How does the environment affect the poor?Lauren FranckSIO 209: Poverty & the EnvironmentMarch 30, 2010

Halving poverty?

The key Millennium Goal of halving poverty in a decade [by 2015] cannot be met without better environmental protection, according to a new report. “But unless the importance of the environment is grasped and acted upon, the report concludes that the key Millennium Goal on poverty will not be met.”-BBC News

World Resources 2005

Key Points

Economic growth (that aids the poor) begins with natural resources

Most of the world’s impoverished societies are rural and their livelihoods are directly tied to water, forests, and fields

Nations can take a bottom-up approach to growth that begins with those natural resources that the poor already use/interact with

Namibia Community-based Natural Resource

Management Conservancies run by elected locals, who

are given user rights over wildlife by the government User rights held by committees, not directly

by households Zebra, oryx, kudu, and springbok

populations are rebounding Rural/poor communities gaining cash, jobs,

and game meat Women’s livelihoods and status have

improved

India

Maharashta state- suffers from droughtsVillage-based water management results in

more independent communities Increased wells and subsistence crops have

reduced women’s household labor

Tanzania

UN initiated, Tanzanian government led HASHI program

Restores native vegetation (trees) in enclosures, reverting to traditional land management Ngitili (from agriculture)

Improved local diets, raised incomes, brought back local wildlife and increased biodiversity

Indonesia

Local people trained to document and report illegal logging in 15 regions with video cameras Program sponsored by 2 US/UK NGOs

Without logging, traditional livelihoods become possible again- river fishing, mixed crop farming, cultivation of honey, bamboo, and herbs for medicines

Fiji

Locally managed marine areas- villages choose to put quotas on shellfish and other marine resources (similar to traditional management practices)

Discussion Questions

• What international policies make the biggest difference for environmental stability and poverty?

• What are other examples of a clear relationship between poverty and the environment?

• How is responsibility for aid and assistance established for natural vs anthropogenic environmental problems (Tsunami vs Oil Spill)?

• How do you maintain community-run environmental strategies (against outside influence)?