Answer: Governments are unwilling to spend the large sums of money that are needed to effectively address the problems. Powerful interest groups – oil producing nations and companies, loggers – block initiatives to change things around. And most important: short term economic interests are put above the longer term common good.
Explanation: Priorities, rationalization, and ideology.
Politicians give priority to the economy. They are largely pushed to do so by voters, who consider the present contents of their wallet much more important then the problems we will face in thirty years.
Rationalization is used to play down the consequences: nature is more resilient, so it is said, that all those environmental doomsday prophets pretend it to be, and nature, and people, will adapt to the changes.
Ideology is also used to justify inaction: the invisible hand of the market will ensure that everything will turn out all right. When the time comes people, companies and governments, prodded by the right balance between costs and benefits, will take the required action. For example, if oil becomes scarce and therefore, expensive, companies will be stimulated to look for alternatives – and will actively identify, develop and market them. No need to interfere in that process – it is better not to.
Another ideological argument is that presently we, and especially the poor countries, can’t afford to spend much money on the environment. The same argument is used to argue against large scale spending on fighting poverty. It states that first, countries have to create wealth, and only then can they invest in improving the environment – or fighting poverty. That’s what the rich countries did, the poor countries should follow the same path.
source: http://home.wanadoo.nl
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