Dissertation 10000 word

1

Research Proposal: Impact of European Union (EU) Cooperation in the Environmental Field

Nayef Alkhalifa

University Of Westminster

04-04-2022

The European Union has been one of the major champions of environmental changes globally and they have spearheaded the efforts to revert climatic change to create a better environment. The EU and its member states play a major role in the global environmental field through the formulation of policies and standards that help countries navigate the impacts that climatic change has had on the world.

Rationale

The topic is critical not only to member’s states by to every state, country and territory globally. Climatic change and environmental degradation has a huge impact on the living conditions and the nature of human life on earth. It is thus necessary to take the environmental issues as a major concern that is affecting human beings. Currently, the world faces major issues that affect the wellbeing and overall health of the planet. Pollution is a major environmental concern. It affects water, air and soil and caused by human activities. Pollution has led to millions of tones of plastics being dumped into the oceans thus affecting marine life. It has also led to hard metal such as nitrates that are caused by toxins released from factories and fossil fuel combustion.

Global warming is as an effect of the greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere through human activities such as industrialization. It is a major problem that has seen the earth’s temperature rise higher than it ever has in the last century. Global warming leads to the melting of ancient glaciers leading to a rise in sea levels. It also leads to a release of pathogens frozen in time such as bacteria affecting the global ecosystem. Waste disposal and loss of biodiversity also affects human beings in that there is increased food shortage, fertility of land and increased desertification in once fertile lands.

All the above environmental issues show the necessity of studying the impact that a trade block such as the EU has on the environment. It is important to understand the role that policies and standards play in ensuring the conservation of the global environment. The main argument of the paper will be that the EU plays a strategic role in promoting environmental conservation and encouraging the same thr0ough strict standards and policies to their member countries. The EU acts as a benchmark to other trade unions to increase the levels of environmental awareness and conservation. The main aims of the research topic are to create a better understanding of the EU and its role in global environmental politics.

My interest in the topic is geared by the increasing negative impacts of the environmental degradation on the globe. The world has had some of its hottest years and sea levels are constantly rising. NOAA’s 2020 Climate Report shows that the combined oceanic and earth temperature has increased by 0.13 degrees Fahrenheit on average (per decade) since 1880 (Lindsey & Dahlman, 2020). The increase since 1981 is however astonishing as it has been more than twice the rate in less than five decades. Global warming is likely to increase at a rate of 1.5 degrees Celsius if human beings do not change their current ways of environmental pollutions and degradation. It is thus important to understand the strategies that are employed by the EU, and apply the same globally to hasten the environmental change reform.

Objectives

The following are the objectives for the research:

· To identify the role that EU has in conserving global environment and encouraging member states to conserve the environment

· To identify the impact of the EU efforts in environmental conservation on reduction of pollution, global warming and environmental degradation

· To evaluate the impact of the EU on other trade blocks globally in the fight for global environmental conservation

· To design a benchmark model that other nations and unions globally could use to increase environmental conservation and reduce the negative impacts of environmental degradation

· To create awareness of the roles that global bodies have in the process of environmental conservation

· To identify and increase the participation of EU member states in the process of environmental conservation

Literature Search and Summary

Researchers have tried to understand the impact that the European Union and its stringent policies have had on the environment. The trade block is known to have policies that ensure environmental conservation. The following are few of the sources that will provide a historical analysis of the environmental conservation efforts put in place by the European Union.

Heinelt (2018) is one of the authors that discuss the EU and its environmental policies. The book title was first published in 2001 and continues to be updated year after year on the new information that arises in relation to the EU and the environment. The source analyses the impact of the EU policy on the political, institutional and domestic environment. The source analyses how the forms of governance in the European Union impact the environmental processes and how countries introduce environmental management systems. The source concentrates on three countries in the EU which are Germany, Greece and Great Britain and how their introduction of voluntary environmental management systems impacts the nation.

The resource is important to the research as it helps answer the research question. It helps create an understanding of the steps of environmental system management that are taken by various countries in the EU and the impact they have on such countries. It also creates awareness for the need of environmental management policies and standards that could help improve the overall well being of member states and the global community in general.

