Monday, 14 April 2008

Workshop on poverty-environment relationship

Kuensel Online
14 April, 2008

14 April, 2008 - Although Bhutan is still clean and intact, a growing population and the increasing development activities are putting the pressure on the fragile Himalayan environment. The majority of Bhutanese live in rural areas and rely on natural resources to earn income in sectors such as agriculture, fishing, and forestry. Natural resources also provide food and shelter for the poor.

Therefore, environment conditions account for a significant portion of health risks to poor people, who are more vulnerable to natural disasters, effects of climate change, and environment shocks that damage livelihood and undermine food security. Improving environmental management reduces vulnerability.

Representatives from different countries in the region met in Thimphu for a three-day workshop, that began on April 9, to discuss the link between poverty and environment and integrating environment management in poverty reduction and growth strategies. The workshop was jointly organized by the United Nations development programme and the United Nations environment programme.

A consultant from UNDP and UNEP, Prabu Buddha Thoki, said that they chose Bhutan for this workshop, because of its rich environment and environment-related policies and strategies. He said that the participants from other nations could learn from Bhutan and apply the knowledge to their own policies and strategies.

Pulakeshr Mondal, a representative from the ministry of environment, Bangladesh, said that the main problem in his country was flooding, water pollution and solid waste management.

“The government has stopped two-stroke engine vehicles and introduced compact natural gases (CNG) to reduce pollution and has involved marginal people to work at reducing solid waste,” he said.

Bounsamack Sayyaseng, the deputy director general, ministry of planning and investment, Lao PDR, said that major poverty-environment problems faced by Lao PDR include deforestation and degradation of agricultural land and biodiversity.

He said that the poor had inadequate understanding about poverty-environment linkage issues. The government had set up the national environment committee under the Prime Minister’s office, which coordinates, guides and monitors the government’s responses to emerging poverty-environment issues. The government had been successful in fashioning solutions for local populations to cope with the environment impacts of mega projects, like the Nam Teun 2 Dam project.

The director general for planning ministry in Cambodia, Tuon Thavrak, said that deforestation was a major problem for sustainable development in Cambodia. “This causes destruction of primitive forests, wetland habitat, fisheries and wildlife, leading to changes in the ecological system,” he said. “Most rural poor living in these areas rely on those resources for their daily living.”

Based on country experiences, it was concluded that there is a need for an enhanced understanding of the linkage between environment and poverty. It was further concluded that a cross-ministerial approach was necessary to ensure effective environment-poverty mainstreaming, and that the mainstreaming should be a result of joint efforts by the ministries of planning, finance and environment.

The participants recognized that the joint UNDP-UNEP poverty-environment initiative could have a catalytic role and be instrumental in developing partnerships between donor agencies, governments and non-governmental organizations to institutionalize poverty-environment mainstreaming at both national and regional levels.

A major outcome of the workshop was the development of a country-wise outline of priorities of planning, financial and environmental agencies; immediate capacity gaps, and areas of possible UN support for poverty-environment mainstreaming.

By Tandin Wangchuk

No comments: