Developing countries should prioritize environmental protection over resource extraction.

Note: This is for lincoln douglass debators only. I am practicing for my next tournament. There was not room to put this in the blank for the topic but we are only debating instances where environmental protection and resource extraction are in conflict. "A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself." It is because I agree with Franklin D. Roosevelt that I am compelled to affirm today"s resolution which states Resolved: For clarification of today"s round I offer the following definitions: Developing Country- a country having a standard of living or level of industrial production well below that possible with financial or technical aid; a country that is not yet highly industrialized (dictionary.com) Should- used to indicate obligation, duty, or correctness, typically when criticizing someone"s actions (New Oxford American Dictionary) Prioritize- designate or treat (something) as more important than other things (New Oxford American Dictionary) Prioritize- to organize (things) so the most important thing is done or dealt with first (Merriam Webster) Environmental Protection- environmental guardianship based on policies and procedures (Black"s Law Dictionary) Objectives are: 1. the conserving of natural resources 2. the preserving of the existing natural environment 3. where possible, repairing damage and reversing trends Resource- a country"s collective means of supporting itself of becoming wealthier, as represented by its reserves of minerals, land, and other assets (New Oxford American Dictionary) Extraction- the action of taking out something esp. using effort of force (New Oxford American Dictionary) Conflict- the incompatibility between two or more opinions (New Oxford American Dictionary) The highest value within today"s round is Quality of Life. Quality of life is defined as the conditions which contribute to making life more than a struggle for survival; elevating life beyond a needs-only existence. Quality of life is most important in today"s round because it is important to make lives more than a struggle and that can only happen when we prioritize environmental protection over resource extraction when the two are in conflict. The criterion that best supports my value is teleology. Teleology is defined as a theory which holds that the means of achieving some end is not as important as the end result; the ends are more important than the means. If environmental protection is prioritized over resource extraction, then the developing country will be better off in the end because it will not suffer the damages done by excessive resource extraction. Teleology best achieves my value of quality of life because the end result will be a higher quality of life for citizens in the country. I offer the following contentions to support my value and criterion. Contention 1: Developing countries need to focus on ensuring environmental stability which can only be achieved when environmental protection is prioritized over resource extraction. Point A. Developing countries need to focus on ensuring environmental stability. The Millennium Development Goals are a set of goals that United Nations will strive to achieve by 2015. The seventh goal is to ensure environmental stability. A country can only be successful when environmental stability is ensured as shown in the case of Albania. Albania had multiple problems that were caused by deforestation. Illegal logging, uncontrolled harvesting, and poor forest management were major problems for the country due to weak law enforcement. The effects of deforestation in Albania were detrimental. Deforestation causes lack of biodiversity and soil erosion destruction. The nation had destroyed its soil which in turn, destroyed the nation itself. Point B. Environmental stability can only be achieved when environmental protection is prioritized over resource extraction. In 2005, Albania began to prioritize environmental protection over resource extraction due to all the damages done by deforestation. According to the Global Environment Facility, by 2008, a large governmental staff in charge of forest extension was been developed, natural forest habitats and scrub forest coverage were improved and increased, and 400,000 tons of erosion were reduced. The country also began to work on stricter law enforcement. Albania is on its way to achieving the goal of ensuring environmental stability and giving its citizens a higher quality of life as the end result, thus achieving teleology. Contention 2: A country"s standard of living is higher when environmental protection is prioritized over resource extraction. A lot of damage is done to the environment due to resource extraction. Extracting resources is important, but when the two are in conflict, environmental protection should be held higher. Afghanistan has lots of environmental problems such as soil degradation, air and water pollution, and deforestation to due its rapid resource extraction. Due to the an excessive amount of trees being cut down, within two decades, Afghanistan lost 70 percent of its forests. Specialists say that this has made the country increasingly venerable to natural disasters. Often times, plants that create natural buffers from storms and natural disasters, are burned by the citizens of the country for fuel due to weak law enforcement. In addition to that, in 2007, over 80 percent of Afghanistan"s soil was subject to erosion. The chairman of the Afghan Organization for Human Rights and Environmental Protection said that the misuse of natural resources was one of the reasons Afghanistan has so many environmental issues. Afghanistan"s standard of living level is extremely low due to excessive resource extraction, which is exactly the opposite of what should be happening within a developing country. When environmental protection takes precedence over resource extraction in instances of conflict, the citizens are provided with a high quality of life and (although environmental protection can be expensive) a good end result. Contention 3: Extracting resources when they are in conflict with environmental protection hinders economic growth. Environmental protection is not commonly paired with economic development, but in the long run, the way to achieve development is to prioritizing environmental protection over resource extraction. Developing countries often suffer from the "resource curse" which is also known as the paradox of the plenty. This happens when the country begins to extract a large amount of one renewable resource. Basically the economy begins to revolve around the industry, and more and more people begin to get jobs that are part of the industry. Then value of the national currency goes down because of high wages and other industries (especially the manufacturing sector) begin to suffer. Developing countries with low amounts of economic growth are often the ones with an abundance of natural resources. The damage done to the environment by extracting the resources and the disastrous affects of the resource curse lower the quality of life for citizens of developing countries and produce a negative end result for the country. Therefore, I affirm.