Environment

Ensure environmental sustainability

Mark Malloch Brown argues that environment protection and sustainable human development are essential to winning the war against poverty.

Our planet’s capacity to sustain us is eroding. This threat is global, but most severe in the developing world. The decline of major ecosystems has had an especially brutal impact on the poor, particularly poor women and children. Helping arrest and reverse environmental decline is one of the most important steps that could be taken to improve the lives of the 1.2 billion people who still live on less than $1 a day. If we fail to do so, the consequences will be devastating.
Consider the following:

Agricultural land – In developing countries, the pace of soil degradation has accelerated over the past 50 years and agricultural productivity is declining in many places, especially in Africa and Central America. Soil erosion has reduced global food production by 15 to 30 per cent.

Water – One-third of the world’s people now live in countries where water is in short supply, and about one in every five people lacks access to safe drinking water. The increasingly urgent struggle in many regions of the world for access to shared water resources has the potential to escalate into military conflict, making development efforts in those regions that much more difficult.

Energy – Two billion people lack access to basic energy services for cooking, heating and lighting, and remain largely dependent on fuel wood to meet their daily energy needs.

Climate change – Developing countries are likely to have the most difficult time responding to the consequences of climate change. Shifting agricultural zones and the rise of sea levels could have disastrous effects on many communities that have little capacity to cope with such changes (1).

These issues are addressed through our Boomers Travel Project initiatives. People of a community will choose an issue they feel is most pressing – such as food security, and are willing to take responsibility for it. A focused group of “boomer travelers” will join the community and help with information, technical assistance and resources for developing a solution.

Mark Malloch Brown is the Administrator of UNDP

1. World Resources Institute, 2000. A Guide to World Resources 2000-2001, People and Ecosystems: The Fraying Web of Life. UNDP, UNEP, World Bank and World Resources Institute.