Chapter 18 Chapter Summary

Illustrated by case studies from around the world, this chapter introduced some of the debates surrounding the impact of formal development efforts on the environment and ecology, the relationship between environmental degradation and poverty, changing policies to reconcile the need to protect the productive capacity of the environment with people’s livelihood needs. Attempts to raise standards of living through large-scale economic development projects often have exacerbated human misery and environmental degradation, and concepts such as the Club of Rome’s “limits to growth” and the Brundtland Commission’s “sustainable development” have sought to highlight the relationship between poverty and environmental degradation. Debates concerning the role of property rights and the participation of local resource users in resource management in some cases have led to positive change, while post-development critiques contend that the notion of development itself is to blame for both poverty and environmental degradation and that the real problems lie with global capitalism. Finally, the chapter examined the concepts of ecological footprints and environmental justice and the disparity in consumption rates between the North and the South. As the relationship between human development and climate change becomes urgently clearer, the world community struggles with the contentious process of finding effective and fair mechanisms for mitigating climate change, in particular how to deal with the disproportionate impact of climate change on the poor of the developing world.