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INTRODUCTION

Poverty and environment are closelyinterrelated. Whilst people living in poverty areseldom the principal creators of environmentaldamage, they often bear the brunt of environmentaldamage and are often caught in a downward spiral,whereby the poor are forced to deplete resources tosurvive, and this degradation of the environmentfurther impoverishes people. When this self-reinforcing downward spiral becomes extreme,people are forced to move in increasing numbers tomarginal and ecologically fragile lands or to cities.

This chapter examines the interrelationships ofpoverty and environment and discusses their statusand trends. It also highlights the impact of povertyon environmental health and the vulnerability of thepoor to natural and man-made disasters.

POVERTY AND ENVIRONMENT:STATUS AND TRENDS

A. Definition-Forms of PovertyUsually referred to in terms of income or

deprivation, poverty has been measured in manyways. Increasingly, equal emphasis is being placedon social definitions (life expectancy, literacy rate etc.),along with the traditional economic ones (GrossDomestic Product (GDP) etc.), to indicate the statusand trend of poverty, or to develop poverty relatedindices such as human development index, humanpoverty index and gender development index (ADB1999). Whatever the cause, poverty is oftenconcentrated in environmentally fragile ecologicalzones, where communities face and/or contribute todifferent kinds of environmental degradation.

Four forms of poverty based on land use andenvironment are evident in the region. The first formof poverty occurs in areas characterized by activeand productive agricultural land, the efficient andequitable utilization of which by the poor is hamperedby low levels of access to land, resources or jobs. Forexample, the Green Revolution, whilst increasingabsolute food production, did little to enhance theincome of the small subsistence farmers andsharecroppers. In comparison with large landowners,these farmers lacked resources for the requisite capitalinvestment in the new technologies, and so mostlysold their lands to large landowners and becamefurther impoverished. The overall result has been abi-polar distribution of land-holdings in the region,with fragmentation of small farms upon inheritance,and a parallel increase in the size of the largeholdings.

Against this background, the two variablesmost strongly correlated with rural poverty areunemployment and limited or no access to land.Studies have shown that in the poorest areas, morethan three quarters of unemployed are concentratedin just two classes: landless workers and smallfarmers (TWE 1993). Many small land holdings havebeen bankrupted due to the absence of co-operativefarming, lack of access to credit and the large capitalinvestments required for new technology. In addition,large landholders have in many cases evicted tenantsin an attempt to consolidate their land in response tothreatened land reforms or amendments to tenancylaws.

The second form of poverty occurs in areas ofmarginal lands (deserts, uplands, and alreadydegraded lowlands) with few opportunities forincreasing agricultural productivity or for economicdiversification. Such areas are generally very low inproductivity, and problems are compounded byunsustainable agricultural practices. Approximately60 per cent of the poor in the region are estimated tobe living on these marginal lands.

The third group of impoverished people arethose which inhabit coastal areas with inadequate ordepleted marine resources. People are attracted tosuch areas due to economic development, but, inmany cases, the pace of this development destroysor depletes the very resources that are fuelling itsgrowth.

The fourth form of poverty is experienced bythe poor inhabitants of urban slums and squattersettlements, where there is a constant exposure topoor sanitary and environmental conditions (seeChapter 7).

The geographical concentration of the worstpoverty causes serious localized degradation. Highpopulation density and growth against a backgroundof an inequitable distribution of productive assetsmake sustainable development more difficult toachieve. Impoverished communities also tend to relydisproportionately on common property resourcessuch as forest and pasture, which are vulnerable todegradation when exploited by growing numbers ofpeople.

At the country level, developing countries tendto be reliant on natural resources products for theoverwhelming majority of their exports, which makestheir economies extremely vulnerable to environmentalchanges and pressures. Macroeconomics, trade andsectoral adjustment policies alter incentives governingnatural resources by altering aggregate demand, aswell as by distorting relative prices of naturalresources and related goods and services. Marketsat local, national and international levels also

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influence local-level environmental management, asdo market interventions such as the maintenance offood subsidies that benefit net purchasers rather thanproducers of food (ODA 1991). In addition, thestructural adjustment policies adopted to deal witheconomic disequilibria (caused by a combination ofadverse international economic conditions andinternal management), have a disproportionate effecton rates of natural resources exploitation, whereexports are from natural resource sectors.

B. The Extent of PovertyA frequently applied criterion for the

assessment of poverty is whether the daily incomeof an individual (or the average per capita income ofa community) is less than one US Dollar (or ‘a dollara day’). On the basis of this criterion, some 1.2 billionof the world’s people may be considered poor. Ofthese, 900 million (or 75 per cent) live in the Asianand Pacific Region, concentrated primarily in Southand East Asia (Figure 9.1). South Asia has more thanhalf a billion poor people, with 450 million in Indiaalone. The extent of poverty in other subregionsinclude Northeast Asia, which is dominated by thePeople’s Republic of China (275 million), and around85 million in Southeast Asia. The remainder of thepoor are scattered in the small developing islandcountries of the South Pacific (ADB 1999).

In the early 1970s, half of the population of theAsian and Pacific Region was poor (based upon the‘dollar a day’ criterion), the average life expectancyat birth was 48 years and only 40 per cent of thepopulation was literate. Today, one-third of thepeople are poor, life expectancy averages 65 yearsand 70 per cent of the adult population is literate.The economic growth and social progress of the pastseveral decades have ushered in an era of untoldprosperity and health in most regions of the world.Globally, per capita GDP has jumped from US$2 257to US$3 168 in the past 25 years; life expectancy hasclimbed from 57.9 to 65.6 (WRI/UNEP/UNDP/World Bank 1997). Parts of the Asian and PacificRegion have shared in this prosperity. In SoutheastAsia, most countries halved the incidence of povertyor more in just two decades. The Asian crisisnotwithstanding, these countries have shown howrobust economic growth can reduce poverty. Thestatus of poverty in selected countries is given inTable 9.1.

Table 9.2 indicates how South Asia lags behindSoutheast Asia, Northeast Asia and the SouthPacific in terms of socio-economic indicators.Southeast Asia has shown the most strides incombating poverty; not only has the incidence ofpoverty lowered, but its decline has quickened inrecent years. Absolute food poverty seems to have

disappeared in Hong Kong, China, Singapore andalmost disappeared in the Republic of Korea andMalaysia (ADB 1997).

C. Causes and Consequenses of Poverty

1. Causes of PovertyWhile the causes of poverty (and their inter-

relationships with the environment) are not alwaysdiscreet, they can be divided broadly into internal(local) and external (global) causes.

(a) Internal CausesThere are many internal, or local, causes of

poverty in the region. For example, a lack of essentialassets; living in a remote or a resource-poor area;vulnerability on account of age, gender, health, livingenvironment or occupation; and discriminationagainst an ethnic minority or a community consideredsocially inferior.

The ‘feminization’ and ‘ageing’ of poverty isvery visible across the Asian and Pacific Region, andis a result, in part, of population growth and changesin global trade. For example, as the Republic of Koreamoved from an agriculture-based economy to onebased on heavy engineering, electronics andinformation technology, young men (and alsowomen) moved into the growing industrial enclaves,leaving the elderly behind, particularly elderlywomen, to manage the marginal agricultural lands.These trends are also visible in People‘s Republic ofChina, India and Bangladesh (FAO 1998).

