Posts

, ,

Tuungane Project Invigorates Population

Tuungane Project
The Greater Mahale Ecosystem in Tanzania is home to rich biodiversity, but an impoverished human population. Pathfinder International, a global nonprofit organization focused on reproductive health, HIV prevention, and maternal health, has launched the Tuungane Project to address reproductive health and natural resource management.

Because Pathfinder sees a direct connection between the health of the environment and the health of the people, they partner with organizations that focus on threats to biodiversity, while they target what they call “improving health of the communities by increasing sustainable livelihoods and increasing access to contraceptives, adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health, maternal, neonatal, and child health, and primary healthcare services.”

The Tuungane Project’s projects include land and fisheries management, health system strengthening, and reproductive health services. As a result of their efforts, seven new medical personnel have been posted, 66 community health workers have been trained, and 1,106 new latrines have been built by community members. Prior to these improvements, populations of between 3,000 to 5,000 people sometimes had access to only a single health professional.

Key players in sanitation efforts are the beach management units, which have eliminated cases of cholera, a bacterial disease usually spread in water, for the past two years.

The lives and livelihoods of the population depend on the rich natural resources of the Greater Mahale Ecosystem. The Nature Conservancy, a charitable environmental organization, partners with Pathfinder to create a healthy future for this area. By teaching best practices regarding how to best extract resources from their environment, the organization helps villages meet community needs and attain food security. One of the Nature Conservancy’s major efforts aims to enhance fisheries management on Lake Tanganyika, which holds 17 percent of the world’s fresh water.

By uniting conservation efforts with community development, local governance is strengthened, family health is possible and the population can achieve a sustainable livelihood.

– Emily Ednoff

Sources: Pathfinder International, The Nature Conservancy
Photo: Flickr

Biodiversity and Sustainability

BiodiversityGlobal warming, pollution and the extinction of thousands of animals have severely imperiled biodiversity. The harm this causes affects the environment as well as people living in rural areas. In poorer countries, livestock and crops not only feed people, but they also provide income for the farmers that distribute these goods. When farmers face the impacts of climate change, they experience the loss of biodiversity and higher levels of food and water insecurity. As the world’s poorest countries struggle with these challenges, the World Bank and the United Nations are working to improve conditions.

The World Bank has invested millions to end deforestation as this has a strong influence on the emission of greenhouse gases. The World Bank’s Amazon Region Protected Areas program, or ARPA, keeps forests in Brazil safe from being destroyed. “The program has helped protect around 70 million hectares of rainforest…with a 37% decrease in deforestation between 2004 and 2009,” according to the World Bank.

The World Bank also works closely to protect wildlife and oceans. The loss of biodiversity has influenced the organization’s investment of millions into many countries. In Honduras, the World Bank has protected a species of hummingbirds by stopping the construction of certain roadways. In Namibia, the organization has invested $4.9 million “to help establish a strong platform for governance of the coastal land and seascape and for development of a National Policy on Coastal Management.”

The U.N.’s sustainable development goals find that biodiversity is crucial. “Protecting ecosystems and ensuring access to ecosystem services by poor and vulnerable groups are essential to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. The U.N. brings awareness to these issues by celebrating the International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22.

Another way the U.N. is taking action is by tackling proper energy use. Utilizing wind energy and solar power eliminates greenhouse gases and pollution. “Powering the Future We Want offers a grant in the amount of one million U.S. dollars to fund future capacity development activities in energy for sustainable development,” according to the U.N. Together, these programs will bring the world closer to creating a sustainable world.

– Kimberly Quitzon

Sources: The World Bank, Shanghai Daily UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Photo: Marty’s Market

, , , ,

How Protecting the Environment Alleviates Poverty

poverty_environment
A common misconception is that protecting the environment exacerbates poverty in poor nations because it prevents agricultural development and the ability to harvest natural resources. This is far from the truth. In fact, environmental protection initiatives actually help alleviate poverty.

A study done in Costa Rica reveals that ecotourism efforts contribute to decreased poverty levels in regions situated near protected parks and natural areas. Thanks to the economic opportunities provided by the ecotourism sector, these regions have seen nearly 66% reduction in poverty. Paul Ferraro, professor of economics and environmental policy at Georgia State University, finds three triggering factors that show a direct correlation between poverty reduction and environmental conservation.

Triggers of Poverty Reduction Linked to Environmental Protection

  1. Changes in tourism and recreational activities
  2. Infrastructural changes (e.g. roads, health clinics and schools)
  3. Changes in ecosystem services (e.g. crop pollination and nutrient cycles)

A similar study was done by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on protected areas of Thailand and Costa Rica established 15 years ago. The study concluded, “the net impact of ecosystem protection was to alleviate poverty.” Communities around protected areas in Costa Rica experienced a 10% decrease in poverty, while the communities in Thailand saw almost a 30% reduction. As in the previous study, PNAS finds that tourism revenue and job opportunities directly contributed to reduced levels in poverty.

Protecting biodiversity is critical for 75% of the world’s poor who live in rural areas and depend on sustenance farming and fishing for survival. Disappearing or declining species in an ecosystem directly impacts people’s ability to provide food for their families. Local villagers in the Sierra Leone region of West Africa, for example, experienced direct effects of biodiversity loss as a result of overfishing and pollution. As fishing makes up their main source of food, the coastal community struggled to sustain their protein-rich diet with the loss of diversity in fish stocks. The World Bank helped restore the marine ecosystem by improving fishing regulations and introducing sustainable fishing techniques in the area.

The World Bank invests over $1 billion in nature and wildlife protection, and an additional $300 million in environmental and natural resource law enforcement. Moreover, investments in biodiversity help create jobs and raise incomes around the world. The Bank has already helped boost income levels in communities within rural regions of South Africa, Kenya and Honduras. The long-term impacts of these investments contribute simultaneously to two of the eight U.N. Millennium Development Goals:

Eight U.N. Millennium Development Goals:

  1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  2. Achieve universal primary education
  3. Promote gender equality and empower women
  4. Reduce child mortality
  5. Improve maternal health
  6. Combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases
  7. Ensure environmental sustainability
  8. Develop a global partnership for development

The protection of natural ecosystems from environmental degradation, such as pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss, ensures the safety and stability of local impoverished communities that rely on those precious natural resources for survival. Environmental protection has proven to be a key factor in poverty reduction around the world, and it is critical that international organizations, like the World Bank, continue to support global initiatives in hopes of making the UN Millennium Development Goals a reality.

– Gloria Kostadinova

Sources: Nature World News, National Geographic, Triple Pundit, World Bank, United Nations
Photo: Maag-Uma