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Dec 11th, 2005 - 18:09:05 |
Cam
New website on Poverty Eradication
PovertyFrontiers (http://www.povertyfrontiers.org/) is a USAID website devoted to poverty reduction, asset-based approaches to development, and poverty-related issues including HIV/AIDS, livelihoods, conflict, fragile states, trade, and natural resources management. Established by USAID's Poverty Analysis and Social Safety Net (PASSN) Team, PovertyFrontiers is a forum for organizations and individuals involved in poverty reduction to exchange best practices and lessons learned.
Nov 9th, 2005 - 03:08:10 |
Cam
hi folks
i just scan read this article ... some interesting stuff. perhaps most useful are the two tables in the appendices (tables 1 and 2) that provide a quick overview of different issues and how they relate to pro-poor growth.
cameron
+++++++
Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction: Measurement and Policy Issues
The aim of this OECD Development Centre Working Paper by Stephan Klasen is to broaden the debate on "pro-poor growth". An exclusive focus on the income dimension of poverty has neglected the non-income dimensions. After an examination of prominent views on the linkages between economic growth, inequality,and poverty reduction, this paper discusses the definition and measurement of pro-poor growth. The analysis shows that extending the use of the pro-poor growth toolbox to non-income dimensions of poverty greatly improves our understanding of the trends in non-income indicators. Such understanding is pivotal for a careful assessment of the linkages between income and non-income poverty along the entire income distribution.
Available online at: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/14/35393795.pdf
+++++++
May 22nd, 2005 - 18:43:33 |
Cam
Subscribe to UNDP International Poverty Centre contact list
The International Poverty Centre (IPC) Contact Update Service is currently involved in an effort to update and expand its contact list in order to streamline the IPC communication network. It is
important for us to have your contact in our data list.
As part of this task, we are sending you this message requesting for your registration.
If you are interested in receiving our publications (In Focus, One Pager) by email, please fill up the form indicated in the link below.
http://www.undp-povertycentre.org:8080/ipc/newsletters.jsp
For more information on the Centre, please visit our home page, where you can find and download past publications.
www.undp.org/povertycentre
Thank you for your help and co-operation.
Best regards,
UNDP International Poverty Centre
Contact Update Service
Brasília - Brazil
contact.service@undp-povertycentre.org
May 9th, 2004 - 19:23:07 |
Cam
Global poverty down by half since 1981 but progress uneven as growth eludes many countries
The proportion of people living in extreme poverty (less than $1 a day) in developing countries dropped by almost half between 1981 and 2001, from 40 to 21 percent of global population, according to figures in the World Bank’s World Development Indicators 2004, released April 23.
But while rapid economic growth in East and South Asia has pulled over 500 million people out of poverty in those two regions alone, the proportion of poor has grown, or fallen only slightly, in many countries in Africa, Latin
America and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The WDI shows a drop in the absolute number of people living on less than $1 a day in all developing countries from 1.5 billion in 1981, to 1.1 billion in 2001, with much of the progress occurring in the 1980s. Between 1990 and 2001, the global decline in the number of extremely poor people slowed somewhat, falling by about 120 million —from 1.2 billion to 1.1 billion people —while the proportion of poor people dropped from 28 percent to 21 percent of the total population.
To order a copy of the WDI in hard copy, CD-ROM or online version, visit the WDI website at http://www.worldbank.org/data/wdi2004/
May 23rd, 2003 - 19:31:23 |
Cam
Poverty, Environmental Damage Undercut World Stability
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, May (IPS) - The persistent gap between rich and poor
nations, continued environmental decline and higher military
spending are all undermining global stability, according to the
latest annual edition of WorldWatch Institute's 'Vital Signs'
report.
Global poverty is directly linked to environmental degradation,
as well as the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and possibly SARS,
according to the report, produced this year in co-operation with the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
''The world's failure to reduce poverty levels is now contributing
to global instability in the form of terrorism, war, and contagious
disease,'' said the report's co-author, Michael Renner on Thursday.
''An unstable world not only perpetuates poverty, but will ultimately
threaten the prosperity that the rich minority has come to enjoy,''
he told a news conference.
Almost one-half of the world's more than six billion people survive
on less than two U.S. dollars a day, while the disparity in per
capita income between the 20 richest and 20 poorest countries more
than doubled in the past 40 years, even as the world economy has
become increasingly integrated, the report said.
''It's terribly important to not lose sight of the fact that there is
a very large share of the human population that has been left behind,''
said WorldWatch Director Christopher Flavin. ''That is the bottom line''.
The world is now divided between a minority that enjoy ''plentiful food,
seemingly unlimited mobility, access to cutting-edge technology and
other amenities of life'' and a large majority that have ''scant
opportunity to look past the worries of daily survival'', adds
the report.
Two different types of environmental destruction occur under these
conditions: ''the wealthy impose the heaviest toll on the planet by
dint of their materials-intensive, pollution-laden lifestyles,
whereas the poor generally live with some of the worst local
environmental conditions, eking out a meagre living only by taxing
their croplands, forests and waters resources to the limits''.
The consumption choices of the rich inevitably hit the poor hardest,
making their life even more difficult.
While the United States, for example, produces roughly one quarter
of the world's carbon emissions from the burning of oil, gas and
coal that contribute to global warming, it is the poor nations who
suffer the brunt of the weather-related and other disasters that
are believed to result from warming.
Last year, for example, rains in Kenya forced more than 150,000
people to leave their homes, while almost one million Chinese were
affected by the most severe drought in more than a century.
Over the past two decades, floods and other weather-related
disasters forced some 10 million people to migrate from Bangladesh
to India, while people living on at least seven small-island
nations may soon have to give up their homes due to rising sea
levels caused by warming.
''It is almost impossible to ensure lasting peace and stability
when massive inequalities exist and the natural systems that
support us remain under threat,'' said UNEP Executive Director
Klaus Toepfer in a statement. ''Little will ever be achieved in
terms of conservation of the environment and natural resources if
billions of people have no hope, no chance to care.''
''People are losing hope that there is a better future out there,''
added Renner, who noted that ''young people who are unemployed or
don't have educational opportunities'' make up a potent recruiting
ground for terrorism.
Unfortunately, he added, the response from the United States and
other governments engaged in the ''war on terrorism'' - is to use
military force without addressing the economic, social, and
environmental roots of these problems. ''The lessons being given
out by these governments is that, 'Violence pays','' he added.
Indeed, rising military expenditures may be contributing to these
problems if for no other reason than money spent on weapons and
soldiers is money that cannot be used to address poverty,
inequality and environmental decline.
Military spending, which was in steady decline during the 1990s,
is now rising once again, led in particular by the United States,
which now accounts for nearly 40 percent of total global military
spending, the report said.
And while the world's 51 poorest countries account for only about
seven percent of total spending on arms, that amount still
represents double their share of the world's gross economic product.
In some countries, such as Eritrea, Burundi and Pakistan, military
spending equals or exceeds the combined government budgets for
education and health.
There is also a link between armed conflict, poverty and wealth
gaps between the industrialised and developing countries, the report
noted, as most of the world's recent wars in poor countries have
involved a struggle for control of natural resources that are
ultimately sold to wealthy countries.
Such conflicts have displaced million of people, especially in
Africa, who are forced to fend for themselves in already-overcrowded
towns and cities or in wilderness areas where they try to carve out
a living at the expense of the environment.
Another threat to both the poor and the environment is the
international trade system, which, according to WorldWatch, is
''rigged against the interests of the poor''. Farm subsidies of more
than 300 billion dollars a year permit food crops exported by farmers
in rich countries to be sold at prices 20-50 percent below the cost
of production.
Unable to compete, farmers in many poor countries have turned to drug
crops - like opium or coca - in remote parts of the countryside,
further encroaching on wilderness areas.
''The human tragedies behind these statistics are compelling reminders
that social and environmental progress are not luxuries that can be set
aside when the world is experiencing economic and political problems,''
said Flavin, who expressed ''deep concern'' that a faltering global
economy and new attention on the Middle East may divert resources
needed to reduce poverty.
''Suffering that is allowed to fester today will lead to adverse and
unpredictable consequences for many tomorrows to come,'' he said.
*****
+World Watch Institute (http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/vs/2003/)
+U.N. Environment Programme (http://www.unep.org/themes/consumption/)
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