Title:
World in transition : fighting poverty through environmental policy
Publication Information:
London : Earthscan, 2004
ISBN:
9781853838835
Added Corporate Author:
Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010115447 | GE149 W67 2005 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000010115446 | GE149 W67 2005 f | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
At the start of the 21st century, fighting poverty and protecting the environment are two of the most urgent challenges facing the international community. Environmental changes will jeopardize people's survival to an even greater extent in the future, and will hit the poor hardest. To meet these challenges, it will be essential to breathe new life into the partnership between industrialized and developing countries. It will be equally essential to combine poverty reduction with environmental protection in an integrated policy structure spanning all levels from local to global. In this report, the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) shows that global environmental policy is a prerequisite for global poverty reduction. WBGU analyses the relevant policy processes and delivers recommendations charting the way forward.'With its interdisciplinary approach, providing a complex and systematic analysis of the poverty-environment nexus, WBGU's latest report breaks new ground. Indira Gandhi's old, convenient maxim was 'Poverty is the biggest polluter'. Put forward at the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, it has been sorely misused ever since to override environmental precaution and prioritize economic development strategies instead. The new WBGU report maps out a way to shape a coherent environment and development policy. This report revitalizes the Rio spirit and gives it a robust scientific base'.Prof Dr Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Member of the German Bundestag (MdB)
Author Notes
The German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) comprises 12 leading experts working on issues of global environmental change.
Table of Contents
| Members of the German Advisory Council on Global Change | p. II |
| Scientific Staff | p. V |
| Contents | p. VII |
| Boxes | p. XIV |
| Tables | p. XV |
| Figures | p. XVII |
| Acronyms and Abbreviations | p. XIX |
| Summary for Policy-makers | p. 1 |
| 1 Introduction | p. 11 |
| 2 Integrative environment and development policy - The Rio vision | p. 13 |
| 2.1 The Rio process | p. 13 |
| 2.1.1 The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro | p. 13 |
| 2.1.2 World Conferences in the 1990s | p. 14 |
| 2.1.3 Millennium Declaration | p. 14 |
| 2.1.4 World Summit on Sustainable Development | p. 15 |
| 2.1.5 Assessing the Rio process | p. 19 |
| 2.2 Concerted environment and development policy at a global scale | p. 19 |
| 2.2.1 Rio vision: A rediscovery within the context of poverty reduction | p. 19 |
| 2.2.2 Rio transmission: Applying a systems metaphor | p. 20 |
| 2.2.3 Rio strategies: Making the coherence principle operable | p. 22 |
| 2.3 Principles of sustainable development in international law and ways to render them operable | p. 22 |
| 2.3.1 Protecting natural life-support systems | p. 24 |
| 2.3.2 The principle of integration, with particular consideration of equity | p. 25 |
| 2.3.3 The proportionality principle | p. 26 |
| 2.3.4 The institutional framework | p. 26 |
| 2.3.5 Rendering the principles operable | p. 26 |
| 3 Poverty, vulnerability and environmental change - The settings and trends | p. 29 |
| 3.1 Conceptual fundamentals | p. 29 |
| 3.1.1 Poverty as a multidimensional concept | p. 29 |
| 3.1.2 The vulnerability of the poor to environmental change | p. 30 |
| 3.1.2.1 Approaches in vulnerability research | p. 33 |
