Essay Major Powers Outside Southeast Asia (SEA) – Essay Writing – Economics Assignment Help

Assignment Task

 

PART A – SHORT ESSAY
Over the past centuries, major powers outside Southeast Asia (SEA) have often taken keen interest in engaging activities with SEA or exerting presence on SEA, due to the value of SEA in various areas.
Analyse two areas where SEA has value to such major powers currently. At least one of these areas should be applicable for more than 150 years. Furthermore, explain one problem faced by such major powers when they sought to benefit from SEA in the 19th century, and also one problem faced by SEA nations when they deal with the influence of such major powers on SEA today. The two areas and two problems covered should be supported by factual illustrations that involve Singapore somehow.

PART B – MATERIAL REVIEW
Go through the article appended and answer all of the following questions.
B1. Examine two ways how environmental degradation can bring long-term damage to global trade. Each way examined should be substantiated by appropriate evidence (data and/or example).
B2. Discuss one reason why international cooperation is vital for combating environmental degradation. Then appraise one weakness held by your own country when it comes to promoting international cooperation against environmental degradation, with comment on possible cause(s) of this weakness.
B3. Identify two economic considerations that deter the private sector in Singapore from making business models environment friendly. For each consideration, propose and justify one suggestion on how an existing public policy or the new SG Green Plan may be improved to address the consideration better, so that the private sector can be more active in using environment-friendly business models.
Note: The article has expressed some points related to the questions, through intended or unintended ways. These points may require inference, not being too obvious or straightforward at the first glance. The article provides a basic backbone to start you off, but it should not be the only source of reference. Please supplement the answers with insights or information outside the article, including personal analyses

Making Peace with Nature
Selected Chapter on “Key Messages”
By United Nations Environment Programme
Humanity’s environmental challenges have grown in number and severity ever since the Stockholm Conference in 1972 and now represent a planetary emergency. While tackling the emergency is demanding, this report, Making Peace with Nature, lights a path to a sustainable future with new possibilities and opportunities.

TRANSFORMING NATURE PUTS HUMAN WELL-BEING AT RISK
The current mode of development degrades the Earth’s finite capacity to sustain human well-being
Human well-being critically depends on the Earth’s natural systems. Yet the economic, technological and social advances have also led to a reduction of the Earth’s capacity to sustain current and future human well-being. Human prosperity relies on the wise use of the planet’s finite space and remaining resources, as well as on the protection and restoration of its life-supporting processes and capacity to absorb waste.
Over the last 50 years, the global economy has grown nearly fivefold, due largely to a tripling in extraction of natural resources and energy that has fuelled growth in production and consumption. The world population has increased by a factor of two, to 7.8 billion people, and though on average prosperity has also doubled, about 1.3 billion people remain poor and some 700 million are hungry.
The increasingly unequal and resource-intensive model of development drives environmental decline through climate change, biodiversity loss and other forms of pollution and resource degradation.
Social, economic and financial systems fail to account for the essential benefits society gets from nature and to provide incentives to manage it wisely and maintain its value. The majority of the essential benefits of nature currently have no financial market value despite being the underpinning of current and future prosperity.
Society is failing to meet most of its commitments to limit environmental damage
Society is not on course to fulfil the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to further limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. At the current rate, warming will reach 1.5°C by around 2040 and possibly earlier. Taken together, current national policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions put the world on a pathway to warming of at least 3°C by 2100. Human-induced current warming of more than 1°C has already led to shifts in climate zones, changes in precipitation patterns, melting of ice sheets and glaciers, accelerating sea level rise and more frequent and more intense extreme events, threatening people and nature.
None of the agreed global goals for the protection of life on Earth and for halting the degradation of land and
oceans have been fully met. Three quarters of the land and two thirds of the oceans are now impacted by humans. One million of the world’s estimated 8 million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction, and many of the ecosystem services essential for human wellbeing are eroding.
Society is on course to restore the Earth’s protective stratospheric ozone layer. However, there is a lot more to be done to reduce air and water pollution, safely manage chemicals, and reduce and safely manage waste.
The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals is threatened by an array of escalating and mutually reinforcing environmental risks
Current and projected changes in climate, biodiversity loss and pollution makes achieving the SDGs even more challenging. For example, even small increases in temperature, along with associated changes such as in weather, precipitation, heavier rainfall events, extreme heat, drought and fire, increase risks to health, food security, water supply and human security, and these risks increase along with warming. In 2018 alone, damages from climate-related natural disasters cost about US$155 billion.
The burden of environmental decline is felt by everyone, but disproportionally by the poor and vulnerable and looms even larger over today’s youth and future generations. Producers and consumers in wealthy countries often export their environmental footprint to poorer countries through trade and the disposal of waste.
Environmental changes are already undermining hard-won development gains and impeding progress towards ending poverty and hunger, reducing inequalities and promoting sustainable economic growth, work for all and peaceful and inclusive societies. Land degradation, for instance, adversely affects more than 3 billion people.
Earth’s capacity to sustain growing needs for nutritious food, water and sanitation will continue to weaken in the face of ongoing environmental declines, as vulnerable and marginalized people are currently experiencing. For example, food security is threatened by the loss of pollinators and fertile soil. Loss of pollinators, threatens annual global crop output worth between US$235 billion and US$577 billion.
The deteriorating state of the planet undermines efforts to achieve healthy lives and well-being for all. Around one quarter of the global burden of disease stems from environment-related risks, including those from animal-borne diseases (such as COVID-19), climate change, and exposure to pollution and toxic chemicals. Pollution causes some 9 million premature deaths annually and millions more die every year from other environment-related health risks.
Environmental risks in cities and urban areas, including those from heatwaves, flash floods, drought, wildfires and pollution, hamper efforts to make human settlements (including informal settlements) inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