Often ‘population pressure’ is given a directcausal role in driving downward spirals of povertyand environmental degradation. However in-depthanalyses of population-poverty-environment linkagesshow that there are numerous factors conditioning

Source: World Bank 1998d.

Note: Each figure represents 10 million persons living on US$1a day or less at 1985 international prices.

Figure 9.1 Poverty by Developing Regions of theWorld

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demographic change, including political, social andeconomic factors (policies, processes and the contextwithin which poverty develops and persists);environmental change (both natural and human-induced changes); and demographic shifts (as a resultof both transitions within the resident population andthrough migration).

Population growth, the shift from rural tourban investment, the growth of urban centres and

internal resource exploitation (such that only a fewhave control of and benefit from economic resources),all lead to repeated cycles of increased poverty andenvironmental degradation (Figure 9.2). Fasterpopulation growth in developing countries, changingage structures, increasing old-age dependency ratiosand the pressure on jobs and livelihoods haveseverely strained vulnerable sections of thepopulation. In the region as a whole, however,population growth rates have declined in recent yearsand the overall growth rate of 1.2 per cent is nowbelow the world average (1.4 per cent). The highestsubregional figures are 1.7 and 1.5 per cent a year forSouth and Southeast Asia respectively (UNEP 2000).

Historically, migration has tended to bemotivated by economic considerations. Rapidpopulation growth, without a corresponding growthin employment or livelihood opportunities, hasresulted in people seeking to occupy and exploitmarginal lands, or has led to migration to areas thatare perceived as offering greater opportunities. Areashit by natural disasters or suffering long-termecological decline have engendered “environmentalrefugees” as declining environmental carryingcapacity forces people to seek another place to live,often increasing population pressure on the resourcesin the receiving areas, therein exacerbatingenvironmental stress and creating a further surge ofenvironmental refugees.

Table 9.1 Poverty Measurement Indices in Selected Countries of the Asian and Pacific Region

National Poverty Lines International Poverty Human Human Gender Related GenderLines Development Poverty Development Empowerment

Index (HDI) Index (HPI) Index (GDI) Measures1997 1997 1997 (GEM)

Population Below thePoverty Line (%)

National Rural Urban Rank Value Rank Value Rank Value Rank Value(%) (%) (%) (%)

Australia -- -- -- -- -- 7 0.922 12 12.5 4 0.921 9 0.707

Bangladesh 35.6 39.8 14.3 -- -- 150 0.440 73 44.4 123 0.428 83 0.304

Fiji 98 0.701 30 19.0 79 0.699 40 0.491

PR China 6.5 9.2 <2 22.2 57.8 61 0.763 20 16.3 60 0.749 79 0.327

India 35.0 36.7 30.5 52.5 88.8 132 0.545 59 35.9 112 0.525 95 0.240

Indonesia 15.1 14.3 16.8 11.8 58.7 105 0.681 45 27.7 88 0.675 71 0.362

Lao PDR -- -- -- -- -- 140 0.463 66 38.9 115 0.483 -- --

Malaysia -- -- -- 5.6 26.6 56 0.768 18 14.2 52 0.763 72 0.451

Nepal -- -- -- 50.3 86.7 144 0.463 85 51.9 121 0.441 -- --

Pakistan -- -- -- 11.6 57.0 138 0.508 71 42.1 116 0.472 101 0.176

Philippines 54.0 71.0 39.0 28.6 64.5 77 0.740 20 16.3 65 0.736 45 0.480

Viet Nam -- -- -- -- -- 110 0.664 51 28.7 91 0.662 -- --

Source: 1 World Bank 1998 and 19992 UNDP 1999

Popula-tion

BelowUS$1a day(%)

Popula-tion

BelowUS$2a day(%)

Table 9.2 Demographic, Poverty and EconomicIndicators for Asia and the Pacific

South Asia East AsiaAsia and

the Pacific

Population (million) 1 293.3 1 295.8 486.5

GDP per capita (US$) 521 725 1 063

Human Development 0.462 0.676 0.683Index (HDI)

Human Poverty Index 0.430 0.665 0.665(HPI)

Urbanization 28 33 33(% of total population)

External Debt (% of GNP) 35 17 50

Net foreign Direct 0.4 3.1 3.3Investment (% of GNP)

Export Import Ratio 73 98 96

Source: UNDP 1998

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Intensification of Agriculture

Forest M

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IncreaseIncreased fe

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FACTORS

Increased demands

Loss o

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URBANINVESTMENTS

ENVIRON-MENTAL

DEGRADATION

GROWTH OFPRIMATE

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POPULATIONGROWTH

RURALPOVERTY

RESOURCEEXPLOITATION

INTERNATIONALECONOMIC FACTORS;DEBT SERVICE;AID PROGRAMMES

(b) External CausesThe major external (or global) factors facing

developing countries in their efforts to alleviatepoverty are those associated with the vagaries of theglobal economic system, a system over whichindividual countries have little control. The worldhas, in recent decades, become increasinglyinterdependent with the emergence of a globaleconomy; for developing countries, access to financialresources is dependent upon a country’s participationin this international economy. Moreover,globalization has generally been accompanied bychanges of policies and practices whereby thedeveloped countries dictate the terms through whichthe developing countries participate in theinternational system (United Nations 1995).

By example, the share of developing countries’exports are 15 per cent of world manufacturing trade.The few value-added products generated indeveloping countries are hindered by limited marketaccess and the ‘new protectionism’, which followedthe recession of the 1980s. The problems have beencompounded by commodity price swings andcollapses. Table 9.3 shows the global trade situationof selected countries in the region; despite the relianceupon exports to generate revenue most countries inthe region remain net importers.

Debt repayment and servicing form a large partof the annual budget for many of the region’scountries, leaving limited financial scope in thefunding of social development or environmentalremediation programmes (Table 9.4). Although theWorld Bank’s HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Countries)initiative will provide some assistance, the combinedeffect of market forces, debt servicing and aid is anet outflow of resources from the developing

countries, which provides a key constraint to thealleviation of poverty. While trade liberalization andthe removal of tariff barriers have undoubtedlyhelped some countries, those assisted tend to be themiddle-income countries. Exposing the lessdeveloped countries to international competitionmight actually exacerbate their economic problemsby restraining their nascent industries and increasingboth unemployment and a continued dependenceupon external sources of supply.

Many economies of the Asian and PacificRegion have shown robust export-led GDP growthrates in the past decades and have sought to tacklepoverty through a range of social, fiscal and economicmechanisms. Yet, much of the economic ‘growth’measured in a conventional way looks less impressivewhen its environmental costs are netted out.Indonesia’s rate of growth, for instance, was markeddown from seven per cent to four per cent whenaccount was taken of ‘depreciation’ due to thedepletion of its soils, petroleum reserves and forests(Repetto et al 1989).

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCESOF POVERTY

Environmental degradation due to pervasivepoverty is a matter of great concern in both ruraland urban areas in the Asian and Pacific Region. Theinteraction of poverty and environmental degradationsets off a downward spiral of ecological deteriorationthat threatens the physical security, economical wellbeing and health of many of the region’s poorestpeople (Figure 9.2).

