Development of Environment

 

1.       INTRODUCTION

 The purpose of the text „Development and Environment“ is not only to provide necessary data, information and knowledge, but also to find relations and consequences in depth, ways to find solutions and to show possible courses of development assistance. Integral element of the text forms references on other sources for the studying particular parts of the text. Besides, the aim of the course is to convince participants of the acute need for dealing with this discourse within development studies disciplines. Content of the first lessons is definition of the basic terms (environment, development, security) and explanation the relationship among these terms. Various views on sustainable development strategies are explained in detail. Understanding the problems requires brief analysis of the main environmental problems on a global scale and their relations to development of poor (developing). The United Nations Program of Millennium Development Goals is included due to its topicality. Environmental development goals and related problems are mentioned in the text. Furthermore, the text contains problems concerning the little explored issue of environmental migration and benefits of green revolutions (in relation to GMOs). The end of the course is devoted to development assistance and cooperation in the environmental field.

 2. BASIC MODEL

 2.1. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEVELOPMENT, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT

 On one hand, material and social poverty are often identified as two of the main causes of living environment devastation. On the other hand, the bad quality of environment can be a cause of poverty as well. In order to comprehend the subject, it is necessary to start with brief analysis of selected environmental problems on a global scale and their relation to the development of economically and socially poor (developing) countries. We shall be concerned with: a brief description of the millennium development goals focused on environment; the problem of soil degradation (desertification) and desert expansion, with special attention paid to the Sahel region; the problem of deforestation, agriculture and export cash crop plantation in developing countries; the lack of drinking water in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia; the problem of biodiversity loss, with laying out the main causes of biological species extinction and defining cases when a species is to be considered extinct; climate change, air pollution and their impact on economy, water supply and agriculture; the phenomenon of environmental migration; the pluses and minuses of the so-called „first“ and eventual „second“ Green Revolution (specifically of transgenic crops).

BASIC TERMINOLOGY

 1) Environment Environment is a system which provides natural surroundings for evolution.

 Abiotic components of environment (atmosphere, water, minerals, energy etc.) and biotic components of environment (organisms – from the simplest to the most complex) are its main elements. To summarize, it is all which surrounds us. It is noteworthy that this is essentially an anthropocentric (non-biological) definition perceiving environment as one in which a man can live.

Ecological Approach: Environment is a set of all factors with which a living subject interacts, and of all surroundings which encompass it. Thus, it is everything that a subject influences, directly or indirectly. A subject can be an organism, a population, a human or whole human society. Usually, the notion of living environment is conceived in the sense of human environment.

 Biological Approach: 'environment' denotes the surroundings of an organism or a species, eventually the ecosystem in which an organism or a species lives. At the same time, it is a physical environment and other organisms with which the organism or the species enters into contact (interacts). The notion of biome is very similar to a living environment.

 2) Development

 The opinions on what development is to actually mean have passed great evolution in the last half of century and there is no consensus on how to define this notion at present. The causes of this differentiation can be found in the historical contexts of the approaches to development. Economic growth was regarded as central to the development endeavours up to the 1980's. Gradually, development came to be interpreted as multidimensional concept which should encompass material, social, environmental, political and cultural components (with all of them having a direct impact on the quality of human life). This way it was recognised that there is no single model of development appropriate.

2.2. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

 Sustainable development the most frequently used term within strategies and concepts of „sustainability“. There are however more terms that describe it such as “sustainable way of life”, “sustainable society” or “sustainable future”. 1) Sustainable development The concept of sustainability has evolved along with our worries about the possible impact of our lifestyle on the environment. The strategy strives to draw people´s attention to problems that development brings about as it heavily depends on intensification of industry and agriculture. The main reason why we should care about the issue is that for future generations it is becoming harder to meet the basic need as drinkable water, food or clear air. What is the point of sustainability?

