization and urbanization have led to a rise in world energy production and consumption, as well as, to an extremely uneven distribution or a world scale. The most rapid growth of energy consumption is to be found L developing countries as they try. to meet the needs of their growing population, but energy consumption per capita in industrialized countries is still between 4 and 7 times that of developing countries.

This disparity is also evident in the per capita production oi environmental pollution. An OECD report, The state of the environment, ^l0 shows that OECD countries, which make up 16 per cent of the world's population and 24 per cent of its land area, are responsible for 45 per cent of work carbon dioxide emissions and' 40 per cent of sulphur dioxide emissions, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels.

Future energy development will depend on both its long-term availability and the need to find a solution to the present pattern of pollution frog burning fossil fuels. This calls for a reassessment of energy policy which will have to embrace several key elements:

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Transport

Motor vehicles are a major source of pollution, through exhaust emissions, noise and the effects of roads and traffic on the environment. The uncontrolled growth of traffic contributes to massive urban congestion and pollution; It is one of the main sources of greenhouse gases, and hence a major contributor to global warming, and is an important cause of the increased combustion of fossil fuels.

It is therefore necessary to change the way transportation issues are approached. Already some countries have introduced legislation to limit exhaust emissions, but over the coming years there could very well be more measures to restrict private vehicle use by promoting alternative, less environmentally damaging forms of transport, such as increased use of public transport. This could be even more effective if combined with such policies as road pricing, and siting of housing, community services and workplaces to reduce the need for commuting. ¹

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Environmental Pollution

Air quality

Millions of tonnes of pollutants are released into the air each year from industrial sites, power stations and transport without significant restrictions from governments. Such emissions have, in the past, even been regarded by industry and governments as routine operating practices, but it cannot be assumed that clean air will always be in constant supply. Indeed, air quality is declining to such an extent that the health and well-being of large populations are jeopardized in both industrialized and developing countries. The WHO estimates that over 600 million people live in urban areas where sulphur dioxide pollution. of the air exceeds WHO recommended limits, and more than 1.2 billion people may be living in areas where particulates exceed WHO recommended limits.

Overall cancer rates in communities in both urban and rural areas of the United States where petrochemical plants are located are two to three times higher than the national average. -Near Sao Paulo, Brazil, an industrial centre has been built which also comprises a residential area for workers and their families. This residential area is situated next to a petrochemical complex, a refinery, steelworks, pesticide and fertilizer factories, and a major production centre for benzene. In this area, over the past decade, there have been many cases of leukemia and anencephaly (lack of brain in newborn babies, which is incompatible with life) which can be shown to be due to releases of benzene. These examples can be duplicated many times over in other parts of the world.

Water pollution

What is true of air pollution applies no less to water on which life also depends. There is no more basic need than a safe drinking water supply, but even in temperate zones where water used to be regarded as a free good, widespread pollution of fresh water supplies by industrial effluents and sewage is threatening the balance of supply and demand. Rivers are used as open sewers, and inland seas and lakes are becoming stagnant through a process of eutrophication in which fish and aquatic plants die as a result of pollution from agricultural phosphatic and nitrogenous wastes. Waterways are also at risk from massive releases of chemicals from industrial accidents, especially if adequate precautions are not taken to contain run-off from water used in emergency procedures.

Such widespread pollution by industrial effluents and sewage means that rivers, inland seas and lakes are rapidly becoming a hazard to human health. In Canada, for example, more than 300 chemical contaminants have been detected in the Great Lakes, which contain 20 per cent of the world's surface fresh water. Fish with tumours and diseases caused by toxins in the water, birds with crossed bills and other deformities caused by eating contaminated fish, reproductive failure in mammals feeding on the main predators of the aquatic food chain, all suggest that human health may be at risk for those living around the Great Lakes.

Leaching of chemicals from waste landfill sites into reservoirs or ground water also directly threatens the drinking water supplies of millions of people. Many of today's freshwater problems will become even more important as demands for water increase, generated by population growth, urbanization, industrialization and irrigation needs.

Not only fresh water bodies but also the oceans are increasingly suffering damage from chemicals and oil pollution, as well as from sewage and other waste pollution. While public attention tends to focus on recent major oil tanker accidents, the day-to-day run-off from industrial and agricultural activities - and routine oil pollution from washing out tankers - has a much more profound effect on regional seas and oceans. The seas have become the new frontier for waste pollution of all kinds of toxics in addition to the constant outfall from heavily polluted rivers running through industrial hinterlands. UNEP estimates that around 20 billion tonnes of waste per year, often without preliminary processing, end up in coastal waters, a fact that is not reassuring for the population of nearly half the world's major cities that are built on or near estuaries.

Soil pollution/hazardous waste

The enormous volumes of waste generated in the production and use of products, the increasing volumes of nuclear waste, as well as domestic refuse, mean that waste disposal has become a key issue in environmental protection Some of the wastes produced by modern industry are extremely toxic and pose serious problems to human health. Some are virtually indestructible and can accumulate in the environment.

Soil is particularly prone to pollution from hazardous waste, partly because disposal of waste in landfills has been the past method of choice as , regards cost. Short-term gains at the expense of long-term environmental damage becomes most attractive when the difference in cost betweer incineration, for example, and landfill is considered. Controls introduced it many industrialized countries to reduce disposal of waste in landfills have resulted in increased export of waste to countries where strict environmental controls are very limited or non-existent. Several international scandals over the past five years have highlighted this "waste tourism" whereby industrialized countries approach developing countries badly in need of foreign exchange to import their toxic waste. This has given rise to local health problems, to the extent that some, particularly African, countries are now banning the import of toxic wastes. Nigeria, for instance, banned toxic waste imports after a dump of Italian waste poisoned local people in 1988. This incident led to the Organization of African Unity imposing a ban on all waste shipments to Africa. Nigeria has since introduced the death penalty for importing waste after it was made public that some Nigerian companies have been illegally advertising services in EC countries to import wastes of all kinds.

Several regional and international treaties (such as the Fourth Lomé Convention, the Bamako Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement of All Forms of Hazardous Wastes within Africa, the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal) also seek to protect countries without the infrastructure to manage waste in an environmentally sound manner, by reducing the generation and transboundary movements of hazardous wastes. Many of these conventions address the generators of waste, but waste-exporting countries continue to try to block developing countries' efforts to impose an outright ban on toxic waste shipments. At the first meeting of the signatories of the UNEP Basel Convention in Uruguay in December 1992 delegates of industrialized nations threatened not to ratify the convention if an amendment for a complete ban was passed. In any case, 95 per cent of the world's waste is generated by countries that have not ratified the Convention, including the United States, Japan and the countries of the European Community except for France.

The net result is that, in spite of international conventions, the trade in toxic wastes continues. Although the full extent of the problem is still to be revealed it appears that Eastern European countries as well as developing countries in Latin America, Africa and the Far East are increasingly being used to dispose of industrialized nations, waste when in fact there is no lack of geographically or environmentally suitable sites for waste management in industrialized countries. The problem of siting is essentially political, and even within industrialized countries increasingly vocal opposition from local White middle- and upper-class communities has resulted in what is known as "environmental racism". In the United States, for example, three out of four hazardous waste sites are located in Black or Hispanic communities. The site of the nation's largest hazardous waste dump is in a community which is 80 per cent Black, and 2 million tonnes of radioactive uranium tailings have been dumped on Native American lands. Communities composed predominantly of Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans suffer disproportionately from adverse effects caused by such pollution.

The export of waste to less "sensitive" areas in order to appease vocal opposition is not a responsible option. There is now a need for industry and governments to manage wastes better - to reduce wastes in the first place and recycle or exchange them rather than simply dispose of them - although there will always be the problem of cleaning up abandoned hazardous waste sites.

Major industrial accidents

Environmental management means not only addressing the risks posed by the possible releases of toxic substances during the "normal" operation of industrial facilities, but also the risks posed by an abrupt accidental departure from normal operating conditions.

Industrial accidents involving loss of life outside the factory and with a serious impact on the environment have occurred with greater frequency and severity in recent years. Industrial accidents resulting in more than 50 deaths have increased by a factor of ten since 1978. During the period 1920 1978 there was approximately one such accident every five years, whereas there are now two such accidents every year. ¹²

Since such catastrophes as Bhopal, Chernobyl, the Rhine pollution and the Guadalajara, Mexico, explosion, concern over harm to health and the environment from industrial processes has been growing. Governments, industry and the trade unions have all expressed the need to reassess views and policies regarding the safe management of industrial processes. As was made clear during the deliberations for the ILO Convention on Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents, there will be a much greater need to perfect both management of industrial safety to prevent accidents in the first place and efforts in emergency preparedness and response in case of accidents in the second place.

