THE DOUBLE DIVIDEND: PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT WHILE SPURRING DEVELOPMENT

By Katherine Sierra and - - Reprint | | Print |

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WASHINGTON, Nov 30 -0001 (IPS) - On August 29-30, environment ministers and high-ranking officials from around the world will meet in Cape Town, South Africa, for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly, writes Katherine Sierra, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development. In this article, Sierra writes that GEF projects have shown how sound management of natural resources is good for the economy, good for local development, and good for business. The time has come to move away from the myth that economic growth inevitably leads to environmental degradation or, conversely, that sustaining the environment harms the potential for wealth creation. This false dichotomy has contributed to marginalising the environment within the broader development agenda. The survival of human societies depends upon the preservation of healthy ecosystems and the sustainable use of these resources. Without this, efforts to reduce poverty, hunger, and child mortality cannot have lasting results.

On August 29-30, environment ministers and high- ranking officials from around the world will meet in Cape Town, South Africa, for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly to explore how this unique financial global mechanism can become a stronger platform for global cooperation between rich and developing countries under the leadership of its new CEO, Monique Barbut. The GEF, created after the Rio Summit 14 years ago, is an independent financial organisation that provides grants to developing countries for projects that benefit the global environment and promote sustainable livelihoods in local communities.

The Assembly takes place in the Cape Floristic Region (CFR), which is home to several fascinating GEF-funded projects where biodiversity is being successfully integrated into social and economic development.

Though development and conservation are often considered mutually exclusive, South Africa, among other countries, has demonstrated in areas like the CFR how biodiversity concerns can be integrated into development efforts. This and similar experiences demonstrate that, at the end of the day, sound management of natural resources is good for the economy, good for local development, and good for business.

Indeed, the time has come to move away from the myth that economic growth inevitably leads to environmental degradation or, conversely, that sustaining the environment harms the potential for wealth creation. This false dichotomy has contributed to marginalising the environment within the broader development agenda when in reality natural resources are key to growth and fighting poverty in developing countries.

A number of World Bank-executed projects are demonstrating that sustainable management of natural resources can contribute to a better life for poor people. For example, in Senegal, a World Bank-GEF energy-management project introduced sustainable forest management and successfully promoted the manufacture and sale of a quarter million improved wood-burning stoves, which contributed to improving the health conditions of millions of poor women and children, thereby reducing poverty while stemming the rate of deforestation and lowering carbon emissions.

In the transport sector, projects in Lima, Mexico City, Manila, and Santiago introduced low-carbon technologies and other low-polluting forms of transport such as rapid bus transit systems and non-motorised transport, which provide lower cost and more reliable means of transport for the poor while contributing to improved local air quality.

Protecting biodiversity and increasing livelihoods can be achieved when it is recognised that local people affect the quality and productivity of their surrounding natural resources, which they depend on for their livelihoods, food, and shelter. The Eco-development project in India shows that achieving a double dividend — reducing poverty while protecting nature — is possible. With this project, tribal groups that had previously sold their agricultural produce at giveaway prices to pay the exorbitant interest rates charged by moneylenders, have been empowered to improve their financial and economic standing. As a result, they have become protectors rather than poachers of forest resources. In Palamau, a district of Jharkhand state, in Eastern India, 90 percent of the poor and the landless found employment as a result of this new initiative.

Poor countries are faced with many dilemmas, and our role as responsible global partners is to support them in devising ways to meet such challenges in a sustainable way. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), issued in 2005 by 1300 scientists from around the world, has shown the myriad of ways in which the world’s ecosystems provide services and products essential to human well-being.

A major challenge is recognising –and quantifying– these benefits. One solution is to bring natural resources closer to economics by calculating the actual value of natural resources, including resource depletion and population growth. Most conventional economic theory assigns no value to natural phenomena like the coastline protection provided by coral reefs, or forests’ role in absorbing heat-trapping carbon dioxide. However, recent World Bank research shows that in poor countries, excluding oil states, natural resources make up 25 percent of the total wealth, well above the 16 percent comprised by goods and services.

From forests, fisheries, and coral reefs, to agricultural land and water supply, the survival of human societies depends upon the preservation of healthy ecosystems and the sustainable use of these resources. Without this, efforts to reduce poverty, hunger, and child mortality cannot have lasting results. The World Bank Group is committed to working closely with the GEF and country partners in making a vital difference in protecting our planet for future generations. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)