Environmental income is the key for human security and economic empowerment of the rural poor. This is one of the main results of the report “World Resources 2005: The Wealth of the Poor: Managing Ecosystems to Fight Poverty” recently published by the World Resources Institute (Washington, D.C). Harvests from forests, fisheries, and farm fields are a primary source of rural income, and a fall-back when other sources of employment falter. Hence, ecosystems are not only a survival mechanism but in particular also an asset to create wealth for the poor. Based on case studies, the report points out that the current debate about aid debt relief and trade reform is only one side of the coin. Additionally, to combat the roots of poverty an increased focus on local natural resources is needed. Poverty reduction programs often fail to recognize the link between environment and livelihoods. "The time has come to reverse the course of worsening diseases, depleted natural resources, political instability, inequality, and the social corrosion of angry generations that have no means to rise out of poverty," Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), commented the publication of the report.
The report further underlines the importance of governance factors for sustainable ecosystem management. Good governance ensures adequate representation, access to information, and public participation. Moreover, the provision of tenure rights is another key aspect for increasing human security and regional stability. The poor often lack legal rights to ecosystems and are excluded from decisions about ecosystem management. Without addressing these failures through changes in governance, there is little chance of using the economic potential of ecosystems to reduce rural poverty. This report shows again the need to stop dealing with environment and development as separate policy areas. The promises of an integrated approach are illustrated by a huge number of concrete examples (DT).
The report is available at http://population.wri.org/worldresources2005-pub-4073.html
For more information about the work of the World Resources Institute, see http://www.wri.org/
Published in:ECC-Newsletter, October 2005