For example, in the Loess Plateau of People’sRepublic of China in the 1960s and 1970s the drive toproduce more food for the burgeoning populationexacerbated land degradation and led to a declinein agricultural productivity and income. By themid-1980s, more than 5 million people on the plateau’srainfed upland were surviving on incomes of lessthan $US50 a year. However, consistent governmentefforts at environmental improvement combiningerosion control with improved crop and animalraising practices reduced soil erosion and increasedrural incomes. Despite a decrease in the area undercultivation, the improved management of terraces andflatlands has helped to increase total per capita grainproduction by 30 per cent. Local solutions onenvironmental adjustments have also been devisedin the Rajasthan Desert of India (Box 9.1).

It is often the case that people and countriesmake an explicit trade off, accepting long-termenvironmental degradation to meet their immediateneeds. In many marginal, rural areas growingpopulations inevitably lead to daily degradation of

Figure 9.2 Vicious Cycle of Poverty andEnvironment Degradation inDeveloping Countries

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Table 9.3 Balance of Payments and International Reserves for Selected Countries of Asia and the Pacific(millions of dollars) (1996)

Goods and Services Exports Imports Net IncomeNet Current Current A/C Gross International

Transfers Balance Reserves

Australia 78 805 79 568 -15 199 105 -15 857 17 542

Bangladesh 4 508 7 614 -6 -- -1 637 1 609

PR China 171 678 154 127 -12 437 2 129 7 243 146 683

India 42 690 54 505 -4 369 -- -4 601 28 383

Indonesia 51 160 53 244 -5 778 619 -7 023 17 499

Lao PDR 427 787 -4 82 -283 148

Malaysia 83 322 86 595 -4 236 148 -7 362 21 100

Nepal 1 003 1 653 -3 -- -569 627

Pakistan 10 317 15 174 -1 956 -- -4 208 1 790

Philippines 26 795 33 317 3 662 880 -1 980 8 717

Viet Nam 9 695 12 870 -505 1 045 -2 636 1 990

Source: World Bank 1998

Table 9.4 Aid and Financial Flows Relating to Selected Countries in Asia and the Pacific(millions of dollars) (1996)

Million of Dollars External Debt Official Development Assistance

Net Private Foreign Direct Total millions Present value Dollars % of GNPCapital Flows Investment of dollars (% of GNP) per capita

Australia -- 6 321 -- -- -- --

Bangladesh 92 15 16 083 30 10 3.9

PR China 50 100 40 180 128 817 17 2 0.3

India 6 404 2 587 89 827 22 2 0.6

Indonesia 18 030 7 960 129 033 64 6 0.5

Lao PDR 104 104 2 263 45 72 18.2

Malaysia 12 096 4 500 39 777 52 -22 -0.5

Nepal 9 19 2 413 26 18 8.9

Pakistan 1 936 690 29 901 39 7 1.4

Philippines 4 600 1 ,408 41 214 51 12 1.0

Viet Nam 2 061 1 500 26 764 123 12 4.0


the environment for subsistence, depleting not onlythe current environment but also future availability.Long-term sustainability of resource use in degradedareas with high populations is an urgent issue thatgovernments of developing countries andinternational donors have to address through thepromotion of appropriate policy instruments.

Poverty and the growing global population areoften targeted as responsible for much of thedegradation of the world’s resources. However, otherfactors such as the inefficient use of resources, wastegeneration, pollution from industry and wastefulconsumption patterns are key factors in irreversibleenvironmental degradation (UNEP 1997). For

example, although developed countries account foronly 24 per cent of the population, they consumeapproximately 70 per cent of the world’s energy,75 per cent of the metals, 85 per cent of the wood,60 per cent of food, and 85 per cent of the chemicals(United Nations 1995). Whilst practicable solutionsremain elusive, the political debate on the “just”entitlement of developing countries and the allocationof responsibility for environmental degradationcontinues.

The inter-relationship between poverty andenvironmental damage is complex and is heavilyinfluenced by a range of social, economic, cultural,physical and behavioural factors. These include, the

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Box 9.1 A Project Addressing Desertification through Local Solutions –the “Barefoot Approach” in Rajasthan, India

The Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC) started work in the Indian province of Rajasthan 27 years ago. It serves an areathat has seen two spells of severe drought and famine (each lasting up to five years) over the past 25 years. While working on theprovision of safe drinking water, education, health, and awareness raising, the most interesting work of the NGO and the College ison the rehabilitation of the environment, in such a way that the activities also support poverty alleviation. The activities include, therehabilitation of 600 acres of waste land by planting traditional fuel and fodder species, awareness raising, reinforcing old environment-friendly practices and substituting harmful practices with other alternatives. The greatest achievement of SWRC is the BarefootCollege at Tilonia that was started in 1986. Uneducated youth, normally dubbed as unemployable, have been trained in the Collegeto repair and maintain hand pumps in a way that they maintain their recharge rates and do not run dry. 530 “barefoot mechanics”maintain 15 000 hand pumps that serve 3.7 million people. Another 115 “barefoot solar engineers” have installed, and now repairand maintain 75.5 kws of solar panels. The College itself is fully solar powered. The College has also produced “barefoot doctors,chemists, midwives, teachers and civil engineers”.

The NGO has a novel approach to managing and recycling waste, and then feeding it into its other programmes, creatingemployment along the way. For example, waste paper is reused in making glove puppets, which are then used is the 900 pluspuppet theatre performances each year. These puppet theatres highlight environmental issues in villages. Kitchen and biologicalwastes are used in biogas plants that produce fuel for lighting and for supporting laboratories that run medical tests. Agriculturalwastes are used for making handicrafts which brings earnings of about US $15/month for each woman involved in the production.Rubber from tires and other waste products are made into educational aides for the 84 night schools run for dropout children, whichhave annual enrollment of over 1 600 boys and 1 100 girls (children who tend goats and cattle during the day, and cannot attendregular government schools).

Monsoon rains, when they come, are collected in tanks. In areas of extreme scarcity of wood, geodesic domes have beenfabricated out of scrap metal to reduce pressure on desert vegetation (this work provides employment for village blacksmiths). Thepeople construct rainwater harvesting structures. They plant trees that are indigenous. They respect the desert, and do not fight itartificially. They know how to use the sun, the air and the wind and the plants and animals. They have converted the area into anecosystem that is pulsating with vitality, where others see only sand and waste. The success of the project in Rajasthan has alreadyled to expansion of training and capacity building efforts of SWRC all over Indian deserts. The work of SWRC in Rajasthandemonstrate that living in harmony with the environment can improve community’s well being. Its barefoot approach also showsthat in many cases, problems of poor can be solved by simple technical means adopted to local environment and may not requiresophisticated technical training.

Source: Roy, B. 1996

ownership of, or entitlement to, natural resources,access to common resources, strength or weakness ofcommunities and local institutions, the individual andcommunity responses to risk and uncertainty, andthe way people use scarce time are all important inexplaining people’s environmental behaviour(Commonwealth Secretariat 1991).

