Reducing Poverty and Sustaining the Environment

The Politics of Local Engagement

Stephen Bass, Hannah Reid, David Satterthwaite, Paul Steele, David Satterthwaite, Hannah Reid, Stephen Bass, David Satterthwaite, Hannah Reid, Stephen Bass

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Topic: Economics
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136558955
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Economics

'A valuable contribution to our collective knowledge about governance, poverty and the environment' Frances Seymour, World Resources Institute

'Detailed and realistic documentation of contemporary development and governance relationships and trends' Melissa Leach, Institute of Development Studies

There are growing signs that development work by governments, aid agencies and non-government organisations ignores the fact that environmental quality matters to the poor. There are also indications that some environmental work is pushing 'people-out' protection methodologies. Yet recently, an extensive range of project, programme and policy level activities has focused attention on the important links between poverty and the environment, and the benefit of entrenching these links in policy-making processes at all levels. The role that politics plays in all of this is of overriding importance. This volume is the first to address the role of politics in environmental issues that matter to the poor through a series of case studies. It describes experiences at regional, national and local levels in low and middle income countries including China, Tanzania, Nigeria, South Africa, Pakistan, Colombia, Peru, India, Saint Lucia and countries in East Africa.

Ultimately the book demonstrates how understanding the national and local political context is crucial for addressing poverty-environment issues such as environmental health, access to natural resources for livelihoods and security, and coping with environmental disasters. The editors advocate ways in which political processes can be used to make positive changes - from the perspectives of both poverty reduction and the environment.

1

Introduction

Stephen Bass, Hannah Reid, David Satterthwaite and Paul Steele

THE FOCUS OF THIS BOOK: THE DYNAMICS OF
POLITICAL CHANGE ON POOR PEOPLE'S ENVIRONMENT

If poverty and environmental problems persist, it is, in large part because poor people and environmental concerns remain marginalized by – and from – sources of power. Poor people are unable to access resources, services and political processes; in effect, they are excluded from the institutions and benefits of wider society. Public environmental goods are appropriated to serve the interests of more powerful private individuals and companies, who keep environmental interest groups on the political margins. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, what we perceive as ‘man's power over nature’ turns out, invariably, to be the power of some people over others, with nature as its instrument.

Yet, in recent years, we have observed cases where poverty is being reduced at the same time as the environment is being managed more sustainably. Where this occurs, it is frequently because imbalances of power have begun to be corrected. On the surface, this might be attributed to the stormy tactics of an environmental campaigning group, or to the sheer financial power of an external development agency. Below the surface, however, there are multiple currents that contribute to the sea change. Together, they can turn the tide from one where stakeholders complain that ‘there is no political will’, to one where stakeholders realize that political will can be changed, for the better, by their own actions.

This book seeks to understand the dynamics of political change for achieving pro-poor environmental outcomes on the ground. The main themes addressed include the following:

• Broadening the definition of poverty beyond conventional income-based or consumption-based criteria highlights the importance of poverty-environment linkages. It reveals many environment-related entry points for poverty reduction, especially for strengthening poor people's livelihoods through greater access to natural resources and environmental services and for reducing environmental health risks.
• ‘Good local governance’ is central to improving environmental management and reducing poverty, as well as to their successful integration. A key part of this good governance is effective and representative local (village or community) organizations that are often distinct from formal government structures.
• It is difficult for ‘external’ groups – whether they are national governments, donor agencies or even large non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – to really understand and support pro-poor political and governance changes.
• Actions to address environmental problems can be effective entry points for political and governance changes.

An understanding of these themes is best gained from particular case studies. Although there is a considerable body of research on the links between poverty and environment, perhaps too little attention has been given to politics – although this is beginning to change. Over the last decade, discussions of natural resource degradation have shifted from a concern over resource availability to a concern over who controls resources (Forsyth et al, 1999). There has been a comparable shift in discussions of how to reduce poverty – away from the focus on changing outcomes (hunger, disease, inadequate income, etc.) to changing the underlying causes of these outcomes in each locality (inadequate asset bases, including access to land and other resources; poor people's lack of political voice; anti-poor, undemocratic and unaccountable governance; inadequate protection of civil and political rights; etc.; see Chambers, 1995). Indeed, since most poverty and environmental degradation has political underpinnings, so, too, will most effective poverty reduction initiatives and good environmental management. This book presents ten case studies that analyse these issues in very different contexts.