| 3.1.2.2 Biophysical vulnerability | p. 33 |
| 3.1.2.3 Social vulnerability | p. 36 |
| 3.1.2.4 Requirements for integrated vulnerability analyses | p. 37 |
| 3.2 Dimensions of poverty | p. 37 |
| 3.2.1 Income and asset poverty | p. 37 |
| 3.2.1.1 Income and asset poverty affect all other dimensions | p. 38 |
| 3.2.1.2 Situation and trends | p. 39 |
| 3.2.1.3 Disparities | p. 40 |
| 3.2.1.4 Income and asset poverty and the environment | p. 40 |
| 3.2.1.5 International goals on income and asset security | p. 41 |
| 3.2.2 Disease | p. 41 |
| 3.2.2.1 Disease as a dimension of poverty | p. 41 |
| 3.2.2.2 Poverty amplifies susceptibility to disease | p. 44 |
| 3.2.2.3 Disease and the environment | p. 44 |
| 3.2.2.4 International goals on health | p. 45 |
| 3.2.3 Undernourishment | p. 46 |
| 3.2.3.1 Situation and Trends | p. 46 |
| 3.2.3.2 Undernourishment as a dimension of poverty | p. 47 |
| 3.2.3.3 Food security and the environment | p. 49 |
| 3.2.3.4 The role of transgenic crops | p. 49 |
| 3.2.3.5 International goals on undernourishment | p. 51 |
| 3.2.4 Lack of education | p. 51 |
| 3.2.4.1 Lack of education amplifies poverty | p. 51 |
| 3.2.4.2 Situation and trends | p. 52 |
| 3.2.4.3 Lack of education and environmental change | p. 54 |
| 3.2.4.4 International goals on education | p. 55 |
| 3.2.5 Lack of social capital and societal stability | p. 56 |
| 3.2.5.1 Stabilizing social cohesion | p. 56 |
| 3.2.5.2 Social capital, societal stability and poverty | p. 57 |
| 3.2.5.3 Situation and trends | p. 58 |
| 3.2.5.4 Social capital, societal stability and the environment | p. 59 |
| 3.2.5.5 International goals on social capital and societal stability | p. 59 |
| 3.3 Environmental change and poverty | p. 59 |
| 3.3.1 Climate change | p. 61 |
| 3.3.1.1 Climate change and its causes | p. 61 |
| 3.3.1.2 Poverty impacts of climate change | p. 63 |
| 3.3.1.3 Guard rails for climate protection: The WBGU climate window | p. 64 |
| 3.3.1.4 Conclusions | p. 64 |
| 3.3.2 Water scarcity and pollution | p. 65 |
| 3.3.2.1 Causes of threats to global water resources | p. 65 |
| 3.3.2.2 Poverty impacts of water scarcity and pollution | p. 66 |
| 3.3.2.3 Guard rails for water protection | p. 69 |
| 3.3.2.4 Conclusions | p. 69 |
| 3.3.3 Soil degradation | p. 69 |
| 3.3.3.1 Causes and extent | p. 69 |
| 3.3.3.2 Poverty impacts of soil degradation | p. 71 |
| 3.3.3.3 Adaptation - Possible countermeasures and their success | p. 72 |
| 3.3.3.4 Guard rails for soil protection | p. 73 |
| 3.3.3.5 Conclusions | p. 73 |
| 3.3.4 Loss of biological diversity and resources | p. 74 |
| 3.3.4.1 Biodiversity loss and its causes: The case of accelerating deforestation | p. 74 |
| 3.3.4.2 Importance of biodiversity in developing countries and consequences of its loss for the poor | p. 76 |
| 3.3.4.3 Conflicts and synergies between poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation | p. 78 |
| 3.3.4.4 Guard rails for biosphere conservation | p. 79 |
| 3.3.4.5 Conclusions | p. 80 |
| 3.3.5 Air pollution and toxic substances | p. 80 |
| 3.3.5.1 Air pollution and toxic substances in developing countries | p. 80 |
| 3.3.5.2 Poverty impacts | p. 83 |
| 3.3.5.3 Guard rails for protection of the atmosphere and for substances released to ecosystems | p. 84 |
| 3.3.5.4 Conclusions | p. 84 |
| 3.4 The global setting: Key factors | p. 84 |
| 3.4.1 Demographic development | p. 84 |
| 3.4.1.1 Forecasts and factors | p. 84 |
| 3.4.1.2 Demographic development and poverty | p. 86 |
| 3.4.1.3 Demographic development and environment | p. 87 |
| 3.4.1.4 Conclusions | p. 88 |
| 3.4.2 Global economic trends | p. 88 |
| 3.4.2.1 Economic growth and poverty | p. 88 |
| 3.4.2.2 Economic growth and environment | p. 89 |
| 3.4.2.3 Conclusions | p. 90 |