D. Environmental Entitlements and StressEnvironmental entitlements can be defined as,

the combined outcome of the environmental resourcebundles that people have command over as a resultof their ownership, their own production, or theirmembership of a particular social or economic group;and their ability to make effective use of thoseresource bundles. These factors mediate the effectsof ‘poverty’ on the use and management ofenvironmental resources and in turn mediate theways environmental degradation contributes toprocesses of impoverishment (Melissa & Mearns1991). Figure 9.3 illustrates this environment andpoverty/vulnerability nexus where environmental

entitlements are mediated by the “internal” factorsof environmental change, environmental managementpractices and poverty/vulnerability, and the impactof “external” processes.

Although invariably the outcome of variousstructuring processes, environmental entitlements aredynamic and may improve or decline over time.Entitlement failure either worsens poverty orcontributes to environmental degradation becausepeople are no longer able to manage environmentalresources effectively. In Bangladesh, for example,agricultural research-led output growth in the highlyproductive area of Comilla has led to a polarizationof income distribution and the out migration ofpoorer groups to the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Here,through competition with relatively sustainable formsof shifting cultivation, more extractive farmingpractices have exacerbated the processes of landdegradation (ODA 1991).

The management of this relationship betweenavailable land entitlement in agro-ecological zonesand population densities is a key challenge in

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attempting to combat poverty, whilst preservingenvironmental resources. The average populationdensity for the Asian and Pacific Region is about90 persons per square kilometre, and approximately15 per cent of the total land area is considered arable.For subregional comparison population density variesfrom 186 persons per square kilometre in South Asiato 3 persons per square kilometre in the South Pacific.Arable land varies from 39 per cent in South Asia, to9 per cent in the North and Southeast Asia.

1. Entitlement to Land OwnershipThe distribution of land ownership in most

developing countries in the Asian and Pacific Regionis characterized by a small proportion of landownerscontrolling most of the farmland, and a largeproportion of farmers controlling small amounts ofland. There are also large numbers of landless rurallabourers and tenant farmers and farmers with verysmall land holdings (owned or rented). The SouthPacific subregion is particularly affected, for example,with the World Bank estimating that about 90 percent of men in Tonga are landless (FAO 1998). Genderdisparities further distort access to land, with women(who often play a key role in food production) havinglimited land access. However, in countries such asPeople’s Republic of China, Viet Nam and LaoPeople’s Democratic Republic, land entitlements arecentrally allocated by family size and both men andwomen can cultivate (FAO 1998). This has provideda line of defence against increased poverty.

Lack of secure land tenure acts as a majordisincentive to environmentally sound agriculturalpractices. Farmers without land are likely to be poorand in a ‘client-patron relationship’ with thelandowner. They are in no position to question thetechnologies they are told to use, and with limited orno access to credit, cannot take the initiative inworking in more environment friendly ways. It is,therefore, difficult to break out of the cycle of

declining productivity, poverty and increasingenvironmental degradation.

2. Entitlement to Common PropertyThe poor, especially in rural areas, also tend to

be more reliant on ‘common property’ resources towhich everyone has access, for example, forests,rangelands, water points and inshore fishing grounds.In South Asia where the worst poverty isconcentrated, families draw heavily from commonresources for their fuel, fodder and water. In the dryland areas of India, landless people derive a fifthof their annual income, together with a range ofnon-marketed goods, from the natural products ofcommon areas. The ‘gauchars’ (land left uncultivatedfor grazing in honour of the revered cow andaccessible for local people as common property)across the Indian sub-continent provide an ancientmethod of protecting and rehabilitatingenvironmentally marginal lands. For women acrossthe region, access to common property resources havebeen crucial in maintaining household food securityand micro enterprize ventures. However, the gradualdisappearance of common property resourcesthrough acquisition and encroachment is exacerbatingpoverty and environmental degradation. Forexample, in Bangladesh the clearing of mangrovesby commercial shrimping interests has impoverishedmany coastal households.

3. Entitlement to ForestsVillagers or forest dwellers have traditionally

managed and controlled deforestation and thusshould be entitled to land tenure. Throughout theregion, thousands of forest villagers have had anelaborate system of control to ensure sustainable useof their shared forests. In Borneo, for example,generations of Galik people have carefully conservedironwood trees, and the use of timber from thesetrees has traditionally been governed by ethics that

Figure 9.3 Environmental Entitlements

Source: Melissa and Mearns 1991

Economic, social andpolitical processes

Demographic processes

Environmental processes

Poverty/Vulnerability

Environmental Entitlements

EnvironmentalManagementPractices

EnvironmentalChange

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required broad sharing along kinship lines. The entryof state sanctioned loggers into the Galik area hasundermined traditional restraints and, due to fearsof losing the ironwood to loggers, the Galik have,themselves, undertaken the unsustainable felling ofironwood trees, endangering both the resource andthe village economy (Durning 1994). Similarly, inPakistan, nationalization of the forests after thechange of states of the Swat and Chitral States todistricts has undermined traditional management bycreating a “Free-for-all” in forest exploitation duringthe transition period.

4. Entitlement to Coastal and Marine ResourcesWith new developments in commercial fishing

operations and aquaculture, large traditionalcommunities of fishermen have been marginalizedin the region particularly in Southeast Asia, SouthAsia and the South Pacific. The South Pacific Islandsand other coastal areas in the region are especially atrisk where communities dependent on marineresources (including reef resources) are severelythreatened, as their traditional livelihoods are eroded.Recognition of entitlement and communityparticipation, particularly of the poor, couldconsiderably improve the conservation of marine andcoastal resources.

5. Entitlement to Urban Housing and ShelterThe high price of land and shelter in the urban

areas of the developing countries has limited formalaccess for the poor to these resources. This results inestablishing housing and shelters on hazard pronelands or encroaching upon government lands. Dueto insecurity of tenure no incentive exists to improvethese squatter settlements. However, where thesquatter settlements have been regularized, bybestowing property rights, considerableimprovements have taken place (see Chapter 7). Insuch areas, where governments are unable to makeadequate provision for housing, services andemployment, it is therefore widely argued that thesolution lies in self-help. This requires the energy ofthe urban poor to be channelled in a positive directionso that they may help themselves by building theirown shelter and basic services, thus creatingemployment, organizing their own neighbourhoodsand providing for their own needs. A good successstory of positive local action example is the OrangiPilot Project in Pakistan (Box 9.2).

E. Entitlement and Investment inEnvironmental ProtectionExperience shows that entitlement, or

providing poor with access to resources, has greatlyhelped in ensuring protection and promotion of

sustainable development. However, even whereentitlement to the land and natural resources can beclaimed, it is sometimes difficult to stop theirdegradation. With few savings and limited access tocapital and credit, there is little capacity to invest inenvironmental conservation measures (such aspreventing soil erosion) even when the long-term bestinterest is recognized. Lack of capital, high implicitdiscount rates and a foreshortening perspective onthe future, explain much of the relationship of thepoor to their environment. Yet, many poorcommunities have evolved models of sustainablebehaviour over time, to meet the twin challenges ofpoverty and environmental degradation.

POVERTY AND NATURAL DISASTERS

The effect of natural hazards on the loss ofhuman lives is directly related to the poverty levels.The overwhelming majority of those worst affectedby earthquakes, floods, storms and harvest failuresare the poor. All over the region, the poor usuallylive nearest to natural hazard prone areas, dirtyfactories, busy roads, and waste dumps that makethem vulnerable to environmental disasters.

