Safeguard the environment to alleviate poverty

trueBy Shallon Asiimire

The environment is very crucial in re-enforcing strategies for alleviating poverty and it is a corner stone for modeling ways of eradicating poverty especially in rural areas.

However, failure to protect and use the environment in a more sustainable manner would hamper deliberate poverty eradication efforts that are environmentally based.

Currently, as the population increases, there is a lot of pressure on the existing natural resources since they are a source of livelihoods and survival for the poor and the general population. Un-wise use of the environment will result into serious environmental problems that have a negative spillover effect on people’s livelihoods.

Uganda’s population is at an upward spiral and it has currently (2014) has grown by 10.7 million people since 2002 (UBOS). This explains the calamitous need to exploit the already depleted natural resources for survival.

Damage to the environment underscores the positive functions that it plays such as climate modification, clean water, provision of fertile soils for farming among others. Un sustainable ways of using natural resources for instance overfishing, deforestation, over farming have a direct negative impact on the state of the environment which may have a spillover effect on agricultural production, fishing among others. Since there is a big interconnectedness between the environment and economic activities, any mess on the environment would lead to reduced production and livelihoods hence resulting into poverty.

The poor and vulnerable people are often disproportionately dependents on what nature provides them with. These include fertile soils, clean water, good air and the stable climate for their livelihood. If the land is degraded then it is definitely the poor to suffer dire consequences ranging from poverty, floods and food insecurity.

Therefore, flouting environmental conservation and concentrating on reaping its benefits is a very detrimental practice with far reaching negative effects on the environment and people’s wellbeing. It’s prudent that we practice sustainable ways of using the environment in a more sustainable manner for intergenerational benefit. Uganda as a country is entirely dependent on agriculture which constitutes its food basket for the population and one of the sectors which greatly contributes to the Country’s GDP.

The National Development Plan sets out tremendous opportunities to reverse trends such as over fishing, deforestation and to set environmental concerns resolutely onto the agenda of economic planners and makers. This will not only help achieve in plummeting and eradicating poverty but also it will lead to good and efficient use of our natural resources and create lasting value to our society, in that matter protection of the environment and biodiversity is of vital importance.

It is clear that production and consumption activities can lead to a downward spiral of environmental degradation which manifests in loss of productive opportunities, economic costs and an increased incidence of poverty contrariwise, conserving the environment can lead to upward spiral of economic growth and improved welfare.

Instituting of comprehensive environmental management systems such as independent monitoring institutions meant to safe guard the environment from degradation, will enhance current position in the production and consumption at the same time sustaining economic growth in future.

Financial economic and fiscal incentives should be extended to people who are engaged in sustainable production and consumption natural resources in a way that does not destroy the environment.

The writer works with advocate for Natural Resources Governance and Development (ANARDE)