In spite of the concentration of most of industry dealing with hazardous processes and products in industrialized countries, many highly damaging accidents - though by no means all - seem to occur in developing countries. A constant danger for these countries arises from the inadequacy of environmental legislation. and the lack of institutional capacity to build environmental awareness, technical * facilities and' monitoring capabilities in these countries. All these weaknesses increase the potential for accidents.

Interaction between hazardous installations and transport modes and its role in major accidents has also received more attention in recent years. This is especially important as recent studies show that transportation accidents involving hazardous materials occur as often as accidents at fixed installations and have similar fatality rates. With increasing world trade in, and hence transportation of, hazardous substances, the potential for accidents during transportation should also be a priority Issue in any policies on prevention of major accidents.

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Global effects of Pollution

Acid precipitation

While transportation and' industrial emissions have an impact on the environment at a local level, there are other outcomes of pollution that have a more far-reaching effect. These are the truly "global" effects of pollution. One of these is "acid rain", caused by sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide originating from fossil fuel power stations, industrial processes and transportation.

To counteract local deposition of such pollutants the first industrial response was to dilute harmful emissions by distributing them over a wider area through building taller chimneys to boost pollutants higher into the atmosphere. Thus, a great deal of pollution created in one country frequentlyl is carried into another, even thousands of kilometres away. During their passage the pollutants undergo transformations to sulphuric and nitric acids and are deposited in precipitation as "acid rain", causing damage to lakes, soils, plant and animal life and buildings. Such damage first became apparent in Scandinavia, but some of the greatest damage has been observed in Central Europe where forest decline is particularly alarming. Evidence of acidification is also now emerging in the newly industrializing countries of Asia and Latin America. China, the Republic of Korea, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela seem particularly vulnerable.

Concern about long-range air pollution has led to a number of international and regional agreements, as well as national requirements aimed at limiting emissions. An international Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution came into force in 1983, followed by a Protocol on Sulphur Emissions in 1987, by which the signatories have undertaken to reduce national sulphur emissions by at least 30 per cent by this year. A Protocol on Nitrous Oxide Emissions was also signed in 1988. Sulphur emissions have dropped by 23 per cent, but it is still too early to see the effects on nitrogen emissions.

Global warming (the "greenhouse effect")

Awareness that emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases, such as methane, nitrogen oxides, ozone and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), might alter global climate goes back more than 150 years. These gases are commonly referred to as "greenhouse gases" as they absorb the sun's heat radiation reflected back from the earth, thereby retaining heat rather like the glass in a greenhouse. Only relatively recently, however, has it been acknowledged that human activities, in the form of energy production, transport, industrial processes and agriculture, are accelerating the release of these greenhouse gases to the point that they may be having profound consequences on the heat balance of the earth, with potentially serious environmental, social and economic repercussions.

It is very difficult to predict the overall emission rates of greenhouse gases and the effects that they might have on the world's climate. A recent poll of the world's climatologists showed that almost half of those surveyed think a runaway greenhouse effect is possible, and 13 per cent think it probable if emissions of the offending gases are merely frozen at present levels and not cut.

The most widely accepted estimates of global warming predict that the mean global temperature will increase by 1.5°C by the year 2030. According to this prediction, it has been estimated that the result will be a rise in sea level (because of thermal expansion of the oceans and melting of ice-caps and glaciers) of 20 cm, and 65 cm by the end of the twenty-first century. The effects of such a rise in sea level would be to flood low-lying areas and destroy coastal areas and facilities, worsen the frequency and severity of flooding, and damage water management systems. Any rapid rate of warming would also impact on land use, with desertification increasing and biodiversity and agricultural yields diminishing.

The primacy of carbon dioxide emissions, largely from industrialized nations, in global warming has been acknowledged, but the various mechanisms in the greenhouse effect are complex and not sufficiently understood. Despite expanding scientific knowledge, uncertainty remains, giving some policy makers greater margins for inaction on carbon dioxide curbs. Hence UNCED's efforts to impose tougher controls on carbon dioxide emissions through a "Climate Convention" have largely failed because the treaty contains no deadlines or targets for reducing emissions. Some nations at UNCED would not even commit themselves to halt increases in emissions, let alone reduce them. Other nations - notably small island nations vulnerable to the effects of rising sea levels, and developing countries - have seen this refusal to control carbon dioxide emissions as a lack of commitment to halt global warming and an indication of future conflicts over financial and technical assistance to help them adopt a "climate friendly" development path.

The means of achieving an environmentally friendly path necessarily follow the "limitation" strategy which underlines the importance of reducing fossil fuel consumption as a means of controlling greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. On the other hand the energy-extravagant economies of many Western countries lay great stress on the need to "adapt" the environment to the consequences of greenhouse gases, through combating deforestation, planting new forests and building improved sea defences. Although the former strategy is to be preferred in the long-term, it is likely that a combination of the two will have to be considered, if only to take account of the effects of greenhouse gases already released.

Ozone depletion

Another major environmental event that could have repercussions for humanity on a global scale is the thinning of the ozone layer, a natural filter in the stratosphere, that screens life on earth from the harmful effects of the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

Chemicals capable of carrying chlorine to the upper atmosphere, mainly chlorofluorocarbons, carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform, are responsible for destroying the fragile shield of ozone. The use of CFCs, in particular refrigerants, solvents, propellants in aerosol cans, and foaming agents, has increased rapidly because of their "inert", non-toxic and immensely stable properties. This very stability, however, allows them to survive for years as they drift up to the stratosphere where intense UV radiation breaks down their chemical bonds, allowing them to react with ozone, thus creating the "ozone hole".

The implications of a thinning ozone layer are serious: increased skin cancer, cataracts of the eye (for every one per cent depletion of ozone, an extra 100,000 people will go blind, predicts UNEP's International Committee on the Effects of Ozone Depletion), immune system deficiencies, as well as adverse effects on food production on land and in the sea. Greenhouse warming is also likely to be accelerated because extra UV radiation reaching the sea surface will diminish populations of carbon-fixing phytoplankton. Pollution may also become more of a problem, as more UV irradiation results in an increase of such urban pollutants as acids, hydrogen peroxide and even ozone in photochemical smog. (This unexpected source of ozone is not so welcome as it may seem at first sight as it is a highly toxic irritant gas.)

The problem of ozone depletion has been addressed by UNEP through a series of Conventions and Protocols. The result has been agreement to eliminate consumption of five CFCs by the year 2000, and the inclusion of carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform in the terms of the original 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Following recent scientific revelations that CFC emissions are depleting the ozone layer even faster than previously thought, many countries, notably the member states of the EEC, Austria, Norway, Sweden and the United States, have announced their intention to ban CFCs by 1995, five years earlier than the Protocol requires. Interestingly, the Protocol provides for special concessions for developing countries so that the global provisions do not impinge inequitably on their development. Developing countries that are party to the Protoco are thus guaranteed access to alternative substances and offered subsidies to compensate for additional costs incurred by not using CFCs.

These then are the principal environmental and development challenges and their linkages. Even armed with a background knowledge of the issues involved, to many trade unionists some of the consequences - global warming, ozone depletion - may seem esoteric in the extreme in relation to more pressing concerns.

In any case trade union priorities, especially in the field of education, have to reflect the experiences and needs of their members. As it may be easier to relate to the more visibly obvious threats of poverty, waste, local air and water pollution, for example, some of these issues may be taken on board more readily. Or it may be that widespread publicity and public reaction to certain environmental issues may dictate the fears, and hence needs, of members to turn to their trade union leaders and educators for policy, in what at first sight may not appear a priority issue. Even those environmental consequences which may be global in nature can be traced back to the world of work or local political and demographic realities. Thus, environmentally sustainable development is a workplace and local community issue, and will be taken seriously by members if it is rooted in their everyday concerns. As these concerns will obviously vary with local circumstances, priorities for change will also vary from workplace to workplace, union to union, or between industry and industry and country to country, but the overriding objective everywhere must be to integrate environmental considerations into decision processes at every level.