THE CASE STUDIES: POLITICAL CHANGE IN AFRICA, ASIA AND LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Table 1.1 lists the case studies included in Chapters 2 to 11. Most of them centre on integrating ‘pro-poor’ aspects within environmental management (for example, the Working for Water programme in South Africa, the Bioplan in Colombia, coastal resource management in Saint Lucia, several projects in China, and reforms in the environmental management institutions of East Africa). Three focus on integrating better environmental management within interventions aimed at reducing poverty (the community toilets in Indian cities, the village organizations in northern Pakistan, and many of the municipally supported community initiatives in Ilo, Peru). Two studies reflect on the extent to which donor and government initiatives failed to support poverty reduction or better environmental management (Usangu in Tanzania and the Hadejia Nguru wetlands in northern Nigeria).

Table 1.1 The case studies

The case studies	Region or nation	Main focus	Main actors
Chapter 2: ‘Creating space for civil society in an impoverished environment in Pakistan’	Northern areas of Pakistan	Programme to support local partlcipatory institutions develop and sustain local natural resources	Village organizations; support from Aga Khan Rural Support Programme
Chapter 3: The Bioplan: Decreasing poverty in Manizales through shared environmental management	Manizales, Colombia	Preparatlon and Implementatlon of a city-wlde environmental plan	Municipal government, local university and community organizations
Chapter 4: ‘Envlronment-poverty linkages: Managing natural resources in China’	Various regions in China	Review of donor experience in establishing links between environmental improvements and poverty reduction	Village committees and assemblies, as well as donors
Chapter 5: The evolving roles of environmental management institutions in East Africa: From conservation to poverty reduction’	East Africa	Changes needed in environmental management institutions to make them more effective in combining poverty reduction and natural resource management	Institutions with responsibility for environmental management
Chapter 6: ‘Stories on the environment and conflict from northern Nigeria’	Hadejia Nguru wetlands in northern Nigeria	How environmental change was primarily driven by external groups and investments, which impoverished many local groups and caused local conflicts	Farmers, pastoralists and those who fish, and their interactions with local government and external institutions
Chapter 7: The sea is our garden: Coastal resource management and local governance in the Caribbean’	Coastal Saint Lucia	‘Pro-poor’ coastal resource management	Diverse resource users and local authorities
Chapter 8: ‘“Working for Water” in a democratic South Africa’	South Africa	Employment creation programme to clear invasive species for water management and provide benefits for low-income groups	Government agency and groups contracted to manage project
Chapter 9: ‘People, perspectives, and reality: Usangu myths and other stories’	Usangu region in Tanzania	How diagnoses of what was wrong and what needed to be done were driven by politics, includlng interests external to the region	National and local governments, as well as various international agencies
Chapter 10: ‘Community-designed, built Mumbai, Pune and and managed toilet blocks in Indian cities’	Mumbai, Pune and other cities in India	Improving provision for toilets and water in ‘slums’	Community-based organizations formed by the urban poor, as well as municipal authorities
Chapter 11: ‘Concertación (reaching agreement) and planning for sustainable development in Ilo, Peru’	Ilo, Peru	The methods and means by which elected urban authorities addressed environmental issues	Municipal government, neighbourhood organizations and local NGOs

The case studies were selected to offer diversity in terms of the nation and the kind of settlement where they were implemented (e.g. large city, smaller urban centre, rural area and small island), the economy (predominantly agricultural, industrial and service economies), the nature of the intervention and the main actors or drivers (from international agency, to national agency, local government, local NGO or community-based organization). International agencies had a role in most case studies, although in some this role was very minor both in terms of funding and in designing the initiatives described.

The selection began with suggestions from the UK government's Department for International Development (DFID) of DFID-supported projects that had managed to bring both environment and poverty reduction in from the political margins. Their authors are principally DFID staff and consultants involved in these interventions (including academics and staff from NGOs). Further studies were proposed by IIED, principally to widen the range of experiences to urban areas and to Latin America, and to broaden the types of author. The latter is important since perception of political change can be as ‘political’ as the change itself. The resulting set of case studies offers views from a range of stakeholders – government officials, donors, academics and NGOs – based in the countries themselves and from high-income countries.

Even if single ‘projects’ or ‘interventions’ appeared to be the most important element in tackling poverty and environmental issues, the authors were encouraged to look behind and beyond them. They were challenged to situate political change in the broader social, political and economic context where it takes place and to look outside the artificial boundaries that donor institutions tend to create. It is to this broader context we now turn.

