nature: poor people's wealth
meena raman, friends of the
earth international, malaysia
 |
Poverty is the greatest shame and
scandal of our era. As we kick off the
21st century, more than one billion
people around the world live in extreme
poverty. Some 25 million people die
from hunger each year, and a billion
people lack access to clean drinking
water. Nearly half of all Africans live
on less than one dollar per day. . |
The figures are numbing; however, a
growing number of people believe that it is
possible to eradicate poverty within the
next few decades
As an environmental organization,
Friends of the Earth International
campaigns to protect forests, agricultural
lands, fisheries, wetlands, rivers and the
climate, all of which support the
livelihoods of people and communities. In
fact, some 70 percent of the world’s poor
live in rural areas and depend upon their
local environments for their daily
survival.
There is a direct and critical link
between environmental degradation and rural
poverty. Our groups on the ground and the
communities they work with can also bear
witness to the fact that neoliberal
economic globalization has increased
environmental devastation and poverty among
natural resource dependent people. In this
publication, we will illustrate the tragic
cycle between the over-exploitation of the
environment; loss of cultural, political
and economic self-determination; inequity;
hunger; and poverty.
We will also look on the bright side,
and offer living proof that communities
around the world are able to lead rich,
dignified and fulfilling lives when they
are in charge of their natural resources.
Rural people, especially women and
indigenous peoples, often have a
long-standing symbiotic relationship with
their local environment. To many of these
people, and particularly those who are
considered ‘poor’ in the economic sense of
the word, a fulfilling life is about much
more than simply money or possessions. It
is about their access to and control over
natural resources and their involvement in
decision-making processes about these
resources.
We do not claim to have all of the
solutions to the poverty crisis, but we can
offer some essential insights into the
relationship between the environment and
sustainable livelihoods. Our approach to
redressing poverty and inequity includes
providing strong support to those local
people who are promoting alternative models
of development. We are also campaigning for
measures to redistribute resources and
wealth from the rich to the poor, such as
addressing the historic ecological debt
which is owed by the North to the South. At
the same time, we are pressuring
international financial institutions, trade
bodies, corporations and governments to axe
their environmentally and socially
destructive policies that destroy natural
wealth and create human poverty. We believe
that the absolute eradication of poverty,
and not simply its partial alleviation, is
the most important challenge facing
humankind today.
