Since the appearance of modern man (homo sapiens sapiens), we have seen how the human being meets his primary needs, and how he has evolved not only physically but also the way of interacting with nature and socially. At some point in history the human being went from being nomadic to sedentary, this with the learning of agriculture and domestication of animals. Subsequently, its production and collection of seeds, vegetables and legumes, etc., was sophisticated. To start exchanging and marketing these products and thus make a profit. However, the balance that existed between man and the land (where the resources come from) was one of harmony, we can see as vestiges of cultures such as Mayan, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indica,Pre-Hispanic cultures dictated a deep respect in their code of conduct towards the planet and the earth. Somehow they understood that all the resources came from there, even though they most likely did not know that this could have an end.
Following a timeline through the years we have seen how that balance has been lost, but it was since the industrial revolution in which man began to abuse excessively not only renewable but also non-renewable resources of a disproportionately. With the appearance of the first steam pump, the corporation as such began to see that more resources could be exploited and generated in less time (a golden age for companies, but a gray time for the environment).
That was perhaps the watershed of the problems that we have very much in mind today with the environment such as the excessive emission of CO2 gases, reforestation, pollution, among other environmental problems. Very serious problems that today have an impact on the ozone layer, on climate change and on contaminating agents in food. However, we were not so aware in those years of what was coming was until we began to use instead of coal and water, a new combustion mechanism for machines, oil that the industry underwent another transformation, we began to use resources non-renewable and much more polluting.
As if this were not enough in society companies have been in charge of making a consumption model, products that make life easier end up being produced with oil derivatives directly and indirectly.
For example, the wrapping of some product in supermarkets, lighting a light bulb, using the car, buying tennis shoes, all the products had to have a direct or indirect intervention with petroleum derivatives, in the case of edible products, it was surely cooked in Some oven or stove that uses gas and this gas becomes polluting, or turns on the light, etc. Absolutely everything ends up polluting the planet and causing damage to the ozone layer, or to the earth.
Currently, the ravages of the exploitation of renewable and non-renewable resources are already very well-known, which is why joint efforts of the economies are born for the conservation of the environment, the creation of green policies, laws and treaties that implement the reduction of CO2 gases emanating from factories.
The Kyoto protocol and its impact on the environmental economy of Mexico
One of the first conventions where these issues were addressed was at the Stockholm climate convention in 1972, followed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change created in 1987, after one of the most important that was the 1990 Geneva Convention Subsequently, another summit was held in our continent, which was the Rio de Janeiro 1992, and the Toronto 1998. The previous last of those cited approved the realization of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (New York 1992) immediate antecedent of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Digging deeper into the Kyoto Protocol…
It is an international treaty signed in the city of Kyoto, Japan that has its origin in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that was approved at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York, on May 9, 1992 that Its purpose is to reduce GHG emissions from the main industrialized countries so that in the period from 2008 to 2012 those emissions will drop 1.8% * below those registered in 1990.
Member countries commit to:
- Collect and share information on GHG emissions, national policies and best practices in reducing emissions, implement national strategies to tackle the emissions problem and adapt to the expected effects of climate change, including provision financial and technological support to developing countries. Cooperate to prepare and adapt to the effects of climate change.
In theory 84 countries signed the Protocol, which meant that they intended to ratify it, many were reluctant to make the Protocol enter into force, before having a clear idea about the rules of the treaty except for our northern neighbor, the United States. of America, which in theory signed it in 1998, under the government of then President Bill Clinton, but his successor Bush expressed his opposition to the Kyoto protocol treaty.
The Kyoto protocol and its impact on the environmental economy of Mexico
Undoubtedly, there are many interests that are handled by accepting the protocol, the signatory states are obliged to sanction companies that break with the signed, and before a not so well established program to reduce the amounts of gas emissions, some other countries have ignored it.
Other important points of this protocol are the clauses to seek clean and sustainable energy. As well as the trade in emission rights, which is nothing more, selling the gas emission credits allowed by country and what has been reduced more than promised.
Nowadays…
The commitments made by the signed states expired in the 2008-2012 cycle, however in that period commitments were made such as: The European Union signed a joint reduction commitment set at 8% of the base greenhouse gas emissions for the year 1990 for the period 2008-2012, acquired regardless of the success of the ratification of the Protocol.
Today greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union fell in 2012 and are already at levels that allow the European Environment Agency.
The Kyoto protocol and its impact on the environmental economy of Mexico
Another determining factor to break the commitments is undoubtedly the few sanctions that have been put as clauses on all countries that violate these agreements, a case of this is Canada that has registered emissions of more than 25% higher than 1990 levels, when your goal is a 6% reduction.
Mexico, its new energy reform vs. the Kyoto Protocol…
As Mexico is classified as a developing country, it has no responsibility to reduce its CO2 emissions.
However, Mexico is between a rock and a hard place: it must reduce the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) by 30% by 2020 and by 50% by 2050, according to the Climate Change Law published in June 2012 in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), and thus comply with the United Nations (UN) and the Kyoto Protocol.
The federal government self-imposed to reduce the use of fossil fuels in electricity generation by 65% by 2024, 60% by 2035 and 50% by 2050, which is subscribed in the Law for the Use of Renewable Energies and the Financing of the Energy Transition. (Grupo Expansión, a company of Time Inc., December 2013 edition).
Our country has enormous wealth, environmental resources that any first-world country would envy, however, being classified as a developing country as we mentioned before, it has no environmental responsibility like that of a first-world country.
This may be a factor for the policies of our country not to be so friendly to the environment, proof of this is that the ecological party of Mexico does little to protect the interests of the environment in our country.
One of the points of the Kyoto protocol was to commercialize the credits, in terms of the countries that had emitted less than the allowed CO2 emissions.
In my opinion, the first world countries are going to seek to move the factories of their national companies to developing countries, which do not have as many environmental demands as the world powers.
In Mexico, the energy reform was approved by the Senate of the Republic on December 11, 2013, this reform facilitates foreign investment to exploit minerals and resources that were considered a national treasure. What impacts our economy directly since there is a capital flight, the boats are being filled with foreigners neglecting the growth that was had for the country.
The economies no longer make war over territory, in the very near future the discussion and conflicts between the countries will be over environmental resources, the new world powers will be the ones with the most natural resources, so we are in the extinction of the system and order economic as we know it.
So generally third world or developing countries are beginning to be looted, before they come to understand the importance of these resources.
Such is the case of our country that, as we mentioned, far from making environmentally friendly policies, is facilitating the exploitation of environmental resources, it could be associated from my point of view, to a country making foresight and economic policies that allow that money of dubious origin enter their banks without justification of origin, the so-called tax havens, where there is no extradition and the people who take their capital to those banks have bank secrecy and absolute discretion.
The unethical nature of these policies differs little from the economic and environmental policies that our country approves, we could call it an environmental exploitation paradise. In short, in my point of view the Kyoto protocol, which has principles and objectives of the best intention for the conservation of the environment, does little to sanction the countries that break the agreement, and the countries that respect this treaty, seek reduce CO2 emissions in your country, it costs to exploit and move pollution from its factories to third world countries or developing countries, that is, these practices deliberately affect the economies of the countries, bringing improvement and growth but at costs high, depleting non-renewable resources and damaging the environment.
