BIOS AND DEVELOPING ECONOMIES

We can perhaps define Biopolitics as the science underlying the policies to be implemented in order to maintain the continuity of life on earth. In this context, environment should be regarded as the most important subset of Biopolitics. With the emergence of the International University for the Bio-Environment (I.U.B.E.) and in developing prospective methods for this organisation, interest should now be concentrated on affecting early levels of education: primary and secondary schools where students are much more sensitive to the environment, life and the future. In fact, each individual at that level forges his or her character and determines one's ultimate priorities. I will therefore attempt to delineate the relationship between environmental issues and the business world. At the beginning of the 1990s, we are witnessing the emergence of a new era of environmentalism. Rather than confronting the political decision-makers and the business world, this new form of environmentalism is eager to work with business and is seeking the best kind of cooperation. At the same time, we are also witnessing the rise of corporate leaders as the chief environmentalists of their companies. In fact, all of us are convinced that in the 21st century one measure of the degree of socio-economic development of nations will be their performance in conserving their renewable and non-renewable natural resources, in other words, in terms of their respect for their environment. I believe that the next century will be the era of highly qualified, well educated men and women who will be the architects of economical and technological developments, ensuring the rise of environment-friendly technologies and lifestyles. These men and women will not campaign for an industrialisation movement at any price. They will consider the environmental aspects in calculating the return on their investment. But I hope that they will be realistic enough to understand that a perfect world cannot be achieved, and that they will not hesitate to settle for trade-offs. Anyway, I am sure that their minimum standards will be much tougher than ours. On our way to this new era, we should not be obsessed with the idea that man is the absolute master of the universe. Instead, we should put at the centre of our philosophy the ideal of eternal reconciliation of humanity with nature, and with its long-standing equilibrium. Since the beginning of humanity, the aim of man has always been to master nature. In the 19th and 20th centuries, following the industrial revolution, we had the impression that this struggle was over. However, our experience in the 60s and 70s has shown us that what we had actually won was a pyrrhic victory. Now we know that the struggle should be not to master nature but to protect and develop our natural resources and environment so that continuity of life on the earth can be maintained. Early explorers of this reality were the pioneers of environmentalism. But it took two decades for this movement to emerge in its present global and cooperative form. Furthermore, during the 60s and 70s, as far as the industrially developed countries were concerned, environmental protection was meant to protect the environment in their own countries. solution was to export pollution in various forms to developing countries. In other words, they were trying to shift the burden of their environmental problems to developing countries where the public was not as concerned about environmental issues. 1980s was a decade of transformation. egoistic tendency on the part of the richer countries is now slowly disappearing, thanks to two reasonsofirstly, although developing nations are facing important economic problems and serious public education issues, they have become more aware of their natural resources and environment. However, the higher cost of building environment-friendly production units is now the dilemma of developing countries. second reason has more to do with the influence of changing attitudes. With the possibilities offered by the information revolution of the 80s, The World, as opposed to individual countries, is now the battlefield of environmentalism. public in leading economies is now much more conscious of pollution in other countries. success of multi-nations in environmental issues is evaluated in terms of their global achievements. Having environment-friendly production units at home, but not respecting natural resources and environment abroad, no longer saves companies from public pressure. Track records in this area are now kept globally rather than nationally.