for reaching sufficiently back into the past to repay this debt. Perhaps an alternate adequate
mechanism is for the present to ensure and safeguard its received gift of endowment for the
future.
Most environmental threats—global warming, forest depletion—are not likely to affect
us or our immediate descendants. 4 There is no particular reason, therefore, for a human
being—or even for a particular country—to individually take action. 5 Commitment at a global
level for equity with future generations therefore emerges as a distinct necessity. Global taxes
comprise an important vehicle for the realisation of that commitment.
2. The atmosphere as an illustration of a global resource
Examples of a global resource may be found in sea, land or air. The oceans are a
common example of an international common property resource. Ships ply on the high seas
and nationstates bury refuse of various sorts in their beds. The quality of seas and oceans as
a resource is thus degraded by chemical and nuclear wastes, and also by oil spills and atomic
explosions. If and when any compensations are made for accidents, they tend to be small if
not minuscule compared to their social cost. Further, payments made and received tend to
be confined within individual countries, reflecting international norms regarding the
prerogatives of state sovereignty, though some cross country compensation has also taken
place. Thus, first, marginal social costs of environmental degradation do not get fully
reflected when such degradation occurs and, second, it is safe to say that it is generally not
treated as a cutting edge global issue in international fora. These issues are taken up in some
detail in Section VI.
Similarly, focussing on land on a global scale, the continent of Antarctica is an
example of an abundant common property resource. Though the 1959 Antarctic Treaty has
If there is no abatement of environmental degradation, damages from climate change
would be negligible for the next fifty years. It would thereafter accelerate and become
very high after 150 years or so. See Choucri and North (1993).
Indeed, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) formed by interested parties in their
individual capacities often seem to do more than their governments. For the role that
co-operatives and local governments have been playing, see Singh (1994).