Disasters have a profound impact on thequality of life through their destruction of food cropsand livestock, shelter and other aspects of the builtenvironment, and through the forced dislocation ofhouseholds and communities, although their mostdevastating impact is on the direct loss of life andthe instant poverty that frequently accompany suchevents. Forces of nature are no longer the sole causeof natural disasters, such events are often aggravatedby the degradation of environment by humanactivities (Box 9.3).

In the Asian and Pacific Region, losses causedby natural disasters are particularly damaging,depriving countries of resources which couldotherwise be used for economic and socialdevelopment. Since the International Decade forNatural Disaster Reduction began in 1990, the totalnumber of deaths caused by natural disasters in theregion has exceeded 200 000. The estimated totaldamage to property was about US$50 billion prior tothe Kobe earthquake in 1995 and very heavy floodingin People‘s Republic of China in 1995 and 1998. Inthe 1991 cyclone and storm surge event inBangladesh, 140 000 people perished, whilst the floodof 1998 affected the lives of 25 million people. Thisflooding, the worst on record, destroyed part of therice crop and forced scores of textile factories inDhaka to close for several weeks, depriving thecountry of much needed export earnings. The totaldamage was estimated at US$530 million, resulting

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Box 9.2 Community-based Approaches to Improve the Living Environment and Address Poverty inPoor Urban Settlements – The Orangi Pilot Project in Pakistan

Orangi Township is situated in the Orangi Hills in the western part of Karachi. It has the distinction of being the world’slargest katchi abadi or “squatter” settlement. Spread over an area of 8 000 acres, it currently houses about a million people living inabout 100 000 housing units, which people have constructed themselves with the help from the informal sector. The Township wasoriginally created by land-grabbers through illegal occupation and subdivision of state land in the 1960s. Bits were then parceled outand sold to poor people who either did not know that they were getting land through illegal channels, or had no other option. TheTownship was later “regularized” by the provincial government and the city administration. While it was easier to give titles ofoccupied plots of land to the occupiers, it was most difficult to provide environmental services and take up the task of cleaning upthe environment of unplanned huts and housings, with sewerage running across open spaces, lanes, and streets or roads. The extentof morbidity and mortality, was daunting.

The Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) was established in 1981 to meet these huge environmental and poverty challenges. It is one ofthe first projects in the world that has tackled poverty and environment issues within the same package. In an approach that wasvery futuristic; OPP recognized right from the beginning that the spiral of poverty-population-environment would have to betackled as a whole, by the people themselves. Its entry point for intervention through community sanitation and health, therefore,went hand in hand with housing, population programme and entrepreneurship development. At the same time, links were alsoestablished with relevant government agencies for regularizing the status of ownership, and for, what was referred to as, “external”development (such as the laying down of trunk sewers).

People were organized to first delineate their “lanes”. Everyone living in a lane had to contribute towards its clean up andtowards the cost of building sewer lines in those lanes. Households built their own internal disposal system and the connection tothe sewer line. These sewer lines were then connected to secondary sewer lines. City agencies put in the main trunk sewers. Localmasons were trained to make low-cost bricks used in the construction of these sewers (and also for housing). Community groupshad to purchase construction material from these small local producers. The programme, therefore, boosted local economic activitywhile tackling the living environment.

Credit programmes helped to alleviate poverty, while technical assistance for better housing led to both increased localeconomic activity, as well as healthier and more sanitary homes. The health and population programme tackled reproductive healthand morbidity, as well as preventive measures. The education programme (developed with the private sector through micro-credit)has been so successful, that Orangi has one of the highest literacy rates in the country. A network of over 100 clinics are alsoinvolved in preventative, curative and reproductive health care, now managed by an OPP offshoot called OPP-KHASDA. Theseservices have had a direct impact on controlling population growth. The OPP has another very distinctive feature. It does not have“targets” or “time frames” in the conventional sense. The “process”-participation and self-financing for improving the livingenvironment of the poor – was and is paramount.

The outstanding achievements of OPP can be gauged from the fact that under its sanitation programme in Orangi alone 6 000plus main sewer lines have been established with a total length of 1.5 million rft. 400 plus secondary sewers have been constructedwith total length of 165 000 plus rft. In addition 91 000 plus latrines have also been constructed. The community or people of Orangihave invested over Rs79 million ( about US$1.6 million) in just this one programme to improve their environment. Having paid forpart of this system themselves, they own it and look after it, so that the choked and stinking lanes and unhygienic homes have been“greened” by a functioning system of sanitation. Under its entrepreneurship development programme OPP disbursed loans worthabout Rs118 million (US$2.2 million) to the poor in 63 professions between September 1987 and November 1989 alone, helping themto become entrepreneurs and set up their own small businesses. About Rs18 million worth of loans have gone to about 1 200 womenentrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs have paid back Rs91 million of the principle and Rs22 million as markup. This programme hashad a positive impact on the reduction of poverty.

Over the past two decades, OPP has expanded tremendously and multiplied into many separate institutions across Pakistan,some of which have been handed over to local groups. The flagship operation is now known as OPP-RTI, where RTI stands forResearch and Training Institute. Its models have been emulated widely across the country and abroad.

Sources: Hasan A 1997

in a negative effect of five per cent on the growth ofgross domestic product (GDP) (ESCAP 1999).

The flood in 1998 in People’s Republic of Chinawas the most severe in over 40 years. According togovernmental estimates, 223 million people-one fifthof China’s population were affected, 3 004 peopledied and 15 million were made homeless. About

15 million farmers lost their crops. The floods causedsevere damage to critical facilities systems as well asindustrial facilities and resulted in a total loss ofUS$12.5 billion, equivalent to 4.5 per cent of the GDP.

In October 1999, the State of Orissa in Indiawas severely affected by a super cyclonic storm inthe Bay of Bengal. This resulted in the death of nearly

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10 000 people, affecting nearly 13 million people in14 643 villages and causing damage to 1.8 millionhectares of crops, 1.65 million houses and loss of444 000 livestock. In July 1998, the 10-metre tsunamithat hit Papua New Guinea took more than 2 000lives in several coastal villages. In January 1995, theKobe earthquake killed over 5 000 people in additionto the tremendous damage it caused, and in August1999, Turkey was affected by a severe earthquakewhich caused tens of thousands of deaths andinjuries, destroyed nearly 100 000 housing units andmade some 100 000 families homeless. The totalwealth loss was estimated by the World Bank to bein the range of US$3-6.5 billion (equivalent to 1.5 to3.3 per cent of the gross national product).

Floods and high winds, or cyclones, affectcountries in the region on an almost annual basis.They form the predominant type of disaster,accounting for 60 per cent of all natural disastersbetween 1988 and 1997. Forest and bush fires havealso always been a hazard in the region, but recentlythey reached catastrophic dimensions. During1997-98, massive fires in Southeast Asia destroyedmillions of hectares of forest, and caused more than

US$4.5 billion in damage. The fires created serioushealth problems, accidents on land, at sea and in theair; disrupted transportation systems and resulted ina steep drop in tourism in parts of the region that areheavily dependent upon tourism as a key revenueearner.

