ABSTRACT
Not all types of environmental degradation are of recent origin or global in scope—some are long established and local. 1 Even so, unsustainable transformation of the environment under globalisation differs from environmental damage in previous epochs. Although contemporary environmental abuses have their antecedents in earlier periods of history, globalisation coincides with new environmental problems such as global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, acute loss of biodiversity, and forms of transboundary pollution (e.g. acid rain). These problems have emerged not singly but together. Moreover, certain ecological problems are clearly the result of global cross-border flows, as with the kinds of groundwater contamination, leaching and longterm health threats traceable to the import of hazardous wastes.
