Environmental Protection Throughout the World.docxVIP

Environmental Protection Throughout the WorldIntroductionIn most parts of the world, environmental awareness does not exist. The great majority of nations concern themselves with economic development, regardless of its effect on the global ecology. But in recent years, as environmental damage has increased, signs of change have sprung up in various pockets around the world. The following are a few examples of countries undertaking new environmental initiatives.CanadaWhen European explorers first came to the New World, the fishing grounds off what would become eastern Canada and New England held abundant cod and other species. The area, called the Grand Banks, was the most abundant fishing ground in the world.Now, 500 years later, excessive fishing has reduced the number of fish to dangerously low levels. In response, Canada has closed the area to cod fishing and set strict limits on catches of other species.When Canada took similar measures to protect the supply of herring in the 1970s, the fish eventually recovered. But experts say that some species today have been so wasted, they may never recover. The government also faces protests from Canadian fishermen. About 40,000 are now unemployed as a result of the fishing bans and loss of their fish supply.Costa RicaThis Central American country has one of the most ambitious programs in the world to preserve the ecological diversity of its tropical rain forests. Much of the country has already been clear-cut, and soil erosion has been extensive. But a series of new environmental laws, together with the creation of parks and nature preserves that cover one quarter of the country, are aimed at protecting Costa Ricas remaining forests.BrazilBrazil is home to the worlds largest jungle rain forest, the Amazon. For decades, the government sought to colonize and develop the Amazon, bringing severe environmental disaster to the area and its people.But in 1991, under pressure from environmentalists around the world, Brazil revers