Transcript Poverty-Environment Nexus in the Lower Mekong Sub

The Poverty-Environment
Nexus Study:
Concepts and Approach
Claude Saint-Pierre and Bjorn Larsen
So what is the poverty and
environment nexus?
Environmental
resources and services
Worsening
Persisting
Poverty
levels
Decreasing
Improving
Asking the right questions
about poverty and environment issues
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Are the poor affected by environmental degradation?
Do the poor impact environmental resources?
Do the poor contribute to natural resource decrease ?
degradation ? preservation ?
Do the poor have access to natural resources ?
Are the poor more affected by natural disasters?
Can natural resource preservation / rehabilitation
contribute to poverty reduction ?
…continued
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What are the major environmental health risks
facing the poor?
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To what extent are the poor benefiting from
environmental services and programs/projects
that reduce health risk?
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What is the role of behavior and education?
Approach in the PEN study
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Integration of national level analysis and field
studies. Examples:
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Combining household poverty data and field work in
affected communities with village and district UXO
data in Cambodia and Lao PDR
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Identifying factors associated with lack of WSS using
socio-economic household data combined with field
surveys in two small towns
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Using household health survey data to assess
vulnerability of the poor to environmental health risks
Why two categories of issues?
1 – Poverty and natural resource management
2 – Poverty and environmental health
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Categories of green issues / brown issues / blue issues
are more appropriate for technical analysis
Fragile lands
Green issues
Brown issues
Forests
Indoor/outdoor
air pollution
Industrial air
pollution
Biodiversity
Biodiversity
Diffuse
pollution
Blue issues
Waste
management
Why two categories of issues?
1 – Poverty and natural resource management
2 – Poverty and environmental health
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These two categories are people-centered
They allow analysis of impacts
Poverty &
environmental
health
Poverty & natural
resource
management
Forest
resources
Land resources
Biodiversity
Roads
Waste
management
Biodiversity
UXOs
Pesticide use
NTFPs
Industrial
pollution
Indoor/outdoor
air pollution
Lack of safe
water supply
Why are Environmental health issues
important for the poor?
The poor tend to have:
 Higher risk of disease
 Lack of water and sanitation
 More frequent exposure to harmful smoke from solid fuels
 Higher exposure to pollution from small and medium scale
industry
 Less access to medical services
 Less financial resources to pay for quality health services
 Less resources for ‘averting behavior’
 Higher income losses from illness because they work in
informal sector or are self-employed
Why are Natural resource
management issues important for the
poor?
The poor tend to:
 Have livelihoods based on natural resources
 Have fewer livelihood alternatives
 Have infrastructure development needs (e.g. roads) that
may impact natural resources
 Live in areas where they may be in competition for
natural resources with industry (forestry, mining,
hydropower)
 Live in areas with natural resources of high
environmental value
Geographical analysis,
an important tool of the PEN study
Elevation
Poverty
Results from overlay
Geographical analysis:
Main dimensions in the subregion
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Upland and lowland
 In all three countries
Regions within one country
 E.g., in Vietnam, contrast between Northern regions
and central regions
Urban and rural
 With specific national features
Ethnic minority people
 Often not visible in national data analysis …
 … but critical element of geographical dimensions
Identifying stakeholders to understand
poverty-environment linkages better
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Changing the way we look at linkages between poverty
and environment
 Natural resource management
 Environmental health
Poverty
Natural resources
Stakeholders
Identifying stakeholders to understand
poverty-environment linkages
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Many stakeholder categories have a role in natural
resource management and poverty and/or
environmental health and poverty
Local
households
Community
Households
Migrants
Private
enterprise
International
company
Local
government
State
enterprise
National
government
Donor
agency
The time dimension
is needed to prioritize issues
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Today’s important issues may not be tomorrow’s
But “poverty trap” areas will face issues related to
environment in the longer term
Issues of increasing importance
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Urban development
Industrial and urban pollution
Agrochemicals
Involvement of private sector, for example in the
forestry sector
International trade and environment
Issues of continuing importance
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Persistent poverty traps in upland areas
Access to safe water and sanitation
Indoor air pollution from household cooking with
fuel wood and other solid fuels
Flood and drought
UXO contamination
Need for more equitable access to
environmental resources and services,
Need to support community capacity and
participation
Issues of declining importance
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Traditional shifting cultivation
Markets and information are now becoming
more accessible to the poor