The fact that 30 out of the 40 catastrophes thatoccurred in the world between 1970 and 1997occurred in Asia and the Pacific (and consequently87 per cent of the casualties) highlights thesignificance of natural disasters to the region. In1997 alone, the region suffered 33 per cent of theworst catastrophes, 67 per cent of the casualties and28 per cent of the economic losses of the global effectsof natural disasters. Only 0.2 per cent of these losseswere covered by insurance. National and regionalefforts for natural disaster reduction should thereforebe closely linked with poverty alleviation andeconomic and social development activities. It is easyto see how natural disasters have their severesthuman impact on the poorest communities whoinhabit the more vulnerable environments, withlimited savings and insurance to help rebuild theirlives.

Box 9.3 The Interrelationship: Environmental Deterioration, Poverty and Natural Disaster

The loss of natural resources, for example by deforestation, can generate significant numbers of environmental refugees. Forinstance, forest-dwellers are being driven from their homes by deforestation and the industrialization of timber in Indonesia, thePhilippines, and other tropical nations. Still other communities are being forced out by the disappearance of water supplies, as inPakistan. The hundreds of people who arrive daily at the bus terminals of cities such as Manila, Jakarta, Dhaka and Karachi seekinga new life are driven, in part at least, by deteriorating environmental conditions in their villages. But they could be the first waves ofa much larger tide, who settle in illegal squatter colonies vulnerable to floods, landslides or industrial accidents, in city areas wherericher people refuse to live. Being unplanned, they lack the infrastructure, ranging from community health and fire services to dykesand drains, that is needed to cope with disaster and which is available in ‘planned’ districts. Therefore, once these areas are struckby an extreme natural event – the impact is disasterous in terms of loss of human life and economic damage.

Moreover, the loss of natural vegetation particularly forests, in the Asian and Pacific Region is a major cause of disasters fromnatural events. The destruction of upland forests, for example, reduces the ability of soils to absorb rainwater. A single tree canabsorb 200 litres of water or more per hour. The soil that it holds in place may absorb even more. If the tree is gone, than water runsoff the land, pouring down the gullies and into rivers – or, all too frequently, through human settlements. Meanwhile, both theimpact of the rain on the ground and the loss of binding tree roots contribute to instability of hill slopes that in turn leads tolandslide that end up as silt in rivers, raising river beds and contributing to the floods downstream.

The summer of 1998 saw two major examples of flooding and landslide disasters in the region that were caused by suchenvironmental degradation – in both cases the loss of forested areas in the upland watersheds of major rivers. In the first case alongthe Himalayan foothills of north-west India, landslides killed more than 300 people within a week in August. Researchers at theWadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in Dehra Dun reported that landslides had become an increasing feature of the region in thepast decade as trees have been cleared for agriculture and road-building.

Meanwhile, in China, government scientists are reported to have found that flooding on the floodplains of the River Yangze –which killed thousands, left millions homeless and wiped out tens of millions of hectares of crops – had been seriously exacerbatedby the loss of upland forests and the erosion of their soils. According to the Worldwatch Institute in Washington DC, more thanfour-fifths of the forests of the Yangze river basin have been chopped down, swelling the river with both flood waters and silt.Following the 1998 floods, the Government of China has banned all logging in the Yangze watershed and decreed that all hillsideslogged since 1994 should be replanted.

Source: Red Cross 1999

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POVERTY AND ENVIRONMENTALHEALTH HAZARDS

The WHO has called poverty the world’sbiggest killer (WHO 1995). Although efforts to reducepoverty and increase disposable income levelscontinue, the key to identifying new strategies forachieving these objectives lies in an understandingof how poverty affects both the environment andhuman health.

Environmental health problems emanate froma lack of access to essential environmental resources,primarily sufficient and clean water, enough food,appropriate shelter and fuel and healthy air. At leastone in four of the region’s population has no accessto safe drinking water, and one in two has no accessto sanitation (see Chapter 14). Public expenditure onwater and sanitation is relatively low at only one percent of the GDP for most countries. Unsafe waterand poor sanitation in developing countries isresponsible for a large percentage of diseases and asignificant proportion of mortality. In Jakarta,Indonesia alone, the economic cost of impaired healthfrom unsafe drinking water is estimated at US$300million a year.

Most infectious diseases are “environmental”in origin, as specific environmental conditionsincrease the biological organisms’ ability to thrive orspread. Even diseases such as acute respiratoryinfections are linked with poor conditions within thehousehold environment, including overcrowding,poor sanitation and indoor air pollution. Since 1998,the Andhra Pradesh government (with donorassistance) has been assessing the overall burden ofill-health associated with lack of water and sanitationinfrastructure, and outlining a cost effective strategyfor reversing this situation. The burden of diseasehas been reduced by 17 per cent through the provisionof clean water from taps inside the house, privatelatrines and reducing indoor air pollution throughclean cooking fuel.

A. Micro-organismsOf all the environmental hazards humans

encounter, the most formidable adversaries remainmicro-organisms-viruses, bacteria, protozoa, andhelminthes (parasitic worms). Years of concertedefforts have revealed that while it is very difficult toeradicate microbial threats, it is possible to live inbalance with them. However, it is also recognizedthat human activities can change the environmentand disrupt natural ecosystems in favour of themicrobes (WRI/UNEP/UNDP/World Bank 1997).

Recent WHO statistics (1999) show thatinfectious diseases that result from micro-organismsare the major cause of premature death (48 per cent)

and of death among children (63 per cent) worldwide.Figures 9.4 to 9.5 demonstrate the widespreadincidence of these diseases throughout the region.In particular, six deadly infectious diseases(pneumonia, tuberculosis, diarrhoeal diseases,malaria, measles and more recently, HIV/AIDS)account for half of all premature deaths in the world,killing mostly children and young adults (Figure 9.6).Every day, 3 000 people die from malaria, three outof four of them children. Every year 1.5 million

Figure 9.4 Large Outbreaks

Source: WHO 1999

Figure 9.5 Unexpected Outbreaks

Source: WHO 1999

Selected outbreaks of more than 10 000 cases, 1970-1990

Examples of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases 1994-1999

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people die from tuberculosis and another eightmillion are newly infected. In Afghanistan, one childdies every four days from diarrhoea. Furthermore,families risk being driven into debt through lostearnings and high health-care costs trapping them ina vicious cycle of poverty and ill-health.

B. Poverty and Epidemiological PolarizationRegardless of the overall economic

development of a country, health and life expectancyimprove with wealth (Stanton 1994). As the incomegap increases within a population, the health gap isalso likely to grow, leading to what some havedubbed ‘epidemiological polarization’. Epidemics arelargely concentrated among the poor living indegraded environments. Therefore, one strategy toreduce these risks is to raise incomes and improvethe distribution of wealth. Additionally, with wealthcomes the increased political leverage required tomake the public sector respond to their needs.However, prior to a policy targeted solely at incomegeneration, by targeting policies to reduceenvironmental threats, incomes may be enhancedimproving the ability to work and reducing illness.

Most environmental interventions are verycost-effective as a means of achieving healthimprovements. In addition, a key developmentobjective of improving people’s health requires aholistic approach to mitigating major risks byintegrating efforts inside and outside health caresystems.

