Appropriate Environmental Standards in Developing Nations

Developing Countries are increasing their wealth, but have substantial ecological problems including high population growth, mass movement of rural populations to cities, and severe net negative cultural and ecological/environmental impacts. Additionally the World Community is now so closely watched by the media that political leaders of developing countries are forced by their citizens to give the appearance of personal and environmental protection by adopting the same ecological/environmental standards/criteria as the industrialized nations, when the economic and manpower resources make enforcement essentially impossible. The problem is intensified by the fact that the standards/criteria for industrialized countries are often based upon non-scientific/non-economic rationales driven by politically motivated media and environmental pressure groups. The developing countries, as well as the industrialized countries must eventually maximize the utilization of their available resources by utilizing the best scientific/economic rationale possible. Data is presented for the U.S.A. showing its development from about 1890 to the present. From these data it was apparent that the developing countries are following a very similar pattern. It is accordingly very important that these countries be aided to develop and utilize scientific/economic standards/criteria appropriate to their stage of development.