The World Health Organization (WHO) has determined that poor people suffer greater loss of life and health from pollution and other environment-related causes, with lack of safe water, sanitation, and poor air quality being the main factors in determining life expectancy. The statistic that 20% of the total loss of life expectancy in developing countries is attributable to environmental causes, versus only 4% in rich countries is also indicative of the fact that the poor are hit the hardest by environmental degradation. (Ibid. p. 6)
Despite such overwhelming evidence about environmental degradation as a major cause of poverty, there is a widespread perception in developing countries that maintaining the environmental quality was a luxury that the poor countries can ill-afford while allocating their scarce resources in supposedly more important areas such as education, health and infrastructure. This is an arguable point. According to the "Sustaining the Environment to Fight Poverty..." report, pursuit of development that accepts environmental degradation as the price of progress often leads to situations in which the benefits of greater economic gains are either off set or even outweighed by economic losses from damages to ecosystems (p. 8). The study, quoting WHO figures, allocates very high cost-benefit ratios of up to 14 to investments in water treatment and sanitation, which indicates that investment in environmental conservation, is worthwhile even for the poorer countries as it is an effective way to reduce poverty.
So what are the possible solutions to the problem of environmental degradation, which often leads to poverty? Perhaps the most important way out is the need for the stake-holders, especially the policy makers, to be convinced about the gravity of the problem and to be aware that a degraded...
negative effects of degradation of the environment. It will first discuss human population as a cause for environmental degradation by also relating to afferent effects. It will then bring into equation urbanization and industrialization which are closely linked. Ultimately, the general effects of global warming, as both a cause and an effect in itself, will be considered. Key terms: environment, population density, urbanization, industrialization, global warming. Man has impacted the environment
The author therefore appears to suggest that the holistic approach poses a risk of costly time delays for approval that might prove too little too late for any true difference to be possible. Brown (2005) asserts that the political involvement of security in natural resource issues holds the risk of conflict and insecurity. Indeed, competition relates to power and control issues arise where resources are abundant, while competition for resources
For example, unequal protection may result from land-use decisions that determine the location of residential amenities and disamenities. Unincorporated, poor, and communities of color often suffer a "triple" vulnerability of noxious facility siting." (Bullard, 1998) Finally, 'Social Equity' is that which "assesses the role of sociological factors (race, ethnicity, class, culture, life styles, political power, etc.) on environmental decision making. Poor people and people of color often work in the
" (Carson, 2) That the correlation between these collected symptoms and the use of pesticides in our predominantly agricultural towns had yet to be recognized at this point in history is important to consider. Though today it still receives troublingly little acknowledgment, the exponential rise in the consumption of organic produce in recent years is indicative of a graduating cognizance of that which Carson's work brought to the forefront of
A company working on such a goal might claim that the intent is to use less pesticides, but really they just want to decrease the cost of production. Another example of why a food organism might be modified is to make the final product more resilient to the means of distribution, such as what is seen with tomatoes being genetically modified to have more resilient skins, so they can be
Poverty in Haiti -- Case Study CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS Poverty in Haiti Key Problem: Haiti remains among the poorest in the world despite strong interventions. a broad-spectrum approach under a proper leadership will address Haiti's multiple problems synergistically. Haiti overcame French colonial control and slavery in a series of wars in the early 19th century to become the world's first black-led Republic and the first independent Caribbean State (BBC, 2012). Its largely mountainous terrain and
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