World Development Indicators 2006

Environment

D evelopment and economic growth have improved the quality of life for many people, but the gains have been uneven and economic growth has often had negative environmental consequences, with profound impact on poor people. Using the environment wisely is crucial for reducing poverty. Many poor people depend on the environment for their livelihoods. Because poor people control far fewer natural and produced resources, environmental degradation affects them disproportionately. The indicators in this section measure environmental resources and the goods and services produced from them—helping to establish the link between growth and environmental change and pointing the way toward sustainable development.

Environmental changes and their impact

Income derived from the environment is a major source of livelihood for many people, particularly for the rural population—a majority of the people who live on less than $1 a day. Despite rapid urbanization in most regions, almost half the world’s population still lives in rural areas. In South Asia more than 70 percent of people live in rural areas, and in Sub-Saharan Africa more than 60 percent do. An estimated 75 percent of poor people live in rural areas. The sustainability and proper management of natural resources are crucial for maintaining rural livelihoods and safety nets in difficult times. Without proper management of natural resources and environmentally sustainable development, it would be difficult to reverse environmental losses—one of the main Millennium Development Goals.

At the same time, the environment is a source of vulnerability. Increasing use of fossil energy—mainly by industrial economies—and the resulting climate change add to poor people’s vulnerability. The adverse impact of environmental change will be most striking in developing countries—and particularly among the poor—because of their high dependence on natural resources, their limited capacity to adapt to a changing climate, and their limited resources to remedy the impact of such changes or to implement mitigating policies.

Low-income families and regions are more vulnerable not only to human-induced environmental hazards but also to natural disasters and environmental risks such as the impact of global climate changes. Water scarcity is already a major problem for the world’s poor, and changes in rainfall and temperature associated with climate change will likely make this scarcity worse. Crop yields are expected to decline in most tropical and subtropical regions as rainfall and temperature patterns change with a changing climate (IPCC 2001b, p. 84). The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that land suitable for rainfed agriculture may shrink by 11 percent in developing countries by 2080 due to climate change (FAO 2005, p. 2). There is also some evidence that disease vectors such as malaria-bearing mosquitoes will spread more widely (IPCC 2001a, p. 455). Global warming may bring an increase in severe weather events like cyclones and torrential rains. The inadequate construction and exposed locations of poor people’s dwellings often make poor people the most likely victims of such disasters. Hence mitigating the consequences of environmental changes that affect their livelihoods must be an integral part of poverty reduction efforts.

The following discussion highlights selected issues related to the indicators in the tables in this section, issues with profound impact on the livelihoods of the populace, particularly poor people:

	Agriculture and land use.
	Water quality and availability.
	Shrinking forests.
	Mix of energy use.

Natural resources—a major source of livelihoods

In many developing countries agriculture is still a major source of employment and income. While globally 44 percent of the active workforce is engaged in agriculture, the importance of this sector as a source of employment varies by region and income. About 60 percent of the active workforce is employed in agriculture, fisheries, and livestock in the Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia and Pacific regions, but only 19 percent in Latin America, where the urban population share is as high as in high-income Europe. In high-income countries only 7 percent of the workforce is engaged in these activities.

These variations are even more profound across countries: 2 percent in the United Kingdom and United States, 59 percent in India, 67 percent in China, and 93 percent in Nepal.

Population growth in developing countries will put further pressure on agriculture as rising demand for food requires more land and more forests to be turned to agricultural use. Greater numbers of poor people will be forced to live and work on marginal and fragile lands. In 2002 almost 1.4 billion people were living on fragile lands—more than three-fourths in Africa and Asia (figure 3a). This has an important impact on food production and food security in these regions— particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where food production barely keeps up with population growth.

More than three-fourths of the 1.4 billion people living on fragile lands are in Asia

and Africa

Rural population living on fragile lands as a share of world total

Source: World Bank 2003.

Climate change makes the situation even worse, and the region appears to be the most vulnerable to the consequences of global warming. In the past 30 years Africa has experienced at least one major drought each decade. Changes in rainfall—there are already indications of significant changes in the last decades—could also have serious consequences for parts of Africa that depend on hydroelectricity.

Climate variability and associated floods and droughts increase the risk of crop failure, reducing food security and increasing the incidence of malnutrition and disease. In Ethiopia, for example, the 1984 drought affected 8.7 million people: 1 million people died and millions more suffered from malnutrition and famine (UNEP 2002, p. 218). Nearly 1.5 million livestock also died (FAO 2000). The 1991–92 drought in southern Africa reduced the cereal harvest by more than half and exposed more than 17 million people to the risk of starvation. More than 100,000 people died in the Sahelian drought of the 1970s and 1980s (UNEP 2002, p. 219). Crop failure and livestock losses increase the dependence on imports and foreign aid, reducing economic performance and the ability to cope with future environmental disasters.

Water is life, but water is getting dirtier and scarcer

Water scarcity is a major reason for the low levels of food production in most parts of Africa. Average per capita renewable water resources in Africa are below the world average, and the distribution of surface water and ground water is uneven (figure 3b). By 2020 an estimated two-thirds of the world’s people will be living in water-stressed countries (CSD 1997 as cited in UNEP 2002, p. 150). By then, water use is expected to have increased 40 percent, and 17 percent more water will be required for food production to meet the needs of growing populations (World Water Council 2000; UNEP 2002, p. 151).

Water withdrawal is skewed toward agriculture in every developing region

Annual water withdrawal per capita, 2002 (cubic meters)

Source: Tables 2.1 and 3.5.

Population growth, expansion of irrigated agriculture, and industrial development are all behind the growing demand for water. Globally, agriculture accounts for 70 percent of freshwater withdrawal. Most is used for irrigation, which provides about 40 percent of world food production (CSD 1997 as cited in UNEP 2002). In Africa agriculture uses more than 85 percent of total water withdrawal, and population growth and demand for food are continuing to put more pressure on water availability. Without efficient and comprehensive water resources management that considers all aspects of water use, the projected water scarcity will have an even more profound impact.

Water quality can often be as severe a problem as water availability, but it receives less attention, particularly in developing regions. For many of the world’s poorest populations, one of the greatest environmental threats to health remains the use of untreated water. While the share of people with access to an improved water source increased from 75 percent in 1990 to 82 percent in 2002, 1.1 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water (figure 3c) and 2.8 billion lack access to improved sanitation (table 3.10). Most of them are in Africa and Asia. Lack of access to safe water and sanitation results in hundreds of millions of cases of water-related diseases and more than 5 million deaths every year (UNEP 2002, p. 153).

Many more people lack access to an improved water source in rural than in urban areas

Population without access to improved water, 2002 (millions)

Source: WHO and World Bank database.

Forests are still shrinking—but the rate of net loss is slowing

In developing regions population growth, increasing demand for food, particularly meat and dairy products, and declining growth in agricultural productivity are maintaining the pressure for deforestation. Total forest area in 2005 was just under 4 billion hectares, covering 30 percent of total land area, for an average of 0.62 hectare per capita. But forest area is unevenly distributed. For example, 64 countries with a combined population of 2 billion have less than 0.1 hectare of forest per capita. The 10 most forest-rich countries account for two-thirds of total forest area, while 7 countries or territories have no forest at all, and an additional 57 have forest on less than 10 percent of their land area.

Deforestation, mainly for conversion to agricultural land, continues—about 13 million hectares a year. At the same time, forest planting, landscape restoration, and natural expansion of forests have reduced the net loss of forest area. The net change in forest area during 2000–05 is estimated at a loss of 7.3 million hectares a year (an area about the size of Panama or Sierra Leone), an improvement from 8.9 million hectares a year during 1990–2000. Africa and Latin America continued to have the largest net loss of forests, while forest area in Europe continued to expand, although at a slower rate. Asia, which had a net loss in the 1990s, reported a net gain of forests in 2000–05, due primarily to large-scale reforestation reported by China.

Forests contribute directly and indirectly to the livelihoods of many people. Recognizing that, countries in most regions understand the need for more efficient forest management (box 3d). This effort has been very slow in developing regions, however, particularly in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sustainable management of forests is spreading


	Regulatory pressure, social activism, and consumer preferences have encouraged producers and marketers to provide a range of sustainably produced forest products, including timber, coffee, and fruit. Some products are certified as having been produced in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. About 2 percent of forests worldwide are now certi-fied as managed for sustainable yield and for providing wildlife habitat, watershed protection, biodiversity, and other ecological services. While the market share for certified products is small, it is growing rapidly, although developed country regions are far ahead of developing regions in product certification (see figure).