There is an urgent need for a clear break with current trends of environmental decline and the coming decade is crucial
The risks to human well-being and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals will continue to escalate unless environmental degradation is halted. Global warming of more than 2°C combined with continued loss of biodiversity and increasing pollution will likely have dire consequences for humanity.
The costs of inaction on limiting environmental change far outweigh the costs of action. Global aggregate impacts from climate change are estimated to be very high by the end of the century unless cost-effective mitigations strategies are undertaken.
TRANSFORMING HUMANKIND’S RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE IS THE KEY TO A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Human knowledge, ingenuity, technology and cooperation can transform societies and economies and secure a sustainable future
Decades of incremental efforts have not stemmed the environmental decline resulting from an expansive development model because vested and short-term interests often prevail.
Only a system-wide transformation will achieve well-being for all within the Earth’s capacity to support life, provide resources and absorb waste. This transformation will involve a fundamental change in the technological, economic and social organization of society, including world views, norms, values and governance.
Major shifts in investment and regulation are key to just and informed transformations that overcome inertia and opposition from vested interests. Regulatory processes should embody transparent decision-making and good governance involving all relevant stakeholders. Opposition to change can be defused by redirecting subsidies toward alternative livelihoods and new business models.
The COVID-19 crisis provides an impetus to accelerate transformative change. The pandemic and the ensuing economic upheaval have shown the dangers of ecosystem degradation, as well as the need for international cooperation and greater social and economic resilience. The crisis has had major economic costs and is triggering significant investments. Ensuring that these investments support transformative change is key to attaining sustainability.
Earth’s environmental emergencies should be addressed together to achieve sustainability
Given the interconnected nature of climate change, loss of biodiversity, land degradation, and air and water pollution, it is essential that these problems are tackled together. Response options that address multiple issues can mitigate multidimensional vulnerability, minimize trade-offs and maximize synergies.
Limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to further limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C requires rapid implementation and a significant strengthening of pledges under the Paris Agreement. Globally, net carbon dioxide emissions need to decline by 45 per cent by 2030 compared with 2010 levels and reach net zero by 2050 to put the world on a pathway to 1.5°C with a probability of about 50 per cent, whereas more ambitious targets would be necessary for higher certainty. A pathway to 2°C would require global emissions to be reduced by 25 per cent by 2030 compared with 2010 levels and reach net zero by around 2070. Both pathways entail rapid transformations in areas including energy systems, land use, agriculture, forest protection, urban development, infrastructure and lifestyles. Mitigating climate change is vital, urgent and cost saving: the lower the degree of warming, the easier and cheaper it will be to adapt.
The loss of biodiversity can only be halted and reversed by providing space dedicated for nature while also addressing drivers such as changing land and sea use, overexploitation, climate change, pollution and invasive alien species. To prevent extinctions and maintain nature’s life-supporting contributions, biodiversity conservation and restoration must be integral to the many uses of terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, and coupled with an expanded and better-managed global network of interconnected protected areas designed to be resilient to climate change.
The adverse effects of chemicals and waste on the environment and human health can be substantially reduced by implementing existing international chemicals conventions. Further progress will require strengthening the science-policy interface as the basis for evidence-based policymaking and improved management systems, along with legal and regulatory reform.
The economic and financial systems can and should be transformed to lead and power the shift to sustainability
Governments should incorporate full natural capital accounting into their decision-making and use policies and regulatory frameworks to provide incentives for businesses to do the same. Yardsticks such as inclusive wealth (the sum of produced, natural, human and social capital) provide a better basis for investment decisions than gross domestic product, as they reflect the capacity of current and future generations to achieve and sustain higher living standards.
Governments should shift away from environmentally harmful subsidies, invest in low-carbon and nature-friendly solutions and technologies, and systematically internalize environmental and social costs.
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will require massive shifts and increases in public and private financial flows and investment patterns, including in the water, food and energy sectors. Incentives must be shifted so that investments in sustainable development are financially attractive.
