been praised by some (see Victor et al, 1993) for the research coordination it has generated
as the central component of international cooperation, the stakes already made out by
individual countries for the eventual exploitation of the continent’s natural resources again
reveal individual motives of nationstates which conflict with truly global notions of
Intergenerational and intragenerational (cross country) equity. 6
The common property resource that is most often discussed is. however, the
atmosphere (see Soroos, 1991). Its degradation spans the problems of acid deposition, global
climate change and ozone depletion. Perhaps acid deposition has had the most apparent
environmental consequences in the form of acid rain i.e. acidic moisture caused by oxides of
sulphur or oxygen reaches the ground as rain, snow, mist, fog, frost or dew. Human
activities—rather than natural sources such as volcanoes—cause 90 percent of the quantities of
these substances in the industrialised regions of the North. Its consequences include Arctic
Haze, forest-death, acid-death of aquatic life as well as extensive damage to stone statues,
monuments and structures.
The problem of global climate change is caused by the excessive emission of carbon
dioxide that warms the lower atmosphere (troposphere). It is known that atmospheric
concentrations of carbondioxide have increased significantly over the last two centuries,
mainly reflecting a ten-fold increase in energy consumption during the twentieth century as
well as large scale cutting and burning of forests. While relatively small areas such as
Scandinavia may experience a somewhat longer growing season as a result, much larger tracts
of land are destined to suffer hotter and drier seasons and reduced production. It is not at all
impossible that glacial ice would melt more rapidly and sea levels would rise due to thermal
expansion, thus increasing the salinity of rivers and inundating highly populated areas. OECD
(1992) analyses various forms of damage—on agriculture, forests, species, sea level, space
cooling and heating, human amenity, life and morbidity, migration, construction, leisure, water
Even within nationstates, nationally demarcated land is often exploited for their timber,
minerals and metals or its quality degraded by burying atomic waste or piling chemical
waste. Related policy decisions reflect the possible impact on progeny (short term)
rather than on posterity and the estimates of environmental costs are often uncovered
to be grossly optimistic.