| 3.4.3 Technological development | p. 90 |
| 3.4.3.1 Technological development and poverty | p. 91 |
| 3.4.3.2 Technological development and environment | p. 93 |
| 3.4.3.3 Conclusions | p. 93 |
| 3.5 New approaches towards an integrated analysis of regional vulnerability: Case studies on Burkina Faso and northeast Brazil | p. 93 |
| 3.5.1 Conceptual fundamentals of the vulnerability analysis | p. 93 |
| 3.5.2 Applying the vulnerability matrix | p. 95 |
| 3.5.3 Case study: Vulnerability of food security to soil degradation in Burkina Faso | p. 97 |
| 3.5.4 Integrated vulnerabilities for Burkina Faso and northeast Brazil | p. 99 |
| 3.5.5 Developing strategies to reduce vulnerability | p. 101 |
| 3.5.6 Reducing vulnerability: Starting points for Burkina Faso and northeast Brazil | p. 103 |
| 3.5.7 Outlook | p. 104 |
| 3.6 Implementing, financing and advancing international goals | p. 105 |
| 3.6.1 State of implementation | p. 105 |
| 3.6.2 Financing requirements for selected policy fields | p. 108 |
| 3.6.2.1 Methodological issues | p. 108 |
| 3.6.2.2 Poverty dimensions | p. 111 |
| 3.6.2.3 Environment dimensions | p. 111 |
| 3.6.2.4 Appraising overall requirements | p. 112 |
| 3.6.3 Advancing international goals | p. 113 |
| 4 Linkages among international environment and development policy spheres | p. 115 |
| 4.1 The new setting of global politics | p. 115 |
| 4.2 Assessment of key policy processes and institutions | p. 116 |
| 4.2.1 Framework Convention on Climate Change | p. 117 |
| 4.2.1.1 Purpose and goals | p. 117 |
| 4.2.1.2 Effect upon the nexus of poverty and climate change | p. 117 |
| 4.2.1.3 Financing | p. 119 |
| 4.2.1.4 Assessment | p. 120 |
| 4.2.1.5 Recommendations | p. 120 |
| 4.2.2 Convention on Biological Diversity | p. 121 |
| 4.2.2.1 Purpose and goals | p. 121 |
| 4.2.2.2 Poverty as a theme in the CBD process | p. 122 |
| 4.2.2.3 Focus: Access to genetic resources, benefit-sharing and the use of traditional knowledge | p. 122 |
| 4.2.2.4 Poverty, protected areas and sustainable tourism | p. 125 |
| 4.2.2.5 Assessment: Applying guard rails and policy goals | p. 126 |
| 4.2.2.6 Financing | p. 126 |
| 4.2.2.7 Summary of recommendations | p. 127 |
| 4.2.3 United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification | p. 127 |
| 4.2.3.1 Purpose and goals | p. 127 |
| 4.2.3.2 UNCCD and poverty reduction | p. 128 |
| 4.2.3.3 Resource conservation and poverty reduction in National Action Programmes | p. 128 |
| 4.2.3.4 Integrating efforts to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought within poverty reduction strategies | p. 129 |
| 4.2.3.5 Synergies between desertification control, climate protection and biodiversity conservation | p. 130 |
| 4.2.3.6 Financing | p. 130 |
| 4.2.3.7 Assessment | p. 131 |
| 4.2.3.8 Recommendations | p. 132 |
| 4.2.4 Food and Agriculture Organization | p. 133 |
| 4.2.4.1 Purpose and goals | p. 133 |
| 4.2.4.2 Mainstreaming resource conservation and poverty reduction | p. 134 |
| 4.2.4.3 Financing | p. 136 |
| 4.2.4.4 Assessment | p. 137 |
| 4.2.4.5 Recommendations | p. 137 |
| 4.2.5 World Health Organization | p. 138 |
| 4.2.5.1 Purpose and goals | p. 138 |
| 4.2.5.2 Integrating health promotion, environmental policy and poverty reduction | p. 138 |
| 4.2.5.3 Financing | p. 138 |
| 4.2.5.4 WBGU recommendations | p. 139 |
| 4.2.6 The United Nations development and environment programmes | p. 140 |
| 4.2.6.1 United Nations Development Programme | p. 140 |
| 4.2.6.2 United Nations Environment Programme | p. 142 |
| 4.2.6.3 UNDP-UNEP coordination and cooperation | p. 144 |
| 4.2.6.4 Recommendations | p. 145 |
| 4.2.7 United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development | p. 147 |
| 4.2.7.1 Purpose and goals | p. 147 |
