Oxfam and the Environment

8/7/2019 Oxfam and the Environment

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Jemmy Hartley:Planting tree seedlingsbehin d a diguette,Burkina J-'asoFor ten years, Qjtfaia andlocal people have beenworking together todevelop a traditionalmethod of waterconservation. By buildinglines of stones, (dlguettes)along the contoure,rainwater runoff is trappedso that water soaks Intothe ground, reducingerosion and greatlyincreasing crop yields.This sta ple technique hastransformed manyhectares erf previouslybarren land throughoutBurkina Faso,

OXFAM PU BU C AFFAIRS UNITPublished by Gxfam,274 Banbury load, Oxford OX2 7DZ

RECTCLID m r e * Oxfwa, Re ga tes d as t Ctwiry No. 202918 640 / Mj / 90This book converted to digital file in 2010


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OXFAM AND THE ENVIRONMENT

IntroductionOxfam works with groups of poor people inmany parts of the world. For most of them, thequality of their lives - indeed their very survival- depends fundamentally up on the health of thenatural environment. Yet, for many of thesepeo ple - such as the farmers of Burkina Faso Inthe Sahel, or the rainforest peoples of Amazonia- the rapid deterioration of their environmentundermines the dally struggle to maintain (letalone improve) their living standards.In two decades of drought and deforestation,many villages of the Sahel - the arid land alongthe southern fringe of the Sahara desert - havelost as m uch as half of their cultivable land. Thefine balance between the earth and its farmers,sustained for centuries, has broken dow n underthe double pressure to grow m ore crops to earnmore cash to service ever-increasing nationaldebts and to feed a growing population. Thepeople o f Amazonia - the Yanomami andKayapo Indians, for example - have survived forgenerations by managing the rainforest in asustainable way. Now, millions of hectares offorest are burned and bulldozed each year tomake way for mining operations, oil drilling,cat t le ranches and landless famil ies fromoutside the forest. In Amazonia and In the Sahel,environmental devastation is closely linked topoverty and injustice.


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Scale of destructionEnvironmental crises are no longer in the future: theyare already here. The poorest people are hardest hitbecause they are directly dependent upon naturalresources for their livelihoods and they have no otheroptions when these resources are threatened.Worldwide, the pace of environmental change isaccelerating:

Desertification in the SahelThis area of the Sahel inWest Africa was thick withtrees only fifteen years ago.Although drought andfamine have been featuresof Sahelian life for cent-uries, the combination ofdrought and deforestationover the past two decadeshas resulted in the loss ofas much as half of theircultivable land for manySahelian villages. InBurkina Faso, hot abrasivewinds in the dry seasoncarry away millions of tonsof topsoil; when it doesrain, lack of vegetationcover results in torrentscarrying away more soil.The delicate balancebetween people and theland has broken down.Women must walk miles tocollect water or gatherfirewood for their dailymeal.

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Every year, more than 6 million hectares of land(an area approaching the size of Ireland) are turninginto desert - more than doubling the rate of the lastthree centuries. If present levels of destruction continue, it ispredicted that almost a fifth of the earth's crop landwill have disappeared by the end of this decade. Th roug hou t the wo rld, health is seriouslythreatened by water polluted with human andindustrial wastes. In India, for exam ple , 70% ofsurface supplies are polluted.


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Deforestation inAmazoniaThe state of Rondonia inBrazil is one of the a reasof Amazonia which isbeing most rapidlydeforested. Oxfam isworking with rubbertappers and other peoplein Amazonia to try toencourage sustainable useof the Am azon forests. More than 20 million hec tares of tropical forest(an area similar to that of England and Scotland) arecleared annually, mainly for subsistence farming,commercial agriculture and destructive logging. Up to 30% of all existing species (an d tropicalforests pro ba bly con tain 90% of the total) maybecome extinct over the next 40 years; this rapid lossof biological diversity severely reduces the earth'spo ten t ia l to supp ly spec ies o f med ic ina l andeconomic value, and genetic material that could, forexample, help countries adapt to climatic change (1).The clearing and burning of forests in the South and- even m ore importan t - the increasing use of fossilfuels in the North, accelerate the production ofgreenhouse gases which cause global warming, theeffects of which will also impinge soonest and mostdirectly upon poor people. On present emissionrates of the main greenhouse gases (especial lycarbon dioxide), global temperatures are widelypredicted to increase l"c by 2025 - a rate greaterthan at any time in the last 10,000 years (2).The poorest people live in the more ecologicallyfragile and unstable areas of the world and, havingno alternative livelihoods, are most vulnerable to theadverse effects of climatic change. Warmer oceans