 Chiras claims the sustainability means sustaining life within limited capacity of biosphere. The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), in 1987 Brundtland Report Our Common Future defined sustainabale development as „development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs“. Later the concept of sustainable development has been changed from a mere concentration on environmental problems towards comprehension of three different factors: social, economic and environmental. Ability to meet the needs of present as well as of future generation depends on our ability to balance all three elements, so that not a single one is neglected.

 Four principles of sustainable development:

1. Decision-making process should depend on the best available scientific information and risk analysis.

 2. In case of uncertainty and threat of serious risks, the precautionary principle should be involved.

ENVIRONMENTAL MIGRATION

Environmental degradation or environmentall change may cause resources to deplete (safe water, cultivated soil, etc.) following population movement away from the affected areas. People are forced to leave their habitats, lands and look for new livelihood elsewhere. The resulting mass resettlement can disrupt environmental, economic and social balance in target areas and elicit the conflict with host populations. The people who are forced to flee before environmental degradation are called environmental refugees. Environmental refugees are people who have been forced to leave their traditional habitat, temporarily or permanently, because of some lack of natural resources and/or environmental disruption that jeopardized their existence and seriously affected the quality of life. Their region is not able to ensure them safe livelihood. ’Environmental disruption´ is meant by any physical, chemical and/or biological changes in ecosystem (or the resources base) that render it temporarily or permanently unsuitable to support human life and can be caused by natural and/or human activity. This often relates to population pressures and poverty in the area (compare with Myers, 1994, 2001; Wijnberg, 2002; Leiderman, 2002: 5). In the majority of cases it is quite difficult to distinguish environmental refugees from people forced to leave their habitats due to economic or another causes. But it is undisputed that environmental change influences social and economic conditions. The worsening of these conditions can cause movement from disturbed areas. Migration flows are as old as a mankind. Human migration is related to natural processes and anthropogenic changes of environment. Environmental factors played similar roles in past as well as in present. Of course, there are some disparities between history and our time - greater human density in every continent, therefore less “free space” for living. In fact, ecological footprint is getting bigger due to increasing demands for space and natural resources. Therefore, a higher number of people have to face environmental results of natural processes or anthropogenic activities. Estimation of number of environmental refugees in the world was 15 - 25 million in 1990s and for 2050 no fewer than 150 - 200 million (Myers. 1993, 1994; compare with Brown, 2004). Construction of large river dams in the world during the second half of 20th century displaced 40 – 80 million people (WCD, 2000: XXX, 129). The category “environmental refugees” is not embodied in the international refugee legislation. Because of the complexity of the issue, there are no exact statistical data that would allow assessing the real extent of environmental migration. The Treaty of Geneva, from 1951, defines refugees “as persons forced to flee across an international border because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of particular social group”

 Main causes:

Natural Disasters (drought, flood, earthquake, volcanic eruptions). They are usually characterized by a rapid onset. Cumulative (Slow-Onset) Changes (deforestation, soil erosion, soil desalinization, desertification, climate change, deficiency of safe water). Cumulative changes are, in general, natural processes existing at a slower rate which are interacted and advanced by human activities. Involuntarily Cause Accidents and Industrial Accidents (industrial and nuclear accidents). "Development” Projects (construction of river dams, irrigation canals, extraction of natural resources, expansion of cities or construction of traffic infrastructure).

Armed Conflicts and Warfare (biological warfare, wars over natural resources, natural resources extending to conflicts). Environmental degradation and lack of natural resources is one of the causes of human migration and armed conflicts. Effects: frustration of migrants due to loss of habitat, household, field, etc. increasing number of people in slums, increasing or deepening poverty. Regions where the environmental migration can be found: Sahel; Central Africa countries; South Asia (particularly Bangladesh); Central and North China; Aral Sea area; Central America ( particularly Mexico); Haiti and Pacific Islands gradually (see Table 7) are among the most threatened areas of contemporary environmental migration. Table 7: Contemporary „Hot Spots“ Threatened Areas