| 4.2.7.2 Assessment | p. 148 |
| 4.2.7.3 Recommendations | p. 150 |
| 4.2.8 Global Environment Facility | p. 150 |
| 4.2.8.1 Purpose and goals | p. 150 |
| 4.2.8.2 Structure | p. 150 |
| 4.2.8.3 Project approval practices | p. 151 |
| 4.2.8.4 GEF and poverty reduction | p. 152 |
| 4.2.8.5 Problems and criticisms | p. 152 |
| 4.2.8.6 Recommendations for action | p. 153 |
| 4.2.9 The World Bank Group | p. 154 |
| 4.2.9.1 Purpose and goals | p. 154 |
| 4.2.9.2 The World Bank's importance | p. 155 |
| 4.2.9.3 Programme lending | p. 155 |
| 4.2.9.4 Project lending | p. 158 |
| 4.2.9.5 Case study: Mining, oil and gas extraction | p. 159 |
| 4.2.9.6 Case study: Brazil | p. 161 |
| 4.2.9.7 Recommendations | p. 165 |
| 4.2.10 Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers | p. 165 |
| 4.2.10.1 Involving environmental actors in PRS processes | p. 168 |
| 4.2.10.2 Links between environment and poverty in PRSPs | p. 168 |
| 4.2.10.3 Integrating environmental aspects within poverty reduction strategies | p. 169 |
| 4.2.10.4 Conflicts between poverty reduction and environmental policy approaches | p. 169 |
| 4.2.10.5 Implementing environmentally relevant aspects of poverty reduction strategies | p. 170 |
| 4.2.10.6 Case study: Burkina Faso | p. 170 |
| 4.2.10.7 Assessment and recommendations | p. 172 |
| 4.2.11 The European Union as development policy actor | p. 173 |
| 4.2.11.1 From Lome to Cotonou: Trade and aid | p. 175 |
| 4.2.11.2 The Cotonou Agreement | p. 176 |
| 4.2.11.3 Administrative reforms for improved coherence | p. 176 |
| 4.2.11.4 The primacy of poverty reduction: Stated but unfulfilled | p. 177 |
| 4.2.11.5 The interplay between environmental degradation and poverty: Perceived but yet to be acted on | p. 177 |
| 4.2.11.6 Conclusions and recommendations | p. 178 |
| 4.2.12 Germany | p. 179 |
| 4.2.12.1 National Strategy for Sustainable Development | p. 179 |
| 4.2.12.2 Programme of Action 2015 for poverty reduction | p. 181 |
| 4.2.12.3 Development cooperation priorities | p. 181 |
| 4.2.12.4 Poverty and environmental standards for foreign trade promotion and the activities of German companies abroad | p. 183 |
| 4.2.12.5 Recommendations | p. 185 |
| 4.2.13 The global economy: Policy processes | p. 185 |
| 4.2.13.1 Trade liberalization and the World Trade Organization | p. 185 |
| 4.2.13.2 International Monetary Fund | p. 192 |
| 4.3 Socio-political obstacles to sustainable policies and the role of interest groups | p. 195 |
| 4.3.1 Overcoming socio-political obstacles | p. 195 |
| 4.3.2 Taking poverty reduction and environmental protection into account in policy making | p. 197 |
| 4.3.3 Non-governmental organizations | p. 198 |
| 4.3.3.1 Roles and functions of NGOs | p. 199 |
| 4.3.3.2 NGOs before global environmental challenges | p. 200 |
| 4.3.3.3 NGOs in development cooperation: Bearers of exaggerated hopes? | p. 200 |
| 4.3.3.4 Conclusion: Overextended but nonetheless essential | p. 201 |
| 4.3.4 Transnational corporations | p. 202 |
| 4.3.4.1 Definition and review | p. 202 |
| 4.3.4.2 The role of transnational corporations in globalization | p. 202 |
| 4.3.4.3 Corporate social and environmental responsibility | p. 203 |
| 4.3.4.4 Voluntary undertakings: OECD guidelines and UN Global Compact | p. 204 |
| 4.3.4.5 Conclusions: Concepts for moving reform ahead | p. 205 |
| 4.3.5 Science: Impulses for sustainability policy | p. 205 |
| 4.3.5.1 Sustainability science | p. 206 |
| 4.3.5.2 A new pact between society and science | p. 207 |
| 4.3.5.3 Scientific policy advice | p. 208 |
| 4.3.5.4 Conclusions | p. 208 |
| 4.4 Resume: Challenges in shaping the institutional framework | p. 209 |
| 4.4.1 The international setting has changed | p. 209 |
| 4.4.1.1 Global governance | p. 209 |