The Global South needs increased access to low-interest finance in order to build its capacity and overhaul accounting systems and policy frameworks in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. The Global North has exacerbated the finance gap by failing to meet its commitments on international environmental and development assistance.
Shifting taxation from production and labour to resource use and waste promotes a circular economy. Potential inequalities resulting from this shift can be offset through social safety nets.
Reducing inequalities and the risk of social conflict requires the minimization and reversal of environmental degradation and declines in natural resources. It also requires structural changes to the economy, including steps to promote equity and address individual and community rights to property, resources and education.
The food, water and energy systems can and should be transformed to meet growing human needs in an equitable, resilient and environmentally-friendly manner
Feeding humanity, ensuring water and energy security, and enhancing the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of nature are complementary and closely interdependent goals. Achieving these goals requires food systems that work with nature, reduce waste, and are adaptive to change and resilient to shocks.
Small-scale farmers, especially women farmers, are central to the challenge of food and nutrition security and must be empowered.
Changes in global patterns of consumption are critical to transforming food, water and energy systems, and to challenging social norms and business practices. Improving access to safe, nutritious and affordable food for all, while reducing food waste and changing dietary choices and consumer behaviour in high-income countries and groups, is central for the achievement of hunger, biodiversity, waste and climate goals.
Ensuring sustainable food production from the oceans while protecting marine biodiversity requires policy action to apply sustainable harvesting approaches to fisheries management, improve spatial planning and address threats such as climate change, ocean acidification and pollution.
Sustaining freshwater in the context of climate change, rising demand, and increased pollution involves cross-sectoral and sector-specific interventions at the watershed or river basin scale. This can be achieved by simultaneously increasing water-use efficiency, wisely expanding storage, reducing pollution, improving water quality, minimizing disruption and fostering the restoration of natural habitats and flow regimes.
Universal access to clean and affordable energy requires a transformation of both the production and use of energy. Increasing the supply of clean energy coupled with innovation and efficiency gains is vital to achieving equitable and sustainable economic growth while limiting global warming. Clean energy will also reduce poverty and indoor and outdoor air pollution and provide critical services such as communications, lighting and water pumping.
Keeping the planet healthy is key to providing health and well-being for all
Policies, good practices and appropriate technologies to limit climate change, ecosystem degradation and pollution can significantly reduce associated human health risks, including from respiratory diseases, water-borne, vector-borne and animal-borne diseases, malnutrition, extreme weather events and chemical exposure. Technological change and diffusion are important mechanisms to drive transformation.
A One Health approach integrates action across sectors and disciplines to protect the health of people, animals and the environment. Such an approach is key to minimize future human health risks from climate change, ecosystem degradation and deteriorating food, air and water quality. It is also essential in preventing and limiting the impact of future health emergencies, including pandemic outbreaks of animal-borne diseases such as COVID-19.
Cities and other settlements, especially rapidly expanding urban areas and informal settlements, must be made more sustainable. Improvements in urban planning, governance, infrastructure and the use of nature-based solutions can be cost-effective ways to reduce pollution and make settlements more environment friendly and resilient to climate change impacts such as increased urban heat island effects and flooding. Blue and green infrastructure in urban areas have significant benefits for mental health.
Everyone has a part to play in transforming social and economic systems for a sustainable future
All actors have individual, complementary and nested roles to play in bringing about cross-sectoral and economy-wide transformative change with immediate and long-term impact. This can be enhanced through capacity-building and education. Governments initiate and lead in intergovernmental cooperation, policies and legislation that transform society and the economy. Such transformations enable the private sector, financial institutions, labour organizations, scientific and educational bodies and media as well as households and civil society groups to initiate and lead transformations in their domains.
Individuals can facilitate transformation by, for instance, exercising their voting and civic rights, changing their diets and travel habits, avoiding waste of food and resources, and reducing their consumption of water and energy. They can also promote behavioural change by raising awareness in their communities. Human cooperation, innovation and knowledge-sharing will create new social and economic possibilities and opportunities in the transformation to a sustainable future.