THE CHANGING POLITICAL CONTEXT

Major political changes are underway in many of the case study countries. These changes include civil conflict and unrest – still ongoing in some countries (such as Peru, Colombia and Pakistan) and recently ended in others (Nigeria, South Africa and parts of East Africa). Conflict casts a long shadow over all aspects of the development process – and resource use and environmental policy are no exception. Many countries, at the national level, have experienced some moves towards greater democracy and accountability (e.g. South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria and Peru) but some have moved away from these (Pakistan). This has had major implications for who is able to access public benefits, such as environmental services. However, the extent to which these national trends have led to pro-poor changes in different regions and localities is very country specific. Local-level government remains weak in most countries, but in others it has been gaining more power during recent years (e.g. Saint Lucia, Colombia and India). In many countries, the private sector has come to take a more active role in development and environmental management (e.g. East Africa and Saint Lucia), while in other countries, the state remains dominant (especially China). Civil society, represented by many types of organizations, is also becoming more active in many countries – improving poor people's own possibilities to organize themselves and represent their interests (e.g. India, Peru, East Africa and Colombia). In other countries, long-standing civic institutions – often based around faith groups, such as mosques and churches – have important roles. Finally, development agencies are very strong in some countries (e.g. in much of sub-Saharan Africa), but less influential in others, where they have had minor roles in some of the case studies (especially those in Peru and Colombia).

It is the power relationships between these different stakeholders that we focus on – and how the environment interacts with these power relationships (see Diagram 1.1). The relative importance of the different relationships depends upon the stakeholders involved and where they are situated. Thus, in many of the case studies, poor people's involvement with – and perceptions of – formal government are quite limited. For them, the informal institutions that shape their immediate reality seem much more relevant.

MAPPING POWER RELATIONSHIPS: POLITICAL
INFLUENCES AT FOUR LEVELS

The ten case studies each consider the extent to which particular development activities and/or institutional changes have contributed to pro-poor environmental outcomes. All demonstrate a basic point: local and national politics (and, in some cases, regional and global politics), investments, and patterns of tenure and control are major influences on environmental change and on the scale and depth of poverty.¹ Diagram 1.1 illustrates the different levels where politics influences the form that donor-funded interventions take, as well as their outcomes.

Level 1 features low-income groups, made up of households and individuals, who face the realities of poverty and environmental deprivation with which this book is concerned. The household and community politics at this level also require consideration.

In level 2, local governments and other local implementers interact with local political, economic and social interests of varying degrees of power and influence, as well as low-income groups.

National government is depicted in level 3, which, particularly during the last 10 to 15 years, has introduced political changes, such as different forms of decentralization and democracy. These changes have powerfully influenced local contexts within most low- and middle-income countries.

Level 4 depicts international actors – in this instance, donor agencies. For all donor agencies, politics partially determines which countries are supported, which sectors are prioritized and what development assistance instruments are used. In all bilateral agencies, politics inevitably affects the extent to which development assistance is insulated from commercial and foreign policy priorities. Changes in government orientation usually bring about changes in this balance. Such factors might be considered less influential for multilateral agencies; but these agencies depend primarily upon rich world governments for their funding base and are supervized by boards dominated by representatives of rich world governments. Thus, political influence is inevitable, even if it is often well hidden. There are many institutional constraints faced by all international agencies, related to thei...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Reducing Poverty and Sustaining the Environment
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Tables, Diagrams and Boxes
• List of Photographs
• Acknowledgements
• About the Authors and Editors
• Acronyms and Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Creating Space for Civil Society in an Impoverished Environment in Pakistan
• 3 The Bioplan: Decreasing Poverty in Manizales, Colombia, through Shared Environmental Management
• 4 Environment-Poverty Linkages: Managing Natural Resources in China
• 5 The Evolving Roles of Environmental Management Institutions in East Africa: From Conservation to Poverty Reduction
• 6 Stories on the Environment and Conflict from Northern Nigeria
• 7 The Sea is our Garden: Coastal Resource Management and Local Governance in the Caribbean
• 8 “Working for Water’ in a Democratic South Africa
• 9 People, Perspectives and Reality: Usangu Myths and Other Stories, Tanzania
• 10 Community-designed, built and managed Toilet Blocks in Indian Cities
• 11 Concertación (Reaching Agreement) and Planning for Sustainable Development in Ilo, Peru
• 12 Conclusions
• Index