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q In 1951, Iran nationalized its oil industry in an effort to receive greater economic

benefit from its oil reserves. A boycott of Iranian oil demonstrated, however, that
individual countries had little power on the world oil market.

q In 1960, oil countries in the Middle East and Latin America formed OPEC, the

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to promote their collective interests
in the global oil market.

§OPEC has proven to have considerable political as well as economic power. This
was most clearly demonstrated in 1973 when, in response to support for Israel in
the Yom Kippur War, OPEC cut off shipments of oil to the United States and the
Netherlands.

§This created high prices and an oil shortage in the U.S. Price hikes that
followed in 1974 hurt many other countries, including Japan and its
manufacturing industries that relied heavily on oil.

q In 1995, over 100 nations joined together to create the World Trade Organization to

facilitate free and reliable trade around the world.

§ It was designed to reduce trade barriers and enforce trade agreements between

nations.

§ Free trade, however, was not universally beneficial.

§ It put pressure on manufacturers and workers in developed countries who

lost job security and put pressure for domestic social and political reforms
on developing countries as conditions for financial support and investment.

§ Division over the WTO’s mission was also evident at a 2003 meeting. Nations

were unable to come together when developing countries pushed richer countries
to lower their agricultural subsidies that left poorer countries at a disadvantage
in the world market.

Element C: Explain how governments cooperate through treaties
and organizations to minimize the negative effects of human
actions on the environment.

q Industrialization around the world plundered natural resources and

polluted the environment and nations struggled to come together on
solutions.

§Strip mines ruined land, pesticides destroyed soil, water, and insects,
oil spills killed marine life, air pollution led to acid rain, and the
emission of greenhouse gases contributed to global climate change.

§In 1984, a leak at a pesticide plant in India killed over 3,500 people.

§The meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Russia
exposed thousands to lethal levels of radiation.

q As developing nations worked to gain economic footing through

industrialization, solutions to overpopulation and environmental damage
are challenging.

q These nations opposed environmental treaties that would regulate

pollution in a way that inhibits their industrial growth. They point to the
deforestation and pollution caused by industrialized countries in decades
and centuries past.

q The Kyoto Protocol adopted by over 100 nations at a meeting in 1997, as

part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
bound participating nations to meet certain emission reduction targets.

§It put a greater burden on developed countries as they were the ones
primarily responsible for the high levels of greenhouse gases, but
required action by all countries. Though signed by U.S. President
Clinton, the Senate never ratified the agreement, and thus the U.S.
remained outside the Kyoto Protocol.