Environment, Poverty and Human
Development: Exploring the Linkages
Paolo Giuntarelli, Direttore Ente Regionale RomaNatura
A Vicious Circle?
POVERTY
ENVIRONMENTAL
DEGRADATION
Brundtland Report 1990 - poverty as a major cause and
effect of global environmental problems
Responding to environmental threats

Demand for environmental quality ...


Ability to respond to such demands ...


… is a luxury - the poor are too busy thinking about
basic survival to concern themselves with
environmental issues
… is dependent on aggregate wealth - economic
prosperity and technological sophistication allow
nations to react to environmental challenges
Ergo ...

Environmentalism is the exclusive concern of the rich,
in the advanced industrial nations
Understanding responses

Out of concern for nature


To mitigate anthropogenic influences
on the natural environment


… as a source of cultural, spiritual, social
and economic value ...
… pollution, resource depletion, extinction
of species ...
To reduce the impacts of environmental
changes on human society

… health impacts, livelihoods, needs, wellbeing ...
Are these
concerns
exclusivel
y found in
rich
nations?
Views on poverty-environment linkages

Conventional wisdom
–
Deterministic relationship: if one is poor, then one degrades
the environment
Poverty is negatively related to sustainable development short time horizons of the poor
Policy: need for economic growth to break the downward
spiral: World Bank WDR 1992
–
–
Poverty
Environmental
degradation
Alternative perspectives

Political economy
–
Why are people poor? Poor as proximate causes, but (global)
inequalities as the ultimate causes
Evidence that the poor can and do care for the environment:
effective environmental stewardship
The poor as environmental activists: new social and
ecological movements; grassroots political action
Policy - remove inequalities
–
–
–
Inequality
(power, wealth)
Environmental
degradation
Alternative perspectives

Market/institutional failure
–
Price signals - perverse subsidies/taxes
Tenure policies/property rights
Legal framework
Implementation capacity
Competing policy demands
Policy – correct market/institutional failure
–
–
–
–
–
Policy
imperfections
Environmental
degradation
Alternative perspectives

Reversing the causality
–
Dependence of the poor on natural resources for their
livelihoods: CPR studies
Impact of internal and external pressures is to undermine the
sustainability of the local resource base
Policy - improved environmental sustainability as a
poverty alleviation strategy
–
–
Poverty
Environmental
degradation
Understanding human well-being

Multiple dimensions of well-being
–
–
Physical/financial resources - wealth
Human resources - education, health
Natural resources - ecosystem services
Political resources - democracy, accountability
Social/cultural resources - networks, norms, relationships

SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS (SL)
–
–
–
The SL
Framework
Livelihood
Capital Assets
Human
Social
Physical
Vulnerability
Context
• Shocks
• Trends
• Seasons
Natural
Financial
Policies &
Institutions
(Transforming
Structures &
Processes)
• Structures
- Government
- Private Sector
• Processes
- Laws
- Policies
- Culture
- Institutions
Livelihood
Outcomes
+ Sustainable use of
NR base
+ Income
+ Well-being
Reduced vulnerability
+ Food security
Livelihood
Strategies
It’s all about pushing out the ‘area’ of these
assets
Are these
assets
fungible?
Human
Capital
Social
Capital
Physical
Capital
Natural
Capital
Financial
Capital
Rural poverty - environment linkages
Household objectives: food/livelihood security
Available household assets: on-and off-farm physical/financial
capital; natural resources; human capital; social capital
External
factors
Household income/investment activities
Environmental/economic/social consequences
New stock of household assets
Ecosystem services

Definition
–
Ecosystem services are the conditions and
processes through which natural ecosystems, and
the species that make them up, sustain and fulfil
human life.
Daily et al 1997
* Provisioning functions
* Regulating functions
* Enriching/cultural functions
Ecosystem services: provisioning

Magnitude/rate of goods harvested (‘flows’),
e.g.:








Food
Micro-organisms, plant and animal products
Genetic material, biochemicals & pharmaceuticals
Fuels/energy
Fodder
Fibre
Non-living material
Fresh water
Ecosystem services: regulating

Life support functions, determined by ‘stock’ of
the ecosystem, e.g.:









Purification of air and water
Mitigation of floods and droughts
Detoxification and decomposition of wastes
Preservation of soil and soil fertility
Pollination of crops and vegetation
Control of pests
Dispersal of seeds
Maintenance of biodiversity
Stabilisation of climate
Ecosystem services: enriching/cultural

Beliefs and values surrounding natural forces,
providing spiritual/religious/cultural support
(determined by ‘stock’), e.g.:




Spiritual components
Aesthetic values
Social relations and values
Educational/scientific values
Ecosystem services: well-being issues



Provisioning: access of the poor for basic
needs; distributional issues
Regulating: equitable sharing of benefits and
costs associated with protection
Enriching/cultural: conflicting cognitive
paradigms and value/moral systems
Potential conflict between these services, but
also scope for synergy/win-win scenarios
What is Human Development?

The basic purpose of development is to
enlarge people’s choices. In principle, these
choices can be infinite and can change over
time. The objective of development is to
create an enabling environment for people to
enjoy long, healthy and creative lives.


HD is not only the rise or fall of national
income;
It’s about creating an environment in which
people can develop their full potential and
lead productive, creative lives in accord with
their needs and interests.
People are the real wealth of nations

Fundamental to enlarging the people’s choices
is building human capabilities – the range of
things that people can do or be in life.


Philosophers, economists and political leaders
have long emphasized human wellbeing as
the purpose, the end, of development.
Aristotle said in ancient Greece, “wealth is
evidently not the good we are seeking, for it is
merely useful for the sake of something else”.
The goal is human freedom

Human development and human rights are
mutually reinforcing, helping to secure the
well-being and dignity of all people, building
self-respect and the respect of others.
Human development report



HDR was first launched in 1990 with the single goal of putting
people back at the center of the development process in
terms of economic debate, policy and advocacy;
Since the first report, four new composite indices for HD have
been developed – the human development index, the gender
empowerment measure, and the human poverty index.
The HD report is an indipendent report. It’s commissioned by
the United Nations Development Programme. The report is
translated into more a dozen language and launched in more
than 100 countries annually.
Human development index

The HDI is a summary measure of three dimensions
of human development: leading a long and healthy
life, measured by life expetancy at birth, being
knowleadgeable, measured by literacy and school
enrolment; and having a decent standard of living,
measured by GDP per capita (gross domestic product
=consumption+investment+exports-imports). Before the HDI
itself is calculated, an index need to be created for
each of these dimensions