Education and development the issues and the evidence - Education Research Paper
No. 06, 1993, 61 p.
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1.5 Environmental degradation
Concern for the impact of development on national and global environments has been
growing as evidence accumulates of changes in weather patterns and increases in
pollution levels, and the sustainability of patterns of the use of natural resources is
questioned. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio
de Janeiro has drawn particular attention to two issues - global warming and declining
big-diversity. There are many other issues which relate to environ-mental degradation.
These include access to clean water, rising levels of air pollution and its consequences
(e.g. acid rain, ozone depletion), excessive pesticide use and the consequences of the
persistence of residues which contaminate food chains, disposal of solid wastes (both
domestic and industrial) especially those that are hazardous, soil erosion, and
deafforestation.
Most of these developments cannot be separated from the effects of high rates of
population growth, which reduce the period over which adjustments can occur to
changed patterns of land use, increased emissions and higher levels of consumption of
products deleterious to the environment. The relationships between population growth
and environmental degradation are not simple and can come in many forms. A recent
analysis charts these and concludes "more people, short termist incentives, scarce land,
and inadequate technical progress will validate the (environmental) degradation claim."
(Lipton 1991:221). This analysis goes on to argue that high real interest rates are a
central part of the system of incentives which discourages more environmentally
sympathetic development thus linking environmental problems to the relationships
between developed and developing countries in which aid is a significant dimension.
Poverty, as well as economic growth, can be responsible for some kinds of increased
environmental degradation. Over intensive land use using inappropriate technologies
can hasten soil erosion, denude forest cover, pollute fresh water sources, and diminish
indoor air quality through the burning of big-mass. The initial stages of economic
growth in poor economies often bring with them increased use of fossil fuels in vehicles
and factories creating air pollution, urbanisation and changed consumption patterns
which increase the volume of solid waste, and dense concentrations of populations
consuming water that they cannot easily avoid polluting.
The most recent World Development Report argues that growth and greater levels of