Different countries, one environment: A critical Southern discourse on the common but differentiated responsibilities principle

Abstract

To argue in this way is to ignore the world we live in. We do all live in one planet, and all are interconnected; all nations are in legal terms equal sovereign members of the UN with the same rights and duties. But this statement of mixed fact and legal theory combines to hide a vicious reality. The world's unity, and the sovereign equality of nations, is mocked and nullified by the economic inequalities which exist between the so-called equal nations of the world, and in particular between the economic North and South of the world. Clearly, the parity of the developing countries with the developed ones is not compatible with the existing stocks of natural resources. For the survival of mankind the poor developing countries should remain in a state of underdevelopment because if the evils of industrialization were to reach them, life on the planet would be in jeopardy