Poverty and Environment - 2
The determinant of well-being

If all the countries of the world wee to choose the path to development that the industrialised world has taken, the resulting levels of pollution would exceed the capacity of the earth to absorb them, says Thomas H Tietenberg, Chairman of the Department of Economics at Colby College, Waterville, Maine, and former President of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. This is the second part of a shortened version of his article published in the journal, CHALLENGE, September-October 1990. The first part appeared in DEVELOPMENT ALTERNATIVES, May - June 1991.

The Chief determinant of well-being is income. It can purchase food, health, services, education. What are the income trends? As Inter-American Development Bank President Enrique Iglesias said in September 1988: "The per capital income of the average Latin American is 9% lower today that what it was in 1980. This is average. In some countries the standard of living has slipped back to where it was 20 years ago."

The picture is not totally bleak. Success against poverty is possible. Asian countries have done well in the 1980s, for example. Thailand has reported a 50% decrease in its poverty rate since 1960.

One of the channels of poverty is population growth. Population growth rates are substantially higher in low income populations. High infant mortality causes parents to compensate with large numbers of births. Children provide one of the few available means of old age security. Knowledge about birth control techniques is sparse and the availability of contraceptives is limited. Women frequently have low levels of education and in some cultures, large families are the only possible way for women to achieve status.

Without the assistance of the industrialised world the strategies that developing countires will take to solve their poverty problems are likely to exacerbate the very environmental problems we have been talking about. Increased energy consumption to support industry will add greenhouse gases. Increased refrigeration will add more of the gases depleting the stratospheric ozone level. If all the countries of the world were to choose the path to development that we in the industrialised world have taken, the resulting levels of pollution would exceed the capacity of the earth to absorb them. Similarly, biodiversity would fall in the face of new assaults on biologically rich areas as countries are forced to cash in their biological heritage simply to survive.

Trade policies have had a major role in distorting economic activity away from sustainable development in the Third World. The terms of trade for many Third World countries have deteriorated in the recent past. the terms of trade determine international purchasing power. when the terms of trade deteriorate, Third World exports purchase fewer imports. Some of the reasons for this deterioration are natural effects of markets rather that misguided policies. Included in this category are the import substitutions in the industrialised world (such as when optical fibres are substituted for copper in phone lines) and lower demand for Third World exports triggered by lower economic growth in the industrialised countries. But political factors are also important. When political forces in the developed countries conspire to eliminate or substantially reduce natural markets for the developing contours, these policies not oly exacebrate the poverty in the developing nations, but they have a direct degrading effect on the environment.

Debt is another source of the deteriorating terms of trade. many third World countries have staggering levels of debt to service. In 1989, the Third World owed $1.2 trillion, nearly one half its collective GNP. ambia’s $6 billion debt represents over 300% of its GNP. In 1988 poor nations sent $43 billion more to the industrialised nations in interest and principal repayment that they received in new capital. Ironically, capital is flowing out of the poor countries where it is desperately needed and into the capital-rich countries. In periods of hight real-interest rates, servicing these debts puts a significant drain on foreign exchange earnings. Using these foreign exchange earnings to service the debt eliminates the possibility of using them to finance imports for sustainable activities to alleviate poverty. Furthermore, flooding the market with exports to earn foreign exchange reduces prices and contributes to the deteriorating terms of trade.

The large debts owed by many developing countries encourage these countries encourage these countries to overexploit their resource endowments to raise the necessary foreign exchange. Timber exports represent a case in pint. As Gus Speth, President of the World Resources Institute points out: "By an accident of history and geography, half of the Third World external debt and over two-thirds of global deforestation occur in the same fourteen developing countries .... Private banks (constituted by purely economic criteria) realize that complete repayment of the loans is probably not possible. Rather than write off the loans, an action which not only causes harm to the income statement but creates adverse incentives for repayment of future loans, they are willing to consider alternative strategies.

This book is a study of the increasing pressures on India’s fast dwindling wildlife resources and the resulting conflict between the priorities of development and conservation.

In India today a declining forest areas, continuing erosion of marginal lands and high grazing pressures threaten both the country’s land productivity as well as its biological diversity.

The continuing fall in the population of different species of wild animals prompted the Indian government to demarcate a number of protected areas after independence. This led to the evolving of a comprehensive national network of national parks and sanctuaries. The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, the initiation of Project Tiger in 1973, a revised and rational forest policy, and the National Wildlife Action Plan drawn up in 1982 have strengthened the legal and administrative aspects of the Indian conservation effort.

At present, India supports 15 per cent of the world’s human population and 14 per cent of the world’s livestock population on merely two per cent of the world’s land area. There is, consequently, bitter competition for the country’s wildlife resources. Even the protected areas are facing tremendous human and developmental pressures that are undermining the conservation efforts, according to the author. The biggest challenge before the country today, feels Himraj Dang, is thus management of human pressures on wildlife resources.

Dang’s book, sponsored by Development Alternatives, studies the different aspects of conflict that is worrying conservationists in this part of the world. Price Rs. 295.

This book represents the efforts of architects, engineers and scientists and describes the status of building construction and design in two high-altitude cold desert areas of north-western Himalaya: Ladakh and Spiti. The text also includes three live in design projects for ‘solarisation’ undertaken by the authors and supported by calculations of thermal performance.

Ladakh and Spiti are two remote areas of India which can be considered ethnic extensions of Tibet. Both areas have a long tradition of energy-conscious earth-building practice. In recent decades, the breakdown of traditional primogeniture, the decline in the power of monasteries, and the increased presence of defence forces and increased tourism, have all contributed to a population explosion which have depleted the already scarce natural resources, the authors point out.

This book profiles the existing topography, vegetation, climate, resource and energy situation, going on to describe the current sate of building technology and design, earth construction technology, energy conservation and passive solar architecture. It includes eight case studies of existing buildings with three design projects for energy-conscious buildings.

The areas, being cold and sunny, have extremely high potential for passive solar applications. In the future, given sufficient administrative will, it should be possible to inculcate development of building construction in the region without depending on fossil fuels for space and water heating.

The book, sponsored by Development Alternatives, can be ready by the wide public though much of its is written for administrators, architects, engineers and scientists working in cold desert areas. Price Rs. 150.

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