Protected wilderness: Is it still possible?

Abstract

Wilderness is defined as a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. In the last half of the twentieth century, growth in world population and hyper globalization of industrial capitalism have resulted in a major degradation of the Earth’s natural environment and deforestation. Large majorities of the public have shown little interest in arresting the degradation while political leaders have ignored it in order to promote economic growth. Indeed, the huge growth in the inequality of wealth in most democratic states over the last forty years is a measure of the decline in their democracies and the rise of de facto oligarchies serving the interests of wealthy minorities and a singular focus on the objective of economic growth. This is especially marked in the 20 nation states with common law systems that have no environmental provisions in their constitutions such as the right to a healthy environment. Nevertheless, there are two grounds today for some optimism for achieving wilderness protection. The first is the recognition of the extraordinary environmental rights revolution that has taken place since 1970 whereby 130 nation states have amended their constitutions with provisions to protect their environments thus taking environmental protection out of the hands of political leaders and giving it back to the public through the courts. Secondly, public awareness of climate change has greatly increased in the last ten years and public advocacy for addressing climate change is wide spread. Along with that is an expectation that political leaders must now seriously address climate change.