The root and proximate causes of environmental problems in Guyana: When Kaiteur turned red ...

• Main Author: Carroll, Clair Ann
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: American University 2023
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.57912/23878866; https://aura.american.edu/articles/thesis/The_root_and_proximate_causes_of_environmental_problems_in_Guyana_When_Kaiteur_turned_red/23878866

Guyana is situated at the northern tip of South America. It is surrounded by Venezuela to its West, Suriname to its East, Brazil to its South, and the North Atlantic Ocean to its North. The country has experienced years of political and economic turmoil that has culminated in serious environmental problems. They are water pollution associated with minimal waste disposal, land degradation and land and water pollution associated with mining, and the destruction of rain forests via rapid deforestation. This thesis examines the root and proximate causes of those environmental problems. The root causes are: (1) the structures of political economy, which result from an autonomous government, and are manifested in political and governmental corruption, inequality in access to resources, and mismanagement of resources; (2) an incomplete system of economic measurement that results from an incorrect use of the neoclassical theory of economics and leads to a series of structural adjustment programs that do not solve ...