Globalization, trade and migration: Undermining sustainability

I examine the impact of expanding international trade and migration on prospects for global sustainability from a strictly biophysical/ecological/behavioral perspective. My starting premise is that techno-industrial society is inherently unsustainable. Humans have a natural propensity to expand to occupy all accessible habitats and use all available resources. Because of continuous growth propelled by improving technology, the modern human enterprise is already in a state of ecological overshoot. Globalization and trade exacerbate the situation by shuffling resources around and short-circuiting the negative feedback that would otherwise result from local resource degradation. This allows population and material growth within each individual trading region to exceed local biophysical limits. This, in turn, accelerates the depletion of natural capital everywhere and ensures that all now trade-dependent regions hit global limits simultaneously. Large-scale migration also worsens matters by reducing negative feedback and enabling increased resource consumption. Moreover, because resource scarcity is likely to precipitate conflict among self-identifying 'tribal' groups within multi-cultural societies, uncontrolled migration may create conditions that impede the implementation of policy measures required for ecological sustainability. Global sustainability is thus most likely to be achieved through policies that foster increased regional self-reliance, encourage greater investment in local natural capital, and favor the development of strong, diverse local economies 'in place.' Such measures will raise local (and therefore global) bio-capacities and reduce both the pull and push factors in international migration.