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would cause sea levels to rise, and this alone woulddevastate much of Bangladesh and northern Egypt,making at least 50 million people homeless (3). Manymore wil l suffer unless they can be helped toprepare and adapt quickly enough. Locally andglobally, as the environment suffers, the prospectsfor sustaining lives and livelihoods recede. It isessential to take long-term preventive action now, inthe North as well as the South, to enable futuregenerations to have any chance of surviving with areasonable quality of life.The m eaning of sustainable developm ent

Sustainable development is about people, environ-ment and the future. Among many recent definitions,the one given by the Brundtland Commission is thesimplest:'sustainable developm ent meets the needs of thepresent without compromising the ability of futuregenerations to meet their needs' (4).Implicit in this definition is the idea of developmentwhich brings social and economic advances but alsosafeguards the environment and its resources so thatopt ions are not c losed for the fu ture . Butconventional development has many forms, drivenby different objectives. The objective in many partsof the world - rich and poor - is rapid short-runeconomic gain for a few, often at the expense ofsocial justice and long-term environmental security.

Meeting basic needsIn the context of Oxfam's work, a crucial element ismissing from the Brundtland analysis - poverty. It isunrea l i s t i c to expec t poor peop le to conserveresources for the future when they are struggling tomeet the needs of the present.


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So, from an Oxfam perspective, the priority insustainable development must be to enable thepoorest people to meet their basic needs whileprotecting, enhancing and making accessible theenvironmental resources required.Meeting basic needs means action at the very locallevel - to increase food, improve shelter, sanitationand water supplies, provide better health care andeducation, increase real incomes and securelivelihoods. And all this has to be done wh-leprotecting essential human dignity and addressingthe particular needs of the most vulnerable groups,such as women and children, indigenous people andpastoralists. Securing livelihoods is a key issue, for somany other development benefits depend on this.

Turkana wo m enbuilding water-harvesting bunds InKenyaOxfam became involvedin water-harvesting

projects in thetraditionally pastoralistarea of Turkana aftermany people lost theirlivestock in the 1980-1981famine. The rainwater fedgardens, some owned bywomen, produce crops ofsorghum which havecontributed to increasedfood security in the area.

Women's needs and opportunities are especiallyimportant. Some of the poorest and most dis-advantaged people in many societies are women,and they often play the major role in environmentalmanagement. Enabling them to contribute to, andbenefit from, more effective natural resourcemanagement is a vital task for the future (5).


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In Oxfam terms, sustainable development is aboutgrassroots improvements which are often ignoredin striving for national development: sustainabledevelopment must apply at the very local level.

For most of their basic needs, poor people, especiallyin rural areas, rely directly upon the wealth of thenatural environment and upon renewable resources.Soils, trees and water are all vital for their survivaland often for their livelihoods. Trees, for example,provide not only food crops, but also t imber forbuilding, fuel for cooking, fodder for animals andfibres for weaving. Well-managed, accessible forestsare sometimes as important as productive croplandand pastures for rural living standards, especially forwomen.Women carryingfuelwood in BurkinaFaso

Fuel-rood is estimated tosupply 80% of energyneeds in sub-SaharanAfrica. It is already in veryshort supply and will be-come more so. Accordingto the Brundtland Report,if harvesting continues atthe present rate, by theyear 2000 some 2.4 billionpeople will be living inareas where wood is veryscarce or has to beobtained elsew here. Thismeans longer and longerjourneys, usually forwomen and children, tocollect the dailyrequirements of fuelwood. Many Third World people (though not alt) have thek n o w l e d g e to m a n a g e r e n e w a b l e r e s o u r c e s insustainable ways. They apply traditional methods ofsoil and wate r co n s e rv a t i o n , t h ey k n o w wh ichvarieties of food crops are resistant to drought and topests, which trees provide wood to burn efficientlywith little smoke, and which plants have medicinalproperties. Before this indigenous knowledge is lost,


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local people need to share and build upon theirexperience and be suppor ted in their conservingactions. Secure land tenure is more likely to lead tolong-term care for the environment. In some areas,people need access to appropriate technologies andtraining, to credit for materials and equipment. Butmost important of all - they must have recognisedrights to participate in decisions on the managementand development of resources, not only for reasonsof social justice but also to ensure sustainable use.In Oxfam terms, sustainable development is aboutthe process of change as well as the product - itdescribes not just some future goal but a way ofdeveloping which empowers people so that theirneeds and their rights are recognised, their voicesheard and their experience shared. Popularparticipation - a key element of the BrundtlandCommission recommendations - is a fundamentalrequirement for sustainable development.

But this type of development does not happen inmost areas of the world. Instead, millions of peoplea re e i t h e r b y p as s ed by ex i s t i n g m o d e l s ofdevelopment or damaged by them. The land andwater which support them are expropriated, erodedor polluted by more powerful groups. They are oftenforced out of their homes or away from the source ofthe i r l ive l ihoods to m a k e way for l a rg e - s ca l edevelopment projects like dams, or for commercialfarms. They are denied access to (or must pay for)traditionally 'free goods' from the environment suchas fuelwood, fodder or water.Where poverty and injustice push people to intensifythe grazing or cult ivation of marginal land, andprevent them from applying traditional conservationskills, they are forced to degrade resources. Poorfa rmers , for e x a m p l e , h a v e to cu l t iva te h igh lyunstable slopes, causing soil erosion; fuel gatherersmust take green wood when the dead wood has


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gone, or use crop wastes for fuel instead of fertiliser;charcoal making, which further damages fuelwoodsupplies, may be the only source of income for alandless family.Poverty thus becomes a cause as well as a con-sequence of environmental problems.

In urban, as well as rural, areas the poorest peoplesuffer the worst living conditions. They live inmakeshift settlements at the city margins on landunfit for housing, or in crowded city slums. Homesare constructed on unstable hillsides, on land subjectto flooding or in contaminated areas close toindustry. There are few or no basic services (watersupply, sewerage, garbage removal or electricity)except those organised by the slum-dwellersthemselves. Roads and transport facilities are poor,medical care is inadequate and there are few schools.Air and water pollution levels in and around urbanhomes are high, and there may be no opportunitiesfor growing food, collecting fuel, or safely disposingof w astes.

Obstacles to sustainable developm entThere are many underlying reasons for theseproblems of the local and global environment - andall of them are linked. Crippling debt burdens areforcing an increasing number of Third Worldcountries to exploit their natural resource base inways that are not sustainable. In the Sahel, forexample, intensive cash cropping to earn foreignexchange is damaging soil and water resources overthe long term. It is also taking place at the expense offood production for local people. Logging for timberexports in parts of Indonesia and Malaysia means thatforests are plundered and people lose land andlivelihoods. These activities - often pursued in thename of 'development' - cannot be sustained.

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Structural adjustment programmes are designed tore-orient national economies to respond toindebtedness. They promote the production of crops,timber and minerals for export, at the expense offood security for local people. Because theInternational Monetary Fund is concerned that debtorcountries must earn more and spend less, structuraladjustment also brings cuts in basic services likehealth care, education and training - furtherpunishing the poorest. An Oxfam study in Zambiashowed that women are often the hardest hit bystructural adjustment measures.Disadvantageous terms of international trade,especially low and volatile commodity prices andprotected markets in the North, force developingcountries to rely upon primary products and to growmore, at considerable environmental cost - and stilltheir earnings fall. The deterioration in terms of tradein the first few years of the 1980s, according to theWorld Bank, has cost developing countries some$100 billion each year. In the early 1980s, while lessand less food was produced for local people,Sahelian countries increased their output of cotton by20%. Yet, over the same period, the price of cottonfell by 30%. These countries were on the treadmill ofproducing more to earn less.Dwindling aid flows from North to South, andinappropriate aid projects and programmes,continue to bypass or damage the poorest people.Though there is much talk of 'aid' from the richworld to the poor, there is actually a net flow ofwealth from the South to the North. Because ofsoaring interest rates, the 'debt crisis countries' of thedeveloping world transferred $40 billion to the richworld in 1989. And there is growing uncertainty overthe consequences, for the Third World, of increasedaid from rich countries to Eastern Europe. Thequality as well as the quantity of aid is inadequate.Development assistance is often tied to the export ofparticular goods and services from donor countries


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which can be inappropriate for the recipient (forexample, complex machinery which cannot easily berepaired). Meanwhile, aid for environmental projectsand the transfer of resource-saving technologies has alow priority and is failing to keep pace with need.There is concern that even 'environmental' projectscan be damaging: eucalyptus planting as part ofIndia 's aid-funded social forestry programme inKarnataka was opposed by Indian groups becausethe eucalyptus plantations failed to meet local needsfor fuelwood, fodder and food.Continuing conflict between and within states bringsdevas tat ing environmental consequences - as inCambodia and Mozambique - and prevents any long-term investment in conserving natural resources.Disputes over natural resources may lead to conflict,and again the consequence is often environmentaldegradation. Where conflict is reduced, arms andother military spending can be diverted to meetingbas ic needs and managing the environment forsustainable development.Alongside all these problems is the extravagantconsumption of the rich world. This underlies muchunsustainable resource exploi ta t ion in the poorworld, generates the transfer of wastes, pollution andinappropriate technologies from North to South, andaccelerates global warming through high levels ofenergy consumption.Within the developing world, great inequalities ofwealth prevent improvements for the poor. The lackof access to land is a major source of poverty; inBrazil, for example, where more than 60% of the landis in the hands of 4% of its people, the landless poorare forced to exploit the rainforest and other fragileenvironments. These problems will not be solved inpredominantly rural Third World countries withoutfinding ways of enabling poor people to own orcontrol the land they depend on for their basicneeds. Land reform may be difficult but it affords theonly realistic opportunity for overcoming the poverty

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which drives people to encroach on fragileenvironments such as tropical forests, desert marginsand mangrove swamps.From an Oxfam perspective, great wealth, likeextreme poverty, can destroy the environment.The rich (wherever they live) can no longer expectto maintain their lifestyles on the backs of thepoor. In resource terms, the North has rapidly tobecom e expert at doing m ore with less . Sustainabledevelopment is about interdependence and a. fairerworld, about shar ing re sources wi th in andbetween countries and transferring wealth fromricher to poorer. Oxfam rec ogn ises that greatobstacles lie in the way of creating a fairer world -in the lack of democracy at all levels, in corruptionand the unequal power s tructures in thosecountries wh ich have rich and ruthless elites.

The movement towards sustainable development canbe further undermined by rapid populationgrowth, for this adds to all the natural resourceproblems poor families and poor countries face.Women suffer especially, and their ill health,repeated and unwanted pregnancies and the burdensof caring for small children also limit their capacity toparticipate in the resource management and decision-making which underpins sustainable development.All the evidence is that good development, whichreduces poverty and improves child survival andwomen's education, will bring smaller families - butthis takes time. Meanwhile, a way forward must be toenable all those couples (some 300 million) who donot want more children, to have access to the meansto limit their families (6). An integrated approach isrequired, which is sensitive to women's needs andenables them to take control of their lives. In anOxfam-supported project in Nepal, it was shown thatfamily planning (to space children and to limit familysize) works best when it is part of a wider pro-

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gramme which links health care with environmentalmanagement and better incomes. But the respons-ibilities of the international community go far beyondsupport ing family p lanning programmes towardscor rec t ing the inequal i t ies , wi th in and b e t w e e ncountries, in the access to resources. Large familiesare often the only means by which poor people canrespond to these inequalities, to provide labour forthe land or security in their old age.From an Oxfam perspective, all these obstacles tosustainable development - indebtedness, unfairterms of trade, inadequate and inappropriate aid,continuing conflict, wasteful consumption in theNorth, Inequitable access to resources and rapidpopulation growth demand action not only at thelocal level, but nationally and internationally.While one priority is to work for the relief ofpoverty and sustained provision for basic needs atthe grassroots, Oxfam will continue to use itsexp eri enc e to influence governm ents , inter-national agencies and business to act in wayswhich support and do not undermine sustainabledevelopment.

What is Oxfam doing?Oxfam has been working overseas with poor peoplefor nearly 50 years, enabling them to protect theirenvironments and the resources which meet theirneeds. In Africa, Asia, Latin America and the MiddleEast, support is given to groups conserving soil andwater , p lant ing t rees and fighting the s p read ofdeserts. Across north Africa, for example, through itsnetwork of project partners, Oxfam's Arid Lands Unitkeeps groups in touch, sharing solutions to commonproblems. And the most effective solutions can be thesimplest. In an Oxfam experiment, ten years ago,

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Watering fruit treeseedlings In IndonesiaOxfam project partnerorganisation Ie Rai workson agricultural develop-ment, water conservation,terracing and tree-plantingin an effort to 're-green'Sabu Island.Oxfam supports manytree-planting projectsworldwide which meetlocal needs for fuelwood,fodder, food and shelter aswell as making somecontribution to absorbingcarbon dioxide, a majorgreenhouse gas. Womenplay a vital role inenvironmentalmanagement of this kind,using their traditionalknowledge and skills.

farmers in the Yatenga province of Burkina Fasobegan to conserve water by building lines of stonesalong the contours of the 'and. Stone lines now traprainwater in half the provinces of Burkina, reducingsoil erosion and doubling crop yields. Dry wells givewater again and more than 5,000 hectares of deadland have been reclaimed.