| 4.4.1.2 Global structural policy | p. 209 |
| 4.4.1.3 Multilateralism | p. 210 |
| 4.4.2 The existing institutional architecture lacks efficiency and enforcement capability | p. 210 |
| 4.4.3 Trade and economic policies lack commitment to sustainability goals | p. 211 |
| 5 Reducing poverty and protecting the environment: Recommendations for integrated policies | p. 213 |
| 5.1 Linking environment and development policy | p. 214 |
| 5.1.1 Providing compensation for environmental destruction and channelling liability | p. 214 |
| 5.1.2 Aligning the world economy more closely with social and environmental principles | p. 215 |
| 5.1.3 Fostering local environmental protection as a precondition to poverty reduction | p. 217 |
| 5.1.4 Reducing vulnerability through adaptation | p. 219 |
| 5.1.5 Protecting the environment by reducing poverty | p. 220 |
| 5.2 Rio strategies: Examples of self-reinforcing dynamics | p. 222 |
| 5.2.1 A Rio strategy for climate protection | p. 222 |
| 5.2.2 A Rio strategy for cotton cultivation in the Sahel region | p. 226 |
| 5.3 Global governance: Reforming the multilateral institutional architecture | p. 227 |
| 5.3.1 Ensuring coherence of environment and development policy within the UN system | p. 229 |
| 5.3.1.1 The vision: Transforming ECOSOC into a Council on Global Development and Environment | p. 229 |
| 5.3.1.2 Enhancing coordination and coherence within the UN system | p. 230 |
| 5.3.2 Widening participation in international institutions | p. 231 |
| 5.3.3 Upgrading environmental policy within the UN system | p. 231 |
| 5.3.4 Strengthening the environmental component of the Millennium Development Goals | p. 232 |
| 5.3.5 Intensifying cooperation among the Rio conventions | p. 232 |
| 5.3.6 Improving scientific policy advice | p. 233 |
| 5.3.7 Advancing environment and development policy as global structural policy | p. 234 |
| 5.4 Implementing international agreements | p. 234 |
| 5.5 Fostering good governance in developing countries | p. 236 |
| 5.6 Financing | p. 238 |
| 5.6.1 Financing requirements | p. 238 |
| 5.6.2 Costs of inaction | p. 240 |
| 5.6.3 Tools and recommendations | p. 241 |
| 5.6.3.1 Starting points for the mobilization of financial resources | p. 241 |
| 5.6.3.2 Indirect mobilization | p. 241 |
| 5.6.3.3 Direct mobilization: Private investment | p. 241 |
| 5.6.3.4 Direct mobilization: State tools | p. 243 |
| 5.6.3.5 Direct mobilization: Climate protection instruments | p. 246 |
| 5.6.4 Poverty reduction and environmental protection policies are financeable | p. 247 |
| 6 Reducing poverty and protecting the environment: Research recommendations | p. 249 |
| 6.1 Knowledge for orientation | p. 249 |
| 6.1.1 Basic research: Basic knowledge for policy making | p. 249 |
| 6.1.2 Prognostic research: Reducing uncertainties and mapping the indeterminate | p. 250 |
| 6.1.3 Research on guard rails and goals: Structuring the action space | p. 251 |
| 6.1.4 Systems research: Approaches and methods for holistic analysis | p. 252 |
| 6.2 Knowledge for action | p. 252 |
| 6.2.1 Vulnerability research: Enhancing capacity to adapt to environmental change | p. 252 |
| 6.2.2 Research on socio-economic disparities: Identifying their relevance to problem-solving | p. 253 |
| 6.2.3 Technology research: Stimulating technological developments for poverty reduction | p. 253 |
| 6.2.4 Development research: Designing development cooperation in the face of future environmental change | p. 254 |
| 6.2.5 Institutional research: Shaping institutions for an enabling setting | p. 255 |
| 6.2.6 Research on financing: Identifying requirements and mapping out ways to meet them | p. 256 |
| 7 Core messages | p. 257 |
| 8 References | p. 259 |
| 9 Glossary | p. 279 |
| 10 Index | p. 285 |