The existence of life on earth is based on the balance of its ecological systems. Angheluta et al. (2019) show the impact that the environment has on survival of human beings and other living creatures through their study. They show that environmental degradation, pollution and events that lead to pressure exerted on the environment have a negative impact on the ecosystem. The authors discuss the objectives of the EU and how they are related to environmental conservation. They carry out a comparative analysis on matters such as renewable sources of energy. They show that the EU and its member states have policies that encourage the use of renewable sources of energy as a way of conserving the environment. The policies reduce the carbon foot print and thus better environmental outcomes.

The research is essential for the research as it shows the cooperation in the EU through the set policies and standards on matters relating to the environment. The EU has policies regarding the use of sources of energy and what is considered too much for the environment. Through such policies and their acceptance by member states, it is possible to identify the positive impacts that cooperation has on safeguarding the environment and improving the ecological systems on which human life relies.

Gulac et al. (2019) show a further increase in the collaborative efforts between the EU and other countries such as Ukraine. Their main focus is on the ecology of the nations and how such collaboration strengths the fight for a better ecological system. The authors show that the main problems that impede the integration between the EU and other nations in relation to the environmental spheres. The authors also identify the trends in the environmental conservation integration amongst players in the EU. They identify the main direction that the environmental integration should take to ensure sustainable solutions to environmental related problems.

The research is important to the current research in that it provides an avenue to understand the impact that policies have on the development of environmental policies aimed at solving environmental issues. It also shows the power of collaboration and how it increases the improvement and solving of environmental norms and standards that govern environmental development.

In summary, most of the research shows that collaboration has a positive outcome when it comes to matters of environmental conservation. The researchers show that it is through the cooperation that members of the EU have become an element of study on policies and standards related to the environment. The EU members benefit from some of the highest environmental standards globally. The only way that the union has managed to achieve such standards is through member state collaboration. The national governments have set clear goals and guides for the attainment of the stated goals and vision of the union. The union also has a policy that goes to 2022and beyond with dedicated funding and research programs that are associated with environmental collaboration.

This research will thus help cement the discussions through the different literature on the positive impact that cooperation between member states have had on the environment. It has allowed the block to have some of the strongest policies and progress when it comes to the conservation of the environment. Benchmarking the European Union could help other nations and global blocks understand how cooperation hastens the process of environmental rejuvenation. It also allows them to understand the purpose of shared goals and objectives in relation to the environment.

Methodology

The research will take a historical approach where the main focus will be on primary and secondary sources of data on the EU and its impacts on the environment. A literature review will be the main method of gathering the necessary information required in the research. The study will review any primary sources of information in relation to the European Union and its impacts on the environment. The main sources will be government archives or the website affiliated to the union and its environmental objectives.

The research will use major keywords to search for the appropriate literature to fit the research questions. All research that fits the criteria will be evaluated to assess reliability and credibility. The focus will be on sources that are less than 10 years and that have relevant data on the European Union. The data collected shall be analyzed through thematic sectioning where each piece will be arranged and groups according to the themes that are prevalent.

Most of the research materials will be obtained through credible and scholarly sources. The main focus will be Google Scholar, a tool that provides peer reviewed information relating to the research topic. JSTOR and ScienceDirect are other databases that will come in handy in choosing the appropriate articles to include in the research. The articles will be reviewed and vetted by an independent researcher to eliminate any form of bias and to also ensure that they meet the set criteria.

Research Timeline

Date	Aug ‘22	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan ‘23	Feb	March
Detail
Project definition
Research
Project proposal
Research method design
Literature Search
Data Collection and Analysis
Report writing (findings)
First draft
Review of first draft
Dissertation (writing)
Submission

References

Angheluta, S. P., Burlacu, S., Diaconu, A., & Curea, C. S. (2019). The Energy from Renewable Sources in the European Union: Achieving the Goals.  European Journal of Sustainable Development,  8(5), 57-57. https://doi.org/10.14207/ejsd.2019.v8n5p57

Gulac, O., Dubchak, L., Iarmolenko, I., & Yanchuk, J. (2019). Cooperation of Ukraine and the European Union in the ecological sector: directions and prospects.  European Journal of Sustainable Development,  8(1), 22-22. https://doi.org/10.14207/ejsd.2019.v8n1p22

Heinelt, H. (2018).  European Union environment policy and new forms of governance: a study of the implementation of the environmental impact assessment directive and the eco-management and audit scheme regulation in three member states: a study of the implementation of the environmental impact assessment directive and the eco-management and audit scheme regulation in three member states. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315202730

Lindsey, R., & Dahlman, L. (2020). Climate change: Global temperature.  Climate. gov,  16. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature