objects/environment-poverty.html

Environment and Poverty

theme: Environmental health is crucial for helping populations out of poverty

keywords <nicaragua> <esr330>

From Jeffrey D. Sachs (2005)

A. Millenium development goals

1. eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. achieve universal primary education
3. promote gender equality and empower women
4. reduce child mortality
5. improve maternal health
6. combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. ensure environmental sustainability
8. develop a global partnership for development

B. Poverty Trap includes environmental

Checklist for making differential diagnosis

I. Poverty Trap

• ....
• key risk factors
  • demographic trends
  • environmental trends
  • climate shocks
  • disease
  • commodity price fluctuations
  • others

II. through VII

C. Investments that are needed

• human capital - health, nutrition, and skills to be productive
• business capital - machinery and facilities
• infrastructure - roads, power, water, sanitation etc
• natural capital - arable land, healthy soils, biodiversity, and well functioning ecosystems that provide needed ecosystem services
• public institutional capital - working laws and judicial systems, government services and policies
• knowledge capital - scientifica and technical know-how

D. Global Policies

debt crisis

global trade

science for development (see below)

environmental stewardship (see below)

Science needed for development

• often technology or science helps with a breakthrough that promotes long-term economic growth
• special areas that could promote developmen
  • diseases of the poor, especially tropical diseases
  • tropical agriculture, new varieties and soil management
  • energy systems designed for remote rural areas
  • climate forcasting and better understanding of climate change
  • water manaagment technologies, desalinization, management that avoids overuse
  • sustainable management of ecosystems

 

Environmental stewardship

• climate and pollution
• poorest nations suffer the most from environmental degradation

From Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) Ecosystems and human well-being: Synthesis

"approximately 60% of the ecosystem services were degraded

"established but incomplete evidence that changes being made in ecosystems are increasing the likelihood of nonlinear change

"harmful effects of degradation of ecosystem services (...) are being borne disproportionately by the poor ..

"The degradation of ecosystem services is already a significant barrier to achieving the Millenium Development Goals.

 

"1.1 billion people survived on less than $1 per day of income, most of them (roughly 70%) in rural areas where they are highly dependent on agriculture, grazing, and hunting for subsistence ..

"Some 1.1 billion poeple still lack access to improved water supply and more thatn 2.6 billion have no access to improved sanitation.

 

 

reading list

	notes or link
Polack, P. (2008). Out of Poverty: What works when traditional approaches fail. San Francisco, Berrett-Koehler.
Easterly, W. The White Man's Burden: Why the West's efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good. New York, Penguin.
Alcamo, J. e. a. (2003). Ecosystems and human well being: a framework assessment/ Millenium Ecosystem Assessment. Washington, D.C., Island Press.	notes
Sachs, J. D. (2005). The end of poverty: Economic possibilities for our time. New York, The Penguin Press.	sachs-2005
Collier, P. (2007). The Bottom Billion: Why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Costanza (1993). BioScience 43: 545-555.
Costanza et al 1997	local pdf
TNC set of articles http://www.nature.org/magazine/summer2006/features/
Millenium Development Goals http://www.un/org/milleniumgoals	local pdf
lecture16-esr220-2005	local
Millenium Ecosystem Assessment 2005. Ecosystems and human wellbeing: Synthesis. Island Press. Washington, D.C.