Ecological debt: The impact of developed countries on the global environment[1]

The ecological debt is the obligation of rich countries to developing nations for the plundering of resources and environmental pollution.

The main causes of this debt are climate change and the overexploitation of resources.

Unsustainable consumption must be reduced, renewable energies promoted and remedial mechanisms put in place for the countries most affected.

Underdeveloped countries carry large external financial debts, but developed countries in the North have large ecological debts. The concept of ecological debt goes beyond simple economic aspects. It emerges as a response to the unsustainability of Western development and the unfortunate colonial mechanisms that are still in place today, particularly in the disproportionate use and depletion of natural resources.

What is ecological debt?

It is the cumulative responsibility of rich countries to poor countries for the unrequited use and abuse of natural resources. This goes hand in hand with the concept of sustainability, given that the reservation of unlimited resources and the resulting environmental degradation affects impoverished countries more severely than industrialised countries.

How is ecological debt created?

Ecological debt is incurred when a country or population consumes more resources than it can regenerate or pollutes more than what nature can absorb. This concept is based on the observation that rich countries have generated huge environmental debt by exploiting their own and other nations' natural resources. Impoverished countries, often the victims of resource plunder, end up suffering the consequences of this unjust development.

Various mechanisms explain how this debt is created:

Carbon debt: a direct consequence of intensive use of fossil fuels and excessive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Developed countries, historically the leading emitters of GHGs, are responsible for global warming, a phenomenon that hits hardest those regions of the global South that have fewer resources to adapt to its consequences.

Exploitation of natural resources: refers to the overexploitation of resources of Southern countries, such as forests, water, minerals, etc. These activities are often carried out without respect for the environment, under conditions that result in little economic development for the supplier countries.

Biopiracy: the expropriation of traditional knowledge about medicinal plants, seeds and other biological resources without compensation provided to the local communities that preserve it. This practice harnesses valuable ancient knowledge in order to generate profit for the North.

Destruction of ecosystems: another key component of the ecological debt is deforestation and biodiversity loss in resource-rich areas to make way for extractive industries or large infrastructures such as hydroelectric dams.

The uneven impacts of climate change

Climate change, a major consequence of ecological debt, does not affect all nations equally. While countries in the North are mainly responsible for their development based on intensive use of fossil fuels, countries in the South are the most vulnerable to and helpless against the consequences. Regions such as Africa and South-East Asia are threatened by extreme natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods and droughts, and have very limited access to the economic or technological resources needed to cope with such events.

A report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has revealed that the planet's temperature could rise by up to 2.9ºC if urgent action is not taken. This overheating could lead to a reduction in agricultural yields, particularly affecting developing countries, which are more dependent on primary sectors.

Ecological injustice and resource imbalances

The injustice behind ecological debt is that rich nations benefit from the disproportionate distribution of natural resources, while poor nations face the worst consequences of environmental depletion. The use of natural resources is not equitable. Countries such as the United States, Germany or China, often referred to as "engines of development", have overexploited other countries' resources for centuries, from colonial times to the present days.

Moreover, large transnational economic or energy companies contribute significantly to this debt. Corporations such as Chevron and Shell have left irreparable environmental damage in poor countries without bearing the environmental costs and assuming 'environmental liabilities'.

The carbon debt

What are carbon credits and how do they work?

One of the biggest impacts of ecological debt is the accumulation of carbon debt. Rich countries are estimated to have been responsible for more than 80% of greenhouse gas emissions since the pre-industrial era. This means that these nations have over-exploited the atmosphere as a free sink for their carbon emissions, while poor countries have been hit hardest by the consequences of these practices. Carbon debt refers to the unfairly acquired right of industrialised countries to emit disproportionate amounts of CO2 without compensation.

Climate change, for example, has catastrophic impacts, such as, for example, the rise in sea levels, which particularly affects small islands, or desertification of large agricultural areas, which is dependent on cyclical climate change and would severely affect developing economies.

The role of governments and companies

Governments of developed countries play a crucial role in creating and/or increasing ecological debt. On the one hand, they facilitate economic and regulatory support for companies that exploit resources abroad. These companies are not held accountable for the environmental consequences they cause, a clear example of how global policies are not sufficient to achieve environmental justice.

On the other hand, the world economic system does not take into account the negative externalities of industrial development and global trade, where economic growth is financed without measuring the real costs of environmental and human damage.

How can ecological debt be reduced?

ecological transition

Reducing ecological debt is a complex process that requires both local and international action. Developed countries must drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fairly compensate developing countries for the damage caused by years of overexploitation of resources and environmental pollution.

Some strategies include:

Reducing consumption: the Nordic countries need to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle that does not depend on large-scale exploitation of non-renewable resources.

Green technology and renewables: investing in renewables such as solar and wind power is key to reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

Compensation mechanisms: implementing equitable mechanisms to compensate developing countries, such as green funds to finance mitigation and adaptation projects in the South.

Technology transfer: developed countries should assist developing countries in accessing cleaner and more sustainable technologies.

Ecological debt has been accumulating for centuries and will continue to grow as climate change and environmental degradation continue to accelerate. Efforts to reduce this debt require not only changes in international policies, but also in the way rich nations manage resources. The overexploitation of resources in developing countries, coupled with the lack of adequate compensation policies, perpetuates environmental injustice, which is an issue that urgently needs to be addressed.

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[1] source: https://hu.renovablesverdes.com/a-fejlett-orsz%C3%A1gok-%C3%B6kol%C3%B3giai-ad%C3%B3ss%C3%A1ga/