ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how environmental degradation and structural debt combine to create the conditions for a partial solution to each. It discusses traditional assumptions about who global actors are and how they behave toward each. The chapter addresses long-accepted notions of what constitutes power. The development policies advocated by multilateral lending agencies encouraged lesser-developed countries to build their national economies on the strength of increasing export revenues, rather than on expanding domestic markets. The extensive destruction of rain forests and other valuable habitat has generally occurred in the name of economic development and, in some cases, survival. The common notion of development seeks to enhance economic growth both by exploiting a country’s natural resource base and by building the infrastructure that will support increased trade and economic activity. The debt instrument is then traded to the debtor nation in return for local currency, local-currency bonds, or a noncash consideration.