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These are stretches of forest set aside by the state, ona long lease, for use in the traditional way - tap pin grubber, collecting Brazil nuts and a variety of otherforest crops. In other areas, Oxfam is working toempower local groups to campaign successfu l lyagainst water and air pollution and pesticide abuse.Recognising the limits of what can be done by smallprojects, Oxfam continues to challenge the activitiesof major development agencies - like the World Bank- to be more sensitive to the needs of local people,when thei r l ives are affected by large dams,commercial cropping schemes and other disruptivedevelopments. Oxfam is working with aid agencies,NGOs, companies and others to change internationaland national policies on, for example, unjust tradingpractices, debt and aid, which all have repercussionsfor the environment.At home, over 800 Oxfam shops, and the HuddersfieldWastesaver centre s tarted in 1975, form acomprehensive recycling system for second-handclothing and household goods. Goods are carefullysorted into those which can be resold and those whichcannot. Wastesaver converts unsellable textiles intousable materials. It also processes some 60 tonnes ofaluminium per year - much more energy efficient thanproducing new metal from bauxite. The shops alsopromote fair trade with producers in the Third Worldby providing outlets for their products.Oxfam Trading buys products made of naturalmaterials from properly managed sources, and manyproducts on sale in the shops are made from recycledmater ia l s . Through the 'Br idge ' scheme, Oxfamsuppor t s many smal l p roducer g roups in th reecontinents, fostering more self-reliance and betterworking conditions and encouraging environmentallysou nd practices. It is this direct link with th e lives ofindividuals in both rich and poor countries that givesOxfam a unique perspective on environmental issues -and a powerful tool for action.

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Summing up Oxfam's prioritiesSafeguarding the environment means many things -not only supporting campaigns (in the developedand developing world) to protect resources fromfurther damage, but remedial work to clear existingdegradation and pollution, and positive action tocreate more resilient environments which can sustainlives and livelihoods for the poorest. Creating a betterenvironment is an essential feature of the equitable,participative and sustainable model of developmentOxfam wants to promote. Oxfam's priorities foraction to bring sustainable improvements in lives andlivelihoods are: Primary environmental care: enabling thepoorest people - by action at grassroots level - toprotect, restore and enhance renewable resources. Popular participation: empowering peopleand communities to gain access to the resources theyneed and to be fully involved in decisions about theuse and management of the environment. Interdependence: working for a fairer worldand encouraging countries and people to share thetechnologies, experience and resources forsustainable development. Removing the obstacles: working atnational and international levels to overcome theunderlying, structural obstacles to sustainabledevelopment, especially debt, unfair trade,inadequate aid and continuing conflict. Acting now: alerting people, governmentsand companies in developed countries to theaccelerating environmental crises facing poor people,and the urgent need for action.16


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Sources1 Statistics from:

Bro wn L et al (1990) State of the W orld 1990; WorldWatch Institute.FAO, UNEP, WRI sources and Norman Myers (1990).World Resources Institute/IIED: World Resources 1988-89;Basic Books.World Resources Institute/IIED: World Resources 1986;Basic Books.World Commission on Environment and Development (1987)Our Common Future; OUR

2 Intergov ernm ental Panel on Climate Cha nge (1990)Scientific Assessment of Climate Change; repert of Working Group 1.

3 Calculated from statistics given by IPCC, 1990, an d Co mm onw ealthGroup of Experts (1989) Climate Change: Meeting the Challenge;Commonwealth Secretariat.

4 World Commission on Environment and Developm ent (1987)Our Common Future; OUP (Brundlland Report).The World Commission on Environment and Development wasestablished in 1983 by the UN General Assembly to propose long-termenvironmental strategies for achieving sustainable development by 2000and beyond. The Commission was chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland,then Prime Minister of Norway.

5 Dan kelma n, I & Davidson, J (1988)Women and Environment in the Third World; Earthscan.

6 Wo rld Fertility Survey (1989 ) IPPF.7 Wa stesaver, in Huddersfield, UK, wa s op en ed in 1975. Its staff sort and

sell clothing and other textiles and aluminium collected in Oxfam shopsthroughout the UK.

Oxfam and the Environment

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