The current system of environmental governance is a diffuse process, spread through many different treaty bodies and other U.N. institutions. At present UNEP, is the primary environmental organ in the system.
INTRODUCTION When the United Nations was founded in 1945, environmental issues were not yet on most national agendas, let alone on the international agenda. As a consequence, the U.N. Charter does not even mention the word "environment". In the years since, environmental degradation has emerged as a pressing international concern. Wind currents, rain patterns, rivers, and streams carry pollutants hundreds or even thousands of miles from their sources, violating national borders with impunity. On an even larger scale, the global environmental problems of ozone depletion, climate change, deforestation, and the loss of the Earth's biological diversity threaten all nations.1 Furthermore, recent research identifies population growth and natural resource scarcity as important factors in exacerbating social tensions and provoking conflict in many corners of the globe. As the problems have worsened, environmental issues have gradually moved onto the international political agenda. To date, governments have adopted more than 170 environmental treaties concerning subjects of shared concern: acid rain contamination, ocean pollution, endangered species depletion, hazardous waste exportation, and Antarctica preservation. More than two-thirds of these agreements have been reached since the landmark 1972 U.N. Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. This conference created the
Third World Development Essay - Global Warming
Katy Scott Third World Development Essay Global Warming The natural greenhouse effect increases the average temperature of the Earth by approximately 33°C. Without it, the Earth would be uninhabitable. This warming is caused by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Human activity, particularly over the last 100 years, has resulted in changes in the composition of the Earths atmosphere. This has led to major environmental concerns over issues such as acid rain, ozone depletion and global warming. Global warming is potentially the most serious of these. This is a term widely used by many people to describe an extraordinary rise in the annual global surface temperatures of the Earth (Drake 2000). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has recently concluded that 'the balance of evidence suggests a distinctive human influence on global climate' (Houghton, 1996). It is important to understand global warming so we can be conscious of the nature of the problem and attempt to anticipate the consequences. These could include changes in temperature, changes in precipitation, and extreme weather events such as hurricanes. Many people question whether or not global warming actually exists, and if it does exist, why does it? There is however, one fact that no one has disputed. This is that surface temperature of the Earth has increased 0.4 - 0.6 degrees Celsius in the
Spain - A country full of different culture and life
Andrea Sanchez Mrs. Mayfield Culinary Arts 1-2 21 May 2002 Spain When you cross the mountains that divide France from Spain you step into another world. Europe ends at the Pyrenees, and the land beyond the mountains has a character and personality that are strikingly different. The sun beats down mercilessly on a country that is beautiful. A country full of different culture and life. The Civil War in the late 1930's brought General Franco to power as dictator. He ruled the country until he died in 1975. Spain became a democracy after the death. Until the mid 1900's, Spain was one of the most undeveloped countries in Europe. Spain mostly contained small, unsuccessful, farms because of the dry soil. During the 50's and 60's, Spain took on a rapid stage of economic development and is now an industrial nation. Today more people work in construction and manufacturing than on farms. Spain is ranked as one of the leading fishing countries in Europe. Off the Northern Coast, anchovies, hake, octopus, squid, tuna, and many others are fished. Spaniards enjoy and specialize in seafood. This is because it is inexpensive and plentiful it the coast waters. It is prepared in a variety of ways, but the most popular is Paella. It is shrimp, lobster, chicken, ham, vegetables, and sometimes squid combined with rice. Spaniards are accustomed to dine in several courses. These are
The "Ultimate Cause" for History.
Bhuva, Devang Rhetoric 1A 2.04.03 Paper #4 The "Ultimate Cause" for History In his "historical science" Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond depicts why history unfolded differently on different continents. Rather than proving this through a Eurocentric view based on racial superiority of one group over another, Diamond uses science, specifically evolutionary biology and geology. In the first section, Diamond uses the history of Polynesia as a microcosm for the development of human history. In this "natural experiment," settlers from one ethnic background settled in vastly different environments on islands in the Pacific, and simple hunter-gatherer societies emerged in some societies, while sophisticated states emerged on others. This disparity in the Polynesian civilizations elucidates Diamond's thesis that "History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among people themselves." (25) The book continues with a brief description of the developments of different continents starting in 11000 B.C. By recounting the "Rise and Spread of Food Production," to describing food productions effects on disease, writing, technology, and political structure, Diamond explains why five major regions of the world turned out the way they did. Although Diamond concedes that the "proximate
Hazards - A case study to illustrate hazards occuring in the physical, modified physical, built and human enviroment in Los Angeles.
HAZARDS "A CASE STUDY OF ONE MAJOR URBAN AREA TO ILLUSTRATE MULTIPLE HAZARDS OCCURING IN THE PHYSICAL, MODIFIED PHYSICAL, BUILT AND HUMAN ENVIRONMENT" Location Los Angeles For several generations, Southern California was seen as America's promised land. Now it seems that Los Angeles is cursed by natural disasters. Los Angeles is prone to a number of physical hazards including earthquakes, brush fires, flood, drought and smog. The lifestyle and economic activities of the inhabitants create or worsen some of these. Los Angeles, with a population in excess of 13 million, has become known as 'Hazard City'. A hazard created by the physical environment is earthquakes. Los Angeles has been built over a myriad of transform faults. Although the most violent earthquakes are predicted to occur at any point along the San Andreas fault between Los Angeles and San Francisco, earth movements frequently occur along most of the lesser-known faults. A recent earthquake to have had a big effect on Los Angeles occurred in February 1994. It registered 6.7 on the Richter scale, lasted for 30 seconds, and was followed by aftershock lasting several days. The quake killed 60 people, injured several thousand, caused buildings and sections of freeways to collapse, ignited fires following a gas explosion, and left 500 000 homes without power and 200 000 without water. An example of a hazard from the
Greenback Bank: Environmental Policy Analysis. Greenback Bank: Environmental Policy Analysis
Greenback Bank: Environmental Policy Analysis Within corporations, nearly 1.5 pounds of paper are used per person per day.1 Based on a typical Fortune 500 company with 10,000 employees and a 255 workday year, this equates to over 3,825,000 pounds of paper per year. Our company, Greenback Bank, headquartered in Dallas, TX, has developed a progressive environmental policy to address this issue and many others. Greenback Bank has approximately 350 branches nationwide and it employs over 11,000 people. Greenback is a publicly traded company and is classified as a Fortune 500 company based on its revenues. Over the past five years, Greenback's financial performance has continued to increase. As a result of the recovering economy, Greenback has decided to implement a growth strategy to expand its branch network. This expansion has created a significant need to develop and implement an environmental policy. ENVIRONMENTAL MISSION STATEMENT We have benefited from the communities we serve and with our continued growth we want to ensure the customers, families, and entire communities that they will be served by an institution that is actively taking steps to be an environmentally friendly company. ENVIRONMENTAL VISION * Utilize energy efficient technologies and implement environmentally friendly designs for all new construction * Maximize the use of recycled materials and
The Sahel region of central Africa is arguably one of the most impoverished and environmentally damaged geographic regions on Earth.
The Sahel region of central Africa is arguably one of the most impoverished and environmentally damaged geographic regions on Earth. Aptly named Sahel, after the Arabic word for 'border' or 'margin', it comprises of the 300km wide mass of arid land south of the Sahara Desert and north of the tropical southern zones. (Gritzner 3) It intersects many of the major nations of central Africa including, but not limited to, Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad. Spanning from the Atlantic, east to the Indian Ocean, the steppe-like Sahel supports sparse vegetation and infrequent wildlife in comparison to the lush low land rain forests of the south. The chief hydrographic feature is the lengthy Niger River, which cuts through Niger and Mali. The smaller Podor River also follows the northern border of Senegal emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. Since the Sahel is enclosed by desert and rainforest on either side, a dry steppe-plateau region results to the north, with grasslands and meager savanna in the south. The land is generally dehydrated, dusty, and flat. The climate of the Sahel is barely inviting. The weather patterns of the region are highly irregular and show signs of drastic change over the past centuries. Two major air masses dictate climate control. A dry air mass known as the "Continental tropical mass" blows over the steppe and northern savannah
Wendy's Case Study
Wendy's Case Study Wendy's International operates a chain of fast food restaurants, primarily operating under Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers, Tim Horton's and Baja Fresh brands. The company has about 9700 restaurants in 20 countries. Wendy's has also been included in Fortune magazine's list of top 500 US companies. It is headquartered in Dublin, Ohio and employs about 58,000 people. The company recorded revenues of $3635.4 million during the fiscal year ended December 2004, an increase of 15.4% over 2003. This increase is primarily attributable to higher volume sales. The operating profit of the company during fiscal 2004 was $226.6 million, a decrease of 45.8% from fiscal 2003. The net profit was $52.0 million during fiscal year 2004, a decrease of 78.0% over 2003. Wendy's guiding mission is to deliver superior quality products and services for their customers and communities through leadership, innovation and partnerships. Wendy's vision is to be the quality leader in everything they do. REMOTE ENVIRONMENT Wendy's did show a lot of new ideas as far as the remote environment was concerned, for instance it established stored abroad, in the national expansion the franchisee agreement was for the area, a region and not for a store. Here she made agreements for time, area, technical associations and royalty. There are different problems that she has faced like
Discuss the problems involved in analysing the auditory environment and describe how the human audit
Discuss the problems involved in analysing the auditory environment and describe how the human audit This essay will examine the human auditory environment, highlighting some problems of analysing it and the way our auditory system overcomes them. Since it is such a broad subject, the essay will largely confine itself to examining localisation of sounds, and that most human of traits, speech perception. Sound consists of variations in pressure as a function in time. As a wave, it possesses pitch (frequency), volume and harmonics, or timbre, and a complex sound consists of more than one tone - such as the human voice. Its variations can be broken down into sinusoidal frequency components, and subject to Fourier analysis - which is the task of the ear. Sound waves enter the outer ear - the pinna, and travel through the auditory canal to the eardrum which they cause to vibrate. These vibrations are transmitted through the inner ear by three small bones, the malleus, incus and stapes. The middle ear then transfers the sound from air to the fluids in the spiral cochlea. Fluids in the cochlea apply pressure to the basilar membrane, running along the length of the cochlea - which breaks down the variations. The basilar membrane produces distortions which stimulate the hairs in the organ of corti, and these hair cells transduce the mechanical movement into an action potential within
Communication Climate.
COMMUNICATION CLIMATE INTRODUCTION Businesses and organisations run hot and cold when it comes to getting their message across to their key audiences. Likewise, their audiences/target groups run hot and cold, and it depends very much on the communication climate that exists within that organization at a particular time. This essay attempts to show how both internal and external audiences are affected by the communication climate that exists with an organization. This essay will show how a good communications climate addresses internal & external issues, including: (INTERNAL) Overall effectiveness, Employee morale, productivity, Safety, Recruitment record, Supplier confidence (EXTERNAL) customer relations, investor relations, industry leadership, community acceptance WHAT IS COMMUNICATIONS CLIMATE? We've all felt bright, hazy or stormy at work or in lectures. Communications climate refers to the internal communications pattern within an organization (Kreps, 1990) and describes: * the way we feel about the group or organisation we work for * the extent to which we value, and feel valued, by others * the overall working environment * the way we react to the work environment * how satisfying it is to communicate with others in the organisation. * perceptions of what is important in the organisation (services, creativity or safety) While it mostly affects internal