Countries may defeat poverty, but earth suffers: report

Oct 25, 2007, 15:43 GMT

New York - 'Remarkable' progress has been made in the Asian- Pacific region to reduce poverty, but it came at a price to the environment, the Global Environment Outlook said Thursday.

China and India, the world's two most populous countries, have lifted 250 million people out of the mass of those living on less than 1 dollar a day thanks to the countries' sustained economic growth over the years, said the fourth edition of the report by the UN Environment Programme.

The Asian-Pacific region is home to 60 per cent of the world's population of more than 6.6 billion.

The increase in consumption and associated waste in that region has driven up the levels of environmental problems, affecting urban air quality, fresh water and agricultural land use, the report said.

As part of its economic development, Asia has been the destination of the illegal traffic of discarded electronic equipment and hazardous waste for recycling.

The report said 90 per cent of the estimated 20 to 50 tons of electronic waste produced around the world ended up in Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar and Pakistan for recycling as it has become easier to buy new equipment than repair broken ones.

'E-waste has become an important health and environmental issue,' the report said. Workers recycling electronic goods are exposed to lead, mercury and cadmium, which are toxic to humans and damaging to the environment.

The report decried the lack of effective waste management in many countries in the Asian-Pacific region as they pursue economic development at top speed at the expense of the environment.

In Africa, the report said social and economic performance has recently progressed and the continent now has the chance to meet some of the United Nations targets in the Millennium Development Goals, one of which is to halve the number of poor by 2015.

But as in other regions, African land is under pressure from demands for resources from the growing population. The land is also subject to natural disasters like drought and flooding, and the technological use of chemicals and fertilizers.

'Land degradation not only threatens livelihoods but also puts at risk forests, fresh water, coastal and marine resources, and help deserts spread,' the report said.

Land degradation diminishes agricultural products in Africa, where per capita food production is now 12 per cent less than it was in 1981, while the need for food has increased across the continent. The degradation is worsened by the maintenance of agricultural subsidies in developed countries, which put African agricultural products at a disadvantage, the report said.

'For some of the world's problems, the damage may already be irreversible,' it said.

'Tackling the underlying causes of environmental pressures often affects the vested interests of powerful groups able to influence policy decisions,' it said.

It called on policy makers to make environmentally related decisions for development, 'not development to the detriment of the environment.'

Latin America and the Caribbean should set priorities in solving problems in their teeming cities and the disappearing wildlife if the region is to achieve a sustainable future based on a less unequal society, the report said.

It said the region has the world's 'worst income inequality,' with 39 per cent of urban families living below the poverty line, defined as a person living on less than 1 dollar a day.

The region has very high biological and cultural diversity, with more than 400 indigenous groups, and the Amazonia alone contains about half the world's biodiversity.

But the Global Environment Outlook said deforestation, land degradation and coastal damage has been widespread. It said 15.7 per cent of the whole region is affected by land degradation caused by water and in some places by wind erosion.