Chair: Mr. Sohail Malik, Country Representative, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Pakistan
Discussant: Mr. Prakash C. Tiwari, Reader, Environment and Natural Resource Management, Department of Geography, Kumaon University Nainital, Uttaranchal, India
Panel Organizers: Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director (Interim), SDPI, and Dr. Babar Shahbaz, Visiting Fellow, SDPI, Islamabad, Pakistan
Mr. Sohail Malik, Country Representative IUCN Pakistan chaired the second session on Development Interventions and the Poverty-Environment Nexus while Mr. Prakash C. Tiwari from the Kumaon University Nainital, Uttaranchal, India, gave comments on the paper.
Mr. Arun Shrivastava, Certified Management Consultant and Member Himalayan Policy Campaign Committee India, while presenting his paper titled ‘Are we Destroying the Himalayas? A Balance Sheet of Ecosystems, Energy Projects and Livelihoods’, analyzed the linkages between hydroelectric energy projects, Himalayan ecosystems and local livelihoods in the Indian state of Himmachel Pradesh. Mr. Shrivastava explained that the Himalayas sustain two of the world’s largest river basins (Ganges-Brahmaputra and Indus). While 58.01% of India’s area falls under Ganges-Brahmaputra basin, 33.51% falls under Indus; 52.28% of Pakistan falls under Indus basin. It implies that 1.927 million sq. km area of Pakistan and India is directly served by the Himalayas. However, various projects (particularly hydro-electric) are seriously eroding the Himalayan ecosystems that have supported thousands of livelihoods in the mountain areas and millions in the basins that are served in the plains. In Himachal Pradesh about 415 projects (over 300 small and 115 medium and large) are either planned, under execution or operational. Examples from several project areas and some villages where ecosystem destruction has threatened livelihoods were presented. Given the scale of hydro-electric projects in this ecologically sensitive state in particular, and the Himalayan region in general, he raised the questions of long term sustainability of these projects and survival of millions of South Asians in the mountains. Damming of rivers is destroying the eco-systems and pauperizing rural communities. Their land, water sources and traditional rights have been taken away. People’s concerns and objections regarding the large projects are seldom recorded and addressed before project start.
Mr. Pushpam Kumar, from the University of Liverpool UK, presented his paper titled “Linkages of Poverty and Ecosystems: Indicators for Effective Response Policies”. He attempted to organize the complexities of the relationship between poverty and the health of ecosystems and suggested some indicators to map the linkages of poverty and ecosystems. Mr. Kumar explained that the category of poverty and ecosystem indicators comprises a wide variety of elements ranging from economic (inspired by national accounting practices) to participatory indicators (based on focal groups exercises). Much can be learned from existing studies and methodologies on poverty and environment indicators, but more could be achieved by trying to overcome some shortcomings that are common to many indicators. He, however, argued that with few notable exceptions most indicators are not fully integrated. They either refer to environmental features or to poverty characteristics, but not to both.
Mr. Kumar presented some indicators for linking poverty and environment based on un-weighted scale scores and weighted scale scores. Some of the poverty-environment indicators included: diarrhea from unsafe drinking water, respiratory diseases from air pollution, low income from land degradation, under nitration from deforestation and vulnerability from natural disasters. By combining environmental variables and poverty variables through adjustment factors, national or local policy-makers and stakeholders can calculate themselves the indicators for their regions. For decision makers the ingredients of a successful policy to remove poverty and conserve environmental condition lie in the effective intervention at the appropriate point.
Mr. Amirullah Khan, Fellow, India Development Foundation, New Delhi, India, presented a paper on the ‘Impact of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) on Rural Livelihoods’. He attempted to explore the direct and the indirect effects of NREGP on employment generation and poverty reduction in a local area by constructing and using the Social Accounting Matrix (SAM). For this, a detailed survey in a specific village was used to highlight the impact of the NREGP. The SAM is an organized representation of all transactions between production activities, factors of production and institutions within the economy. Mr. Khan critically analyzed the impact of this program (NREGP) and other developmental activities on employment generation and poverty alleviation and their impact on expenditure on education and health. He also identified the broader environmental and livelihood impact of such interventions in larger geographical areas if such schemes are to be scaled up.
Dr. Abid Suleri, Executive Director (Interim), Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) Islamabad, presented a paper on ’Policy Led Poverty: Environment Nexus’. He started his presentation with evidences from South Asia, which is the world’s poorest region as it is home to 40% of the world’s poor and 500 million people are living below the poverty line. At the same time it is world’s most illiterate region as it is home to half of all illiterates in the world. About 260 million peoples of South Asia lack basic health facilities, 337 million lack safe drinking water and 830 million are without rudimentary sanitation. Dr. Suleri then presented Pakistan’s case study to further elaborate “policy-led-poverty environment nexus”, and described the alarming increase in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides after 1980. Agriculture, the main employment-providing sector, is being ignored by the policy makers. He further explained that about 50 million people, making up 52% of total rural population in 80 districts are food insecure. Scarcity of natural resources leads to conflicts and poverty; for example strong linkages exist between extremely food insecure areas (such as Waziristan and Dera Bugti) lead to violent conflicts. Dr. Suleri argued that any environmental conservation effort that does not take care of poverty reduction would not work. Natural calamities are unavoidable, however, right policies (human activities) may stop natural calamities turning to human tragedies.
Reported by Babar Shahbaz
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