BY DIRRIBA TESHOME
Poverty and the environment are closely interconnected. Though people living in poverty are seldom the principal creators of environmental destruction, they often bear the brunt of environmental damage and are often caught in a downward spiral, whereby the poor are forced to deplete resources to survive, and this degradation of the environment more deprives people according to the reports of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
When this self-reinforcing downward spiral becomes extreme, people are forced to move in increasing numbers to marginal and ecologically fragile lands or cities.
As a result, this article examines the interrelationships of poverty and the environment; and discusses their status and trends. It also highlights the types and the impact of poverty on environmental health and the vulnerability of the poor to natural and man-made disasters based on the UNDP and UNEP reports.
As well, the recently released views of Ecologist Julia Carabias, 2005 named a Champion of the Earth, the United Nations’ highest environmental honor, are also included as she has devoted much of her career to restoring ecosystems damaged by human development.
Forms of poverty are usually referred to in terms of income or deprivation; poverty has been measured in many ways. Increasingly, equal emphasis is being placed on social definitions (life expectancy, literacy rate etc.), along with the traditional economic ones (Gross Domestic Product (GDP) etc.), to indicate the status and trend of poverty, or to develop poverty-related indices such as human development index, human poverty index and gender development index (ADB 1999).
Whatever the cause, poverty is often focused on environmentally fragile ecological zones, where communities face and/or contribute to different kinds of environmental degradation.
There are four forms of poverty based on land use and environments that are evident in the region. The first form of poverty occurs in areas characterized by active and productive agricultural land, the efficient and equitable utilization of which by the poor is hampered by low levels of access to land, resources or jobs.
For example, the Green Revolution, whilst increasing absolute food production, did little to enhance the income of the small subsistence farmers and sharecroppers. In comparison with large landowners, these farmers lacked resources for the requisite capital investment in the new technologies, and so mostly sold their lands to large landowners and became further impoverished.
The overall result has been a bi-polar distribution of land-holdings in the region, with the fragmentation of small farms upon inheritance, and a parallel increase in the size of the large holdings.
Against this background, the two variables most strongly correlated with rural poverty are unemployment and limited or no access to land. Studies have shown that in the poorest areas, more than three-quarters of the unemployed are concentrated in just two classes: landless workers and small farmers (TWE 1993). Many small landholdings have been bankrupted due to the absence of co-operative farming, lack of access to credit and the large capital investments required for new technology.
Also, large landholders have in many cases evicted tenants in an attempt to consolidate their land in response to threatened land reforms or amendments to tenancy laws.
The second form of poverty occurs in areas of marginal lands (deserts, uplands, and already degraded lowlands) with few opportunities for increasing agricultural productivity or economic diversification. Such areas are generally very low in productivity, and problems are compounded by unsustainable agricultural practices. Approximately, 60 percent of the poor in the region are estimated to be living on these marginal lands.
The third groups of impoverished people are those who inhabit coastal areas with inadequate or depleted marine resources. People are attracted to such areas due to economic development; but, in many cases, the pace of this development destroys or depletes the very resources that are fuelling its growth.
The fourth form of poverty is experienced by the poor inhabitants of urban slums and squatter settlements, where there is constant exposure to poor sanitary and environmental conditions. The geographical concentration of the worst poverty causes serious localized degradation.
In the same way, high population density and growth against a background of inequitable distribution of productive assets make sustainable development more difficult to achieve. Impoverished communities also tend to rely disproportionately on common property resources such as forest and pasture, which are vulnerable to degradation when exploited by growing numbers of people.
At the country level, developing countries tend to be reliant on natural resources products for the overwhelming majority of their exports, which makes their economies extremely vulnerable to environmental changes and pressures.
Macroeconomics, trade and sectoral adjustment policies alter incentives governing natural resources by altering aggregate demand, as well as by distorting relative prices of natural resources and related goods and services. Markets at local, national and international levels also
Similarly, a former Environment Minister of Mexico, Ecologist Julia Carabias, is one of the authors of a landmark new report from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP),Making Peace with Nature believes that poverty and the environment are strongly interrelated. She forwards how the world can tackle three looming environmental crises.
Science has recognized approximately one million species distributed throughout the world but it is estimated that there must be many more perhaps about eight million species of plants and animals. And it is estimated that within those eight million, there are one million species in danger of extinction which may disappear by the end of this century. This can be considered a catastrophe for life as we know it today on the planet.
The main policy that has proven effective throughout the world is that of protected natural areas. This means that, in large spaces, ecosystems can be preserved with a momentum of human intervention. This allows species to continue their evolutionary processes as well as the interactions between them.
Moreover, this allows generating ecosystem services that are beneficial for humans as well. It is the responsibility of governments to guarantee a healthy environment because it is a human right. This requires institutions, it requires policies, it requires programs, instruments, and financial resources, of course.
But above all, it requires the will of governments to place the environment at the highest level of their agendas. Addressing the environment will have long-term results but if we do not begin acting today, we will leave behind a much more deteriorated planet in which above all, the most vulnerable groups, young people and children will have great trouble satisfying their needs.
Governments must place the environment as a cross-cutting issue in all policies: educational policy, economic policy and social policy. All issues must incorporate the environmental issuer at their core.
Yes, the relationship between poverty and the environment is extremely close. It is a vicious cycle. Poverty generates environmental deterioration while environmental deterioration generates greater poverty.
For example, in a community where the conditions of the land are degrading, water is lost and the productivity of its crops decreases. This means less food, less income, loss of water availability and the reduction of many raw materials that natural ecosystems provide to communities. The process has to be reserved.
People’s well-being, development and the conservation of nature need to create a virtuous circle instead. This can be done through solutions that are close to nature productive processes, and much friendlier consumption patterns which allow for the generation of jobs and greater income for the populations so that they can enjoy healthy lives and well-being while preserving their natural resources.
The Ethiopian Herald March 13/2021
