Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
a contemporary form of imperialist exploitation. The rhetoric and policy statements
of many governments may link human rights and human development with financial,
technological and economic assistance, but the reality is often quite different. In
1960, the 20 per cent of the world's population living in the richer countries were
30 times richer than the poorest 20 per cent. By 1997 they were 74 times richer.
In 2006, the combined income of the 500 richest people in the world exceeded that
of the poorest 416 million. About two-thirds of world trade is accounted for by just
500 companies. Many of these companies have a higher turnover than many nations,
making it difficult for governments in the developing world to resist their demands
and invitations. Putative global trade agreements like the abandoned Multilateral
Agreement on Investment even attempted to give transnational companies the power
to override national and international environmental and labour laws if they interfered
with corporate profitability. Action taken by NGOs, citizen groups and individuals
in opposition to these developments grew throughout the 1990s, attracting media
coverage that ranged from the overtly hostile to the broadly sympathetic.
'Human development indicators' were first introduced in 1990 in the first Human
Development Report (HDR) produced by the United Nations Development Pro-
gramme (UNDP). They assessed the state of human development according to a
variety of indicators, including life expectancy, adult literacy, enrolment at the
primary, secondary and tertiary education levels, and income. In 2010 the MPI or
Multidimensional Poverty Index was introduced and applied by UNDP to 109
countries. The MPI measures serious deficits in living standards, health, education
and environmental factors such as cooking fuel, clean water and basic sanitation
and importantly focuses specifically on the intensity of these and other deprivations
experienced by certain groups of people. In developing countries roughly 60 per cent
of people experience one of these deprivations and 40 per cent two or more (UNDP,
2011). Environmental deprivations are especially acute among the multidimensional
poor and although life expectancy has generally increased globally, in sub-Saharan
Africa it is actually lower today than it was in the 1970s. Of the 31 countries towards
the bottom of the list, 28 are in sub-Saharan Africa. There, a person's life expectancy
is 46 years compared with 78 years in countries with more advanced human develop-
ment, due largely to HIV/AIDS, which accounts for about 20 years of this discrepancy.
Although the number of child deaths has declined since 1990, 10.8 million child
deaths in 2004 still directly related to inequality and were often the consequence of
simply living in the wrong country, town or even street. Climate change will also
significantly affect the world's poor. As dry areas get drier and wet areas wetter,
the distribution of agricultural produce will worsen. Being linked to more frequent
and extreme weather events, water flows will become increasingly unpredictable.
The authors of the 2006 HDR suggest that:
Agriculture and rural development will bear the brunt of climate risk - the rural
sector accounts for about three-quarters of those living on less than $1 a day.
Extreme poverty and malnutrition will increase as water insecurity increases -
climate change could increase global malnutrition by 15-26 per cent, that is
from 75 million to 125 million people, by 2080.
More extreme weather patterns will increase
risk
and
vulnerability
. Susceptibility
to drought and flood will increase over time.
