Henrieta Martonakova
Reporting back from the Astana ‘Environment for Europe’ Ministerial Conference
Tajik women discuss links between poverty and environment
According to the 2010 Millennium Development Goals report for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, in 2009, 36 percent of the population in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, or about 160 million people, were considered poor or at risk of poverty, living on less than $5 per day.
In addition, UNDP’s regional human development report estimated that 35 percent of people in our region are excluded from society – from economic life, social services, and social networks and civic participation.
How people live in harmony (or not) with the environment and natural resources also plays a role in addressing social exclusion and reducing poverty.
For example:
• In Tajikistan agriculture accounts for 24 percent of GDP, 66 percent of employment, 26 percent of exports and 39 percent of tax revenue, making it a major contributor to the country’s economy. At the same time, 97 percent of agricultural land is subject to erosion. (World Bank, Priorities for Sustainable Growth: A Strategy for Agriculture Sector Development in Tajikistan, 2008)
• According to Millennium Development Goal reports for Albania, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, poor households suffer disproportionately from unclean water, lack of sanitation, indoor air pollution, and exposure to toxic chemicals.
• Natural disasters cost Kyrgyzstan about $35 million in damages each year, not to mention the number of deaths and injuries. (United Nations Assistance Development Framework for the Kyrgyz Republic, 2012-2016 (pdf)).
As stated in the very recent (2011) Poverty and Social Impact Assessment of Energy and Communal Services in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan (pdf), in 2009, poor households in Tajikistan devoted from 16 to 18 percent of their expenditures on energy. In the same year, half of Tajikistan’s population used wood and dung to heat their homes. This is known to have a negative effect on health, deforestation, and gender equality.
These were some of the issues discussed in Astana at a side event organized by the UNDP and UNEP Poverty and Environment Initiative, which helps countries to link issues of poverty and environment with national and local development planning and budgeting. Too often, the discourse on poverty reduction and conservation run in parallel, but we know from experience that the most interesting opportunities emerge when we use all the knowledge we have at our disposal. (See: 3 ways governments can contribute to sustainable development)
It has been stressed that the ‘green economy’ is crucial for driving growth for income and jobs, without creating environmental risks.
Dmitriy Prudtskih shared his experience supporting authorities in 14 districts of the Sughd region in Tajikistan to integrate planning for sustainable development. Thanks to the Poverty and Environment Initiative, local authorities addressed environmental sustainability in the planning process: 60 percent of district development programmes fully integrated poverty and environmental issues in development goals, priorities and measures. Almost 800 people participated in identifying regionally specific poverty – environmental issues. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade in Tajikistan is in the process of adopting a new methodology for district development planning that includes linking environmental issues and poverty, and plans to apply it in all districts in the country.
While in Astana, I also wanted to get some different perspectives. I asked the following question:
Why is it important to consider environmental sustainability when addressing poverty?
Young-woo Park
Regional Director and Representative for Asia and the Pacific
United Nations Environment Programme
Talaibek Makeyev
Executive Director
Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia
Toni Paju
UNDP in Kazakhstan
United Nations Volunteer
How would YOU answer this question?
Tags: Astana, Central Asia, environment, Henrieta Martonakova, Kazakhstan, Millennium Development Goals, poverty, poverty reduction, Tajikistan, UNDP, UNEP, United Nations Environment Programme