International Trade and Ecological Debt in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa: Challenges for Global Sustainable Development from a Systemic Approach

Abstract

International trade between countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (northern countries) and Asia, Africa and Latin America (southern countries), including Colombia, is maintained by the flow of commodities and manufactured and technological goods. However, this trade drains the natural resources and biodiversity of southern countries: deterioration is evident in export prices between Colombia, Africa and Asia compared to import prices from the OECD countries, because there is an ecologically uneven trade. From the methodology of systems dynamics, this article determines the detriment of ecosystems in year 2060, if the actual rate of exchange continues. The article also shows how the terms of exchange deteriorate as goods are exported without analyzing the environmental impact generated. For the analyzed territories, one can speak of an ecological dumping, because traditional goods would end up being sold for less than the production costs, if the loss of biodiversity, the draining of renewable and non-renewable natural resources, and the loss of environmental services because of deforestation were to be included as such.