The earth as a whole is experiencing some forms of worse environmental changes. America has realized that human activities that degrade the environment elsewhere out of the United States of America have effect on the American environment both directly and indirectly. It has made America come up with Environmental policies for the foreign governments. United States of America being a superpower has over the time maintained its grip on less developed countries such as countries of the Latin America through policies that govern operations of the government and the citizens of these countries these policies include trade policies, prevention of drug trafficking and crime policies, human rights policies and environmental conservation policies amongst others ( Bonilla et al 57).The affected countries, therefore, are required to domesticate the policies and the government should oversee their implementation on their respective countries. Several issues usually arise in the course of implementation of the policies key among them United States of America perceived view of interference with the internal activities of democratically elected governments in the Latin America (Smith et al 241).Besides it, there is also that view held by most developing nations that the United States of America seems to be preaching water to other nations while drinking wine back home. Environmental policies that have been formulated for the Latin America by the States of America have been viewed as seeking imaginary “smoking guns” while not paying attention to the real critical issues at the heart of the Latin Americans. The policies have been formulated without convincing evidence that what they propose makes sense or difference to the environment.
The environmental policy has many aspects with the main emphasis being on reducing global warming, curbing deforestation, reduction of emission of hazardous substances to the environment and increasing food security in some countries that have shown food insecurity. The biggest ethical problem facing America in adoption of environmental policies by foreign nations is double standards seen in some of those policies where a policy is put forward for implementation by a foreign government yet the same policy may be poorly implemented back in the united states (Wiarda et al 96).One major example is the policy on reduction of carbon emissions. Greenhouse gasses emission into the environment has increased progressively from the time of the industrial revolution to date when it poses the greatest environmental challenge. The U.S has put forward policies that are aimed to reduce the emission of carbon (IV) oxide to the world’s atmosphere. The strengths of this policy is that it will decelerate and progressively reverse the process of global warming and hence spare the earth from the negative effects of global warming such as increased desertification and rise in sea levels (Romero et al 234).The ethical issue that arises from this is the United States noncompliance with commitment to reduce carbon (IV) oxide emission into the environment by the percentages prescribed for it. Currently, the United States of America is the highest contributor of greenhouse gasses into the environment at 40%.The US has put a lot of efforts to promote the reduction of carbon emissions into the environment by Latin America countries including cash rewards for countries that have put effort to reduce their total carbon emission. The ethical paradox is the US continues to be the largest contributor of Carbon (IV) Oxide to the environment through its numerous large industries and the government resists any measure deemed to hurt its industries. The epitome of this was the refusal of the Unites States to sign the Kyoto protocol.
The other major environmental policy is that on the reduction of deforestation.The U.S policy to the Latin America has been to reduce deforestation and maintain the forest cover at above 10% of the total land mass of the specific countries (Carruthers and David 341).Latin America holds some of the largest tracks of natural rain forests these forests also hold the largest biodiversity of plants and animals and hence their conservation is paramount (Hartlyn and Jonathan 145).A lot of funding has also flowed from the U.S to the Latin America countries towards afforestation projects. The big ethical issues arise from the fact that it is the United States that drives the deforestation in the first place. This is inform of providing ready market for the timber and also due to its large market for beef that drives the large-scale cattle farmers to clear large tracts of land for the grazing of the cattle for export to North America. Also, Latin America has a large population of indigenous people that have and continue to live in the forest of the Amazon (Palfrey et al. 89). The population of these people has grown tremendously over the years putting a strain on the forest resources. These people derive their livelihood from the forest. The ethical issue is whether to remove these indigenous tribes from the forest so as to conserve the forest and is it ethically right to disrupt the lives of the indigenous people so as to conserve the forests (Wiarda et al 78).
Food security is also a major environmental issue. Latin America has great potential to produce large quantities of food. The U.S has continuously supported development of agriculture to the Latin America by transfer of foreign technology though at the expense of developing maintaining a national establishment for research. It has the danger of creating dependence on foreign technology instead of generation of technologies by the Latin America countries that are more sensitive to the local conditions. One major concern of the US policy in Agriculture is the promotion of genetically modified foods. It is a technology that has been developed in the U.S and largely promoted for implementation in most developing nations (Bulger et al. 211).The ethical issue with this is that scientists still have some concerns on the long term effects on humans on consumption of genetically modified foods and the effects of interaction between genetically modified organisms with the gene pool of other unmodified organisms. The U.S back home has stringent rules on production and use of genetically modified organisms with more focus being on the use of unmodified organisms. It makes their promotion of genetically modified crops in Latin America a big ethical issue.
Observers and in particular agricultural scientists and ecologists have also cast a shadow of the doubt on the feasibility of managing to increase food production while maintaining minimum changes in the production methods (DeSombre and Elizabeth 76).Agricultural industrialization in the Latin America mainly fronted by the U.S has led to increased productivity though it has brought with it a myriad of environmental problems such as water pollution, topsoil erosion, loss of natural habitats and wetlands among others (Harris and Paul 89 )This costs a great ethical issue on the overall benefits of industrialization of agriculture in Latin America. With more pressure to maximize profits in the short term the focus on environmental conservation may be lost and this may eventually lead to loss of productivity of the land, increase in food prices and hence starvation for some members of the society. Mechanization of agricultural processes for a region with large proportions of unemployed youth also does not make much ethical sense. Policy issues have also been put forward by the United States to be adopted by the Latin America that compels the large corporations that are the major source of pollutants to force the polluters to absorb the environmental costs of their pollution. It follows the general rule that whoever causes the pollution should pay rather than passing the costs to the downstream users (DeSombre and Elizabeth 134 ).This rule prescribes behavior change to the citizens and it has met a lot of resistance just as such policies have met similar resistance in the United States. The Unites States have for a long time maintained a complex web of various military functions and facilities. These serve a lot of interests of America such as fronting the war against drugs and ensuring the U.S gets access to a vast resource available in Latin America especially oil deposits. The major ethical issue that arises from the U.S occupation of the Latin America soils is the environmental pollution that the military activities have caused. In Vieques research has found high levels of mercury, lead, uranium, cadmium among other soil contaminants that have found their way into the food chains with devastating effects such as higher incidences of cancer (Bonilla et al 90)There is also case of tonnes of unexploded ordnance on firing ranges located in the canal area. It is in contravention of a Canal Treaty that made provision for the removal of such hazards. Activities of the military bases of Unites States on the Latin America soils have cast big doubts of the U.S commitment on containment of pollution on foreign lands.
Finally, there are measures that the United States of America Government can put in place so as to make their environmental policies more acceptable to the recipient Latin America nations. First the implementation of these policies should not be tied to the provision of financial aid to the foreign countries, this most countries see as a carrot and stick scenario leading to resistance by the foreign governments. Secondly the U.S should lead by example by fully implementing the policies back home before compelling foreign governments to do so. The policies put in place by the United States government should be in such a way that they are measurable. The measurability of the policies will help the interested stakeholders trace progress. Lastly proper analysis of the various unique conditions in the foreign countries should b so as to tailor the implementation of the policies to the situation on the ground and avoid creating human and cultural crisis in the foreign nations.
Works Cited
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Carruthers, David V. Environmental Justice in Latin America: Problems, Promise, and Practice. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2008. Print.
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Wiarda, Howard J, and Esther M. Skelley. The Crisis of American Foreign Policy: The Effects of a Divided America. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. Print.