C. Poor Workers and Health RisksIn recent years, a new risk is emerging in the

wake of proliferating chemicals and hazardous waste

which are being released into the environmentthrough industrial accidents in many countries of theregion. Two well known cases are those of Bhopal,India and Khlong Toey in Bangkok, Thailand. Whenaddressing the global problem of occupationalaccidents and diseases, the International LabourOrganization (ILO) estimate that accidents anddiseases together cause over 1.2 million fatalitiesannually. Furthermore, workers face more than 250million accidents and over 160 million of thembecome ill due to workplace hazards and exposureto pollution. In addition to workplace accidents, morethan 50 per cent of work related fatalities occur inthe Asian and Pacific Region. The poorest, leastprotected, least informed and trained (often women,children and migrants) are generally the worstaffected by poor health and safety standards(Communication by ILO, March 2000).

D. Health Costs of Environmental DegradationThe health effects of environmental

degradation in selected Asian countries and theirrelated costs are shown in Table 9.5. These costsindicate the scale of the problem and the need foraction, particularly in the cities of the region wherelead levels are a serious health hazard. According tothe World Bank, three types of activities are importantin improving the status of environmental health:enhancement in knowledge of environmental healthproblems; development of appropriate responseprocedures and integrating critical environmentalhealth issues in the operations of the relevant sectors(World Bank 1999).

POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES ONPOVERTY ALLEVIATION ANDENVIRONMENT

Numerous initiatives have been undertaken inthe Asian and Pacific Region to tackle poverty andrelated issues at local, national, and regional levels.However, their cumulative impact is still low mostlybecause these have been undertaken in an isolatedand piecemeal manner. The gravity of the problemdemands a more integrated and comprehensiveapproach to these issues. While faster povertyreduction requires accelerated growth that generatesemployment and incomes, economic growth alonecannot be relied on to eliminate poverty;complementary well-articulated international,regional and national strategies for poverty reductionare also essential.

A. National ActionsAlthough the “vicious cycle of poverty” and

its intrinsic linkages with the environment, and the

Figure 9.6 Leading Infectious Killers

Source: WHO 1999

AIDS* Diarrhoeadiseases

TB Malaria Measles0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

Under age five

Over age five

3.5

2.32.2

1.5

1.10.9

Dea

ths

in m

illio

ns

Acutarespiratoryinfections(includingpneumonia

andinfluenza)

Million of death, worldwide, all ages, 1998

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urgency to address poverty alleviation in the regionis well accepted, little evidence exists to show effectiveand concerted actions have been taken at the nationallevel. There are few examples of countries linkingenvironmental protection to social investment, suchas education, better health-care, and employmentgeneration for the poor, especially women (UNEP1997).

Many countries have policies and/or legislationrelating to poverty, but few have explicit policies onpoverty eradication alone, or policies linkingenvironment, poverty, trade and social development.In addition, few environmental policies specificallytarget equity or poverty issues. Nevertheless, therehave been policy initiatives in the social sectors suchas a thrust to address poverty directly throughemployment generation programmes and to improveequity through rural credit. At the same time, many

Table 9.5 Health Effects of EnvironmentalDegradation in Selected Asian Countries

Country Period Environmental Annual Cost as aHealth Effects Cost (US$ percentage

billion) of GDP

PR China 1990 Productivity losses 13.9-26.6 3.8-7.3caused by soil erosiondeforestation and landdegradation; watershortage anddestruction ofwetlands

Health and 6.3-9.3 1.7-2.5productivity lossescaused byenvironmentalpollution in cities.

Indonesia 1989 Health effects of 2.2 2.0particulate and leadlevels above WHOstandards in Jakarta

Pakistan Early Health impacts of 1.7 3.31990s air and water pollution

and productivity lossesfrom deforestation andsoil erosion.

Philippines Early Health and 0.3-0.4 0.8-1.01990s productivity losses

from air and waterpollution in thevicinity of Manila

Thailand 1989 Health effects of 1.6 2.0particulate and leadlevels above WHOstandards

Source: UNDP 1997

countries have adopted policies to stabilize ormoderate population growth rates. The success ofefforts directly targeted at poverty alleviation hassome notable successes in Southeast Asia, but fewerin South Asia. Success has generally been linked todirect support, which has included the provision ofsubsidized food or credit and the introduction ofmicro finance programmes, although suchprogrammes require careful targeting if they are toreach the poorest segments of society.

In order to alleviate poverty, countries of theregion have also attempted to tackle the problem ofrural landlessness by adopting two broad strategies.In a small number of countries (for example,Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka) government strategieshave involved moving the landless to available arableland as in, for example, the Indonesian transmigrationprogramme. However, in many other countries ofthe region with inequitable land distribution (forexample, India and Pakistan), the demand forcultivable land is to a varying extent being metthrough land and tenancy reforms.

Agricultural policies (access to credit, pricingpolicies, inputs and infrastructure) to increaseproductivity and incomes and thereby alleviatepoverty (for example, India, Pakistan, Philippines,Indonesia and Sri Lanka), have been a focus for manyofficial policies, besides the provision of land. Socialpolicies have focused on basic needs of the ruralpopulation, especially shelter and safe drinking water.Human resources development has also beenemphasized with a high priority on education andtraining.

Most countries have national policies on health,although they vary considerably in their commitmentto the concept of ‘Health for All’. The linkage ofhealth, poverty or socio-economic development andenvironment has not been adequately recognized inmany development policies. Health policies andprogrammes are still mainly formulated andimplemented in isolation, with no linkages withrelated sectors, and focus on curative rather thanpreventative measures, particularly in terms ofenvironmental issues (e.g. water and sanitationprovision).

In recent years, efforts have been made tosystematically deal with the predicament of naturaldisasters. Initiatives have been taken to set upinstitutions, develop plans, enact legislation andpromote programmes and projects to mitigatedisasters. Significant progress has been made inenvironmental rehabilitation, forecasting and earlywarning, particularly in the case of climatic andvolcanic hazards. Post-disaster relief operations havealso been significantly improved.

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B. Regional and International ActionsThrough a series of United Nations conferences,

highlighted by the World Summit on SocialDevelopment in 1995, the international communityagreed to a common set of targets for reducingpoverty. In 1996, the Development AssistanceCommittee (DAC) of the OECD endorsed seven ofthese as the Strategy 21 goals. Agenda 21 alsoemphasized poverty reduction, following on fromwhich, the Fifth Asia and Pacific MinisterialConference in 1997 resulted in a comprehensive setof targets described in the Manila Declaration (ManilaDeclaration 1997). These targets, for the first time,linked poverty, environment and social developmentand set a time frame for their achievement.

While the Manila Declaration has set out thetargets, international agencies have initiated supportand have persuaded countries to integrate the targetsinto their national programmes. In South Asia, theDhaka Declaration of 1993 enunciated a ten yearstrategy for the eradication of poverty and all SAARCmember countries were directed to prepare nationalprogrammes with a view to achieving the objectiveby the year 2002. In the Delhi Summit of 1995, aSAARC Programme emerged with well-definedsubregional objectives to address sustainable humandevelopment issues such as poverty, environment,participatory development and empowerment.