North-South issues

Both industrialized and developing countries need to improve their environmental attitudes, but the way in which they approach their problems may be very different. In developing countries the effective integration of environmental and industrial development concerns can seem very remote. Development and enforcement of environmental measures in these countries can be doubtful without the resources, trained personnel and know-how that may be found in industrialized countries.

Moreover, global environmental problems are very largely caused by industrialized countries but will have their worst impact on developing countries that are least able to prevent or adapt to change. Although rapid population growth and development in the developing countries will lead to large increases in resource use and pollution, the disparity in per capita production of environmental pollution, whether it be from carbon dioxide emissions, waste or other sources, is still likely to persist for some time. Thus, while it is no ~use industrialized countries unilaterally developing environmental measures to offset global pollution without 'a corresponding effort on the part of developing countries, it remains a fact that they have no claim to the moral high ground. They cannot point to the growing population in developing countries as an excuse for not putting their own house in order when each new child born in an industrialized country will consume many times more resources and contribute many times as much pollution, in the short term at least, as a child born in a developing country.

Unlike the distribution of responsibility, the prime victims of global environmental pollution will be those countries and generations least responsible, least able to adapt to, or mitigate, the consequences and with little international economic or political clout. Developing countries might therefore have much to gain if they try to force the producers of pollution to cut back on emissions, and argue that the burden of prevention should rest with industrialized countries. The latter, while not publicly denying the need to minimize polluting activities, are like-ly to prefer to adapt the environment to changes rather than drastically alter their energy and industrial infrastructures. This fundamental dichotomy, the "North-South" divide, is likely to lead to international friction unless mechanisms can be worked out to more equitably share the costs of limiting environmental degradation. This is especially important as trade unions in all countries will want to ensure that environmental policies do not create or sustain inequalities between countries and workers. Major differences between standards of environmental protection from one country to another are as undesirable from the worker's viewpoint as are differences in wages, hours of work and trade union rights. No workers should have to compete to sustain the worst level of environmental health in order to keep jobs and feed their families. Measured to protect the environment and enhance development as a whole should apply to all, and a common approach by workers and their trade unions will help provide concrete action to advance international cooperation for environmental improvement and sustainable development in mutually supportive ways.

International debt

One issue inextricably linked to environmental degradation and development in the Third World is the debt problem. Countries burdened with servicing their debts are in no position to devote resources to environmental protection, and are, in addition, forced to take short-term environmentally unsustainable measures to earn desperately needed foreign currency. Austerity programmes imposed on indebted countries have resulted in cutbacks on health and social services, agricultural assistance, etc., so that the worst hit the women , children, unemployed and poor workers - are caught in a downward spiral of Poverty and environmental degradation.

This downward spiral has to be broken, with a change in the present pattern of resource transfer, essentially *from South to North because of debt service payments and terms of trade. If the world is to achieve sustainable development then the richer nations of the North must generate new and additional financial resources. (Maurice Strong, organizer of UNCED, predicts that cleaning up pollution and protecting natural resources would cost $125 billion per year.) Several options are available for increasing the net flow of resources more equitably - debt-for-nature swaps, tradeable pollution permits, tax disincentives on polluting or hazardous technology, international environmental offset investment, development assistance programmes, etc. All have their benefits and their limitations, but they serve to show that the debt problem is not just one for workers in the South. Trade unions in those countries may come under attack as front-line organizations resisting austerity programmes and the environment will continue to come under pressure in indebted countries as long as trade unions in the North cannot get their own governments to insist on more equitable means of resolving the debt problem. ¹³

This overview of the issues involved in environmental degradation and sustainable development shows that the problems may be similar and experienced to a greater or lesser extent in all parts of the world. I t shows how they are linked and that while the problems may be generated locally, the consequences will be felt globally. Action will have to be taken primarily at the local level also, and it is here that basic differences come into play. Differences in legislative protection, governments and politics, union strength, resources, knowledge and training, even "freedom", for example, will determine to a great extent the priorities adopted by trade unions in the struggle for an improved quality of life for their members.

What is missing from this overview, of course, is local information. Individual trade unions will need to tailor their own national and local information to the specific concerns of their members in their own workplaces or community. As in any educational project, local and practical interest must be fostered, and the issues should not be made complex. In many cases the needs are clear and simple: clean water, clean air, healthy housing, adequate food... The satisfaction of these basic demands should go a long way towards creating an environment worth living in and creating sustainable development.

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