Population, Poverty
and Environment
The world population numbered 6.3 billion in
2000 and is currently growing by a net increase of some 77 million
people per year.
By 2050, the United Nations Population Division, in its 2002
Revision of the world's population prospects, estimates that
total world
population will be 8.9 billion. The impact of
this growth will be focused mainly in less developed countries,
where currently some 1.2 billion people, the majority of whom
are women and children, are living in extreme poverty. By mid-century,
the 80 per cent share of the world's population in less developed
countries in 2000, will have expanded to 88 per cent. The bulk
of the population growth will thus accrue in the regions of the
world least able to absorb large increments of people, threatening
sustainable development and producing further deterioration in
levels of living and quality of life. Without the realization
of the goals of the Programme of Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), especially
universal access
to gender sensitive and quality reproductive health services,
it will be difficult to achieve a more favourable balance between
population and available resources.
The goal is shared by millions: a better life,
with a higher standard of living, education, health care and economic
opportunity–not only for themselves today, but also for their
children in the future. Without higher standards of living, one
fifth of the world’s people–including children–will continue to
suffer malnutrition, disease and illiteracy. The challenge is
to increase standards of living without destroying the environment.
Reproductive health and rights are integrally
linked to sustainable development. Natural resources are conserved
when individuals have the information and services they need to
plan smaller, healthier families. And, ultimately, slowing and
stabilizing the rate of population growth gives countries time
to take steps that meet people’s needs yet protect the environment–such
as conserving fresh water, introducing more sustainable farming
methods and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
Poverty alleviation is crucial to long-term
economic and environmental sustainability. UNFPA collaborates
with key partners and through integrated frameworks for development
planning. North-South cooperation is vital to success in ending
absolute poverty, as are fair markets, debt reduction, aid for
development and foreign direct investment.  top
The majority of the rural poor have increasingly
become clustered on low-potential land. This outcome has resulted
from a combination of factors which vary in importance from one
country to another. These factors include land expropriation,
demographic pressures, intergenerational land fragmentation, privatization
of common lands, and consolidation and expansion of commercial
agriculture with reduced labour inputs. Demographic pressures
in particular continue to play an inexorable underlying role in
the geographical, economic and social marginalization of the poor
in most countries where there is a high incidence of poverty.
Because they have been pushed or squeezed out
of high-potential land, the rural poor often have no choice but
to over-exploit the marginal resources available to them through
low-input, low-productivity agricultural practices such as overgrazing,
soil-mining and deforestation, with consequent land degradation.
Not that land degradation has been primarily instigated by poor
farmers. Most deforestation has been caused by logging interests
and/or rich farmers with substantial, favourable concessions.
Soil erosion, water logging and salinization, which have resulted
in desertification in many parts of the world, have commonly been
caused by wealthy landowners with considerable financial resources.
Long-term poverty reduction and sustainable
economic growth can be undermined by the degradation of the natural
resource base, lack of access to, and increasing scarcity of water,
and air pollution that directly affect people’s health and livelihoods.
Opportunity declines when poor people who depend on natural resources
for their livelihoods can no longer support themselves because
natural resources have been damaged and they lack alternative
livelihood opportunities.
Real and lasting reduction in poverty can be
achieved by enhancing environmental quality and protecting human
health from the adverse effects of pollution; maintaining ecosystems
and improving natural resource management; securing people’s access
to resources; reducing people’s vulnerability to environmental
risks such as natural disasters; and empowering the poor by giving
them a voice in decision-making. top
At the turn of the century some 800 million
people were undernourished owing to poverty, political instability,
economic inefficiency and social inequity. The persistence of
undernutrition and food insecurity in many less developed countries
and the increasing scarcity and unsustainable utilization of agricultural
and other environmental resources have dominated the global assessment
of food and agriculture prospects. While world food production
is projected to meet consumption demands for the next two decades,
long-term forecasts indicate persistent and possibly worsening
food insecurity in many countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
FAO estimates that to meet the needs of a projected world population
of eight billion or more in 2020, food production will have to
double and it is uncertain whether that can be achieved with conventional
agricultural technologies.
Many countries facing water scarcity are low-income
societies that have rapidly growing populations, and are generally
unable to make costly investments in water-saving technologies.
Estimates indicate that over one billion people lack access to
safe drinking water, and two and a half billion lack adequate
sanitation. The provision of safe drinking water becomes a greater
challenge as economic development and population growth place
increasing demands on limited water resources. The Millennium
Declaration target is to halve the proportion of people unable
to reach or afford safe drinking water, between 1990 and 2015.
Women and children, especially those living
in rural areas, are disproportionately affected. Rural women can
spend hours everyday collecting and carting water, either from
communal taps or directly from streams and rivers. Long cartage
distances pose particular difficulties for elderly people and
those with disabilities. Poor communities are often unable to
afford the costs of maintaining pumps and boreholes, or lack the
skills to do so.
Despite many problematic issues, increases in
food production in some regions of the world over recent decades,
suggest that the challenges of achieving food and water security
throughout the world can be met. The rapid developments in the
better understanding of natural resource management, combined
with actual and anticipated discoveries and innovations in agricultural
science, including those in biotechnology and similar areas of
the knowledge revolution, offer powerful mechanisms with which
to meet the on-going challenges of food security. Appropriate,
integrated, social, population and sustainable development policies
and programmes to empower the poorest, especially women, will
support a sustainable future. top
In many less developed countries, increasing
attention is being given to the critical role of women in population
and environment programmes and in achieving sustainable development.
Women grow a substantial proportion of the world’s food, and there
is considerable evidence that their labour-intensive food production
practices tend to be environmentally sound, and are contributing
substantially to food production while at the same time protecting
the resource base.
Women make vital contributions to resource management
and conservation. As resource managers, women perform various roles
as: providers of food, fuel, fodder and water; caretakers of their
family’s health; and conservationists (by safeguarding forests,
soils, water and grazing areas). Women are key to development and
therefore we must invest in their participation for sustainable
development.
UNFPA is the lead agency for the implementation
of the Programme of Action of ICPD, as well as a key contributor
to the development goals of the Millennium Declaration. UNFPA,
as Task Manger for Agenda 21, Chapter 5 on Demographic Dynamics
and Sustainability, UNFPA supports key population, poverty and
environment activities at global, regional and national levels.
These include policy dialogue and planning in relation to population
and development, as well as reproductive health concerns and gender
mainstreaming. UNFPA provides support for institutional capacity
building for implementing, monitoring and evaluating policies
and programmes to improve data collection, analysis, research
and dissemination, and promotes population education and advocacy.
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Environment
and Health: Universal Access to Reproductive Health, Eradicating
Maternal Morality and HIV/AIDS |
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Advocacy
for Sustainable Develpment, Population, Poverty, Socio-Cultural
and Environment Links |
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Strengthening
Institutional Policy, Research Data, Planning and Governance |
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Capacity-Building
through Interdisciplinary Tools, Training, and Results-Accounting
forSustainable Development Strategic Assessments and Solutions |
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Special
Initiatives for Africa, SIDS, Arab States and Countries with
Economies in Transition |
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Gender
Equity and Empowerment: Key to Sustainability |
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Assistance
to Vulnerable Populations Displaced by Natural Disasters and
Other Environmental Pressures |
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Population
Policy Dialogue and Sustainable Development |
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Partnerships
– Working Together Linking Environment, Food Security, Poverty,
Population and Reproductive Health |
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Youth,
Population and Environmental Education for Sustainable Development
– Equal Access to Education for Girls and Knowledge Networks |
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Indonesia
Case Report |
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