The strategy calls for action on three fronts.The centrepiece is a pro-poor development approach,where poverty alleviation programmes lead toincreases in savings and capital accumulation. Thefundamental premise of the strategy is that the poorshould be viewed as engines of growth as opposedto economic liabilities. There is a major shift inpoverty alleviation strategy away from the welfareapproach to one of facilitating the engagement of thepoor in productive activities. Social mobilizationalone is recognized as not being a sufficient conditionfor poverty eradication. The strategies recommend anet transfer of resources to the poor, by removingthe “anti poor” bias of many macro policies andcorrecting policies relating to, inter alia, socialinvestment, agricultural development, the informalsector and choice of technology.

Technical cooperation among countries of theregion in addressing common health problems hastaken place through the assistance of the WHO. Thefocus of the WHO’s support is on improving thequality of national programmes covering proteinenergy malnutrition, iodine deficiency disorders,vitamin A deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia.The nutrition research agenda has been developed,and technical support provided, for improving thecase management of children with severemalnutrition. The WHO’s collaborative programme

continues to focus on drinking water qualitysurveillance as well as operation and maintenance ofwater supply systems. A strategy for sanitation forhigh-risk communities has also been introduced andthe Jakarta Declaration, the outcome of the FourthInternational Conference on Health Promotion,provides a crystallized vision for health promotionand development.

In terms of poverty alleviation, various NGOsare also instrumental. The Grameen Bank ofBangladesh is a leading example (Box 9.4). While itscredit programme is not aimed at reducing anderadicating the cycle of poverty-environmentdegradation per se, it can be argued that by helpingpoor landless and marginal farmers, Grameen Bankis also seeking to stabilize the environment and assistpoor people to remain on the land.

CONCLUSION

Effective strategies for simultaneouslyaddressing the problems of poverty and resourcedegradation have focussed on people, with theobjective of providing sustainable livelihoods for allas the integrating factor that ensures that policiessimultaneously address the issues of resourcemanagement, development and poverty eradication.

The ultimate objective is that all poorhouseholds are provided with the opportunity to earna sustainable livelihood, while ecologically-vulnerableareas are handled in an integrated mannerencompassing resource management, povertyalleviation and employment generation. A range ofactivities at national and regional levels, involvinggovernments and citizen’s groups and supportedinternationally, are the keys to achieving betterenvironmental management practices, ensuring theflow of reliable and up-to-date information ondemographic and environmental changes, improvingtraining and providing incentives for environmentalmanagement. The need to examine the effects ofdeveloped countries’ macroeconomic and tradepolicies on environmental management behaviourremains, in particular the consequences for specificgroups of poor people.

Individual countries need to take many steps,including investigating the environmentalimplications of investment in poverty reductionstrategies, and examining the effectiveness,practicality and appropriate forms of policy targetingaimed at achieving poverty reduction and sustainableenvironmental management in different agro-ecological zones and urban environments. Theconcept of agro-ecological zones (as already usedwidely in India) would enable different strategies to

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be developed to suit in different zones. For example,in low-potential areas in which the thresholds ofecological sensitivity and resilience have not yet beencrossed, social welfare transfers to the poor could bechannelled through public works programmes gearedat supplementing natural resilience, such as tree-planting by means of rainwater harvesting indrylands.

The world has in recent decades, becomeincreasingly interdependent with the emergence of aglobal economy. The formation of this economy hasbeen accompanied by policies and practices wherebythe developed countries heavily influence the termsunder which the developing countries participate inthe international system (United Nations 1995), which

Box 9.4 Fighting Poverty – The Grameen Bank in Bangladesh

The Grameen Bank of Bangladesh is one of the world’s leading programmes for poverty alleviation. It was initiated in 1977and is based on the understanding that the lack of access to credit is the main hurdle in the progress of the rural poor.

The major objective of the bank is to provide institutional credit to landless people for remunerative self-employment. With itsspecially designed credit programme, it extends loans to women and men living in absolute poverty who cannot otherwise offercollateral for bank loans. Membership to Grameen Bank groups is open to like-minded people having the same social status andwhose families own less than 0.5 acre of cultivable land or the value of a family’s total assets does not exceed the market price of oneacre of average quality land in the locality.

In 1983 Grameen Bank was reconstituted as a specialized financial institution. The operational objectives include: extendingbanking facilities to the poor especially women; elimination of exploitation of the poor by money lenders; creation of self-employmentopportunities for the un-utilized manpower; organization of people to strengthen themselves in socio-political and economic aspectsthrough mutual support: reversing the vicious cycle of poverty – low income, low savings, low investment to ‘more income, morecredit, more investment’; encouragement of self-reliance among the groups; ensuring better health, nutritional, housing and educationfacilities for its members.

The total number of borrowers to date far exceeds 2 million, out of which 94 per cent are female borrowers. Grameen Bank’sservices reach about 40 000 villages. It has extended small credit amounting to US$1 810 million. The small savings of poor villagersto date are over 4 900 million takas (US$130 million). Women are considered more bankable and more trustworthy (this trust hasbeen amply rewarded through a recovery rate of ninety eight per cent on all loans advance to women).

The main reasons for the successes of Grameen Bank are as under:

– Loans are small (average of US$100 each) and carry no interest subsidy

– Loans are given at a much higher interest rate than bank loans in the market, reflecting the extraadministration cost of smallloans

– The poor are required to put aside some saving – at least one taka (US2.5 cents) a week, thus encouraging the habit ofself-reliance among the poor

– The bank went to the poor, rather than waiting for the poor to come to the bank.

Grameen Bank has also introduced housing loans for the poor. A Grameen Bank member can borrow up to US$640 forconstructing a simple tin roof house. It has disbursed housing loans for construction of over 310,000 houses. The GB members arealso encouraged to pay attention to their social situations and health conditions. These issues have been documented as the ‘sixteendecisions’ which are strictly followed by staff and each member. The sixteen decisions certify a change in the attitudes of its clients.

The Grameen Bank is now experiencing with other initiatives, including the creation of a $100 million People’s Fund to financereplication of this experiment in other developing countries. Grameen Bank is also working towards reducing environmentaldegradation. This aspect has also been incorporated in the sixteen decisions. Grameen Bank’s approach is total development. Thesixteen decisions and the credit are an effective mix to approach alleviation of poverty. This approach has proved that the poor havethe capacity to improve their lives. Grameen Bank experiences have been replicated in 40 countries of the world.


may result in negative impacts for poverty and theenvironment. Moreover, as the more developingcountries of Asia and the Pacific become dependenton aid, the harder are the terms to which they haveto agree for trade.

Efforts to reduce poverty must becomprehensive enough to address all of its manycauses. This requires a variety of measures acrossmacro, micro and sectoral levels. Pro-poor andsustainable economic growth is fundamental, butneeds to be complemented by social developmentthat permits access by the poor to education, health,social protection and other basic services. These inturn are dependent on sound macroeconomicmanagement and good governance.

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Global strategies for sustainable developmentshould integrate economic and environmentalconsiderations of the adverse effects on theenvironment, which are caused both by markedaffluence, and by poverty. This implies that

developed countries will also need to play a proactiverole in accepting responsibility and should bear alarger burden through the means they have at theirdisposal, particularly spending their wealth inconserving the environment.

CHAPTER NINE - ESCAP

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