	Developing regions lag far behind developed regions in certifying forest area

	Certified forest area, 2000 (millions of hectares)


	Source: FAO 2001.

Energy—the mix affects the impact

Economic growth and energy use move together. Energy, especially electricity, is important in raising people’s standard of living. High-income countries use more than five times as much energy per capita as developing countries do, and with only 15 percent of the world’s population they use more than half of its energy. Despite high and increasing energy costs, and the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, fossil fuels are still the main source of energy—and their use has been rising faster than that of any other source of energy (figure 3e).

Use of fossil fuels continues to rise faster than that of other sources of energy

Energy use, 1990, 2003, and 2030 (billions of metric tons of oil equivalent)

Source: International Energy Agency.

How energy is generated largely determines the resulting environmental damages. Generating energy from fossil fuels produces emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas contributing to global warming and climate change. Human-induced carbon dioxide emissions result primarily from fossil fuel combustion and cement manufacturing, with high-income countries contributing half (figure 3f). Burning coal releases twice as much carbon dioxide as burning an equivalent amount of natural gas. Sub-Saharan Africa uses coal as its main source of electricity generation (more than two-thirds). So do East Asia and the Pacific and South Asia. Even though the low-income countries contribute less than 8 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, they are affected by the consequences of climate change. Furthermore, there are local impacts from the type of energy use as well.

High-income countries are the leading source of carbon dioxide emissions

Carbon dioxide emissions per capita, 1990 and 2002 (metric tons)

Source: Table 3.8.

Most low-income countries depend on biomass energy for cooking and heating, a health hazard to billions of people. More than 3 million deaths a year are caused by air pollution, mostly due to particulate pollution. Many of these deaths are among children in developing countries, who die of acute respiratory infections due to indoor air pollution resulting from burning fuelwood, crop residues, or animal dung for cooking and heating. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest death rate from respiratory disease followed by North Africa and Asia (figure 3g).

Sub-Sarahan Africa has the highest death rate from respiratory disease

Deaths per 100,000 people, 2002

Source: World Health Organization.

In South Africa children living in homes with wood stoves are almost five times more likely than others to develop respiratory infections severe enough to require hospitalization. In Tanzania children under age 5 who die of acute respiratory infection are three times more likely to have been sleeping in a room with an open cookstove than are healthy children. In The Gambia children carried on their mothers’ backs as they cook over smoky stoves contract pneumonia at a rate 2.5 times higher than unexposed children (WRI 2005). Efforts to reduce indoor air pollution focus on improved cookstoves (box 3h).

More efficient use of traditional biomass is improving the lives of women


	For most poor households in rural Africa and Asia improved biomass cookstoves are the most feasible option for reducing death and disease from traditional biomass cooking. They also conserve biomass resources and reduce the time and energy needed for collecting fuel and cooking, thus freeing women’s time for other productive activities. The Upesi stove developed in Kenya, for example, with a clay liner in a mud and stone hearth, uses 40 percent less fuel than the traditional three-stone stove and emits 60 percent less smoke. For higher income rural households, expanding the distribution networks for canisters of liquefied petroleum gas can improve the welfare of women and children.

	Source: United Nations 2002.

The use of cleaner energy sources is another path toward sustainable energy use. Use of renewable energy is growing, but it is still a very small share of the total (figure 3i). About 4.5 percent of global energy production comes from modern renewable energy sources, up from 3.2 percent in 1971. Hydropower is the largest renewable energy source, but large-scale hydropower can have major adverse environmental and social impacts. Modern biomass and geothermal energy are the other major renewable sources and have substantial growth potential. Wind and solar energy, while growing rapidly, provide only about 0.02 percent each of the global energy supply.

Use of renewable sources of energy is growing, but is still small

Sources of energy, 2003 (%)

Source: International Energy Agency.

Text figures & Boxes


3a	More than three-fourths of the 1.4 billion people living on fragile lands are in Asia and Africa




3b	Water withdrawal is skewed toward agriculture in every developing region




3c	Many more people lack access to an improved water source in rural than in urban areas




3d	Sustainable management of forests is spreading




3e	Use of fossil fuels continues to rise faster than that of other sources of energy




3f	High-income countries are the leading source of carbon dioxide emissions



3g	Sub-Sarahan Africa has the highest death rate from respiratory disease



3h	More efficient use of traditional biomass is improving the lives of women



3i	Use of renewable sources of energy is growing, but is still small