World Bank: Natural resource losses a key factor in global poverty
Copyright 2001 Deutsche Presse-Agentur
October 26, 2001
Washington - Environmental destruction and population growth are setting back development efforts in the world's poorest countries, the World Bank said in a report issued Thursday.
Some poor countries are losing 4 to 8 per cent of gross domestic product to productivity and natural capital losses caused by environmental degradation, it said in its annual environmental report.
Vanishing forests, depleted soils, insufficient water and collapsed fisheries also threaten the quality of life and health of millions and leave them more exposed to disasters, the Washington- based institution said. The World Bank, which has been attacked by environmentalists for financing projects such as large dams and for the lending practices of its International Monetary Fund sister body, said environmental concerns are factored into all its projects.
The bank's environmental strategy included "a full and coherent mainstreaming of environmental concerns into poverty reduction strategies, and in bank lending and non-lending activities", said Kristalina Georgieva, head of the World Bank's environment department.
Economic growth should not be "at the expense of people's health and future opportunities because of pollution and degraded natural resources and ecosystems", she said.
Ian Johnson, World Bank vice president for environmentally and socially sustainable development, said: "Not only are we facing environmental depletion and poverty on an immense scale, but World Bank estimates show that the events of September 11 in New York and Washington will result in more suffering for the poor in the developing world.
"Now more than ever, it is critical to substantially increase the opportunities for millions of people that today feel left out of the benefits of economic and social progress, and to do it in an environmentally sound manner."
In nearly 30 nations, the "genuine" savings rate, which factors in a country's natural as well as human and produced capital, is negative, while per capita wealth is falling in 20 more, said the report, titled, "Environment Matters".
The bank said that its findings did not account for the expected effects of climate change, "which threaten to undermine long-term development and the ability of hundreds of millions of people in the developing world to escape poverty".
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that changes in the world's weather patterns will lead to declines in agricultural output in tropical and sub-tropical countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa.
In the lead-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in a year from now Johannesburg, the bank called for coordinated action "from a small-farmers' organization to a large private multinational corporation, to the Western governments of the world".
It also pointed at "the failure of the market to recognize valuable ecosystem services" and said it was working with several countries to develop systems of payments for environmental services.
Environmentalists have criticized traditional economic yardsticks, which may count environmental losses as beneficial if they create income, such as a cleanup operation after an oil spill.
The World Bank said that it is running projects with clear environmental objectives that amount to a total of 16 billion dollars.
Together with the United Nations, the bank said, it is supporting projects to conserve biodiversity, slow climate change and protect international waters.