Poverty reduction and environmental management are increasingly seen as closely related. However, public sector environmental management institutions often focus more on conservation than poverty reduction. Can these institutions be reformed to reduce poverty as well as sustain the environment?

Most natural resources in east Africa are under pressure. This is due not only to population increase, but also from growing demands for resources, a decline in public investments, poorly defined property rights and economic policies that provide incentives for overexploiting resources. Environmental institutions have struggled to promote wealth creation through the sustainable use of natural resources. They have rarely been able to create situations where poorer people, who depend on natural resources for their livelihoods, can sustainably lift themselves out of poverty.

Research from the IDL Group, UK, reviews the changing roles of environmental management institutions in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. In an era of democratic governance in east Africa, governments are taking environmental management more seriously. The environment is increasingly being seen as the foundation of economic growth and poverty reduction. The last ten years have seen constitutional reforms in all three nations. Environmental management provisions are now part of national constitutions. This means that the government is legally responsible for providing a clean and healthy environment for its citizens.

National poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs) provide frameworks for reforming environmental management institutions. The research shows:

• PRSPs in all three countries emphasise the need to include management of the environment and natural resources in poverty reduction objectives. But the PRSPs do not make clear what needs to be included or how this is supposed to happen in practice.
• Kenya and Uganda have both created National Environmental Management Authorities. However, in Uganda, the authority has come under significant political pressure. This  has undermined its power to make decisions. It is almost entirely funded by the World Bank, which further undermines its independence.
• Policy reforms in natural resource sectors (such as tourism, forestry, fisheries and agriculture) reduce the role of government and emphasise the role of the private sector. This means that corporate social responsibility will be important if the reforms are to reduce poverty.

Whilst environmental policy reforms are encouraging, there are other potential problems. Private sector-led liberalisation has been adopted as the key approach to economic growth: this approach does not always guarantee sustainable environmental exploitation. Further policy changes still need to happen if the challenges of equitable environmental governance are to be met. Policymakers must continue to take the integration of environment and poverty reduction seriously.

The research recommends:

• More research is needed to provide specific quantitative data that demonstrates how the environment and natural resources contribute to poverty reduction. This will provide support for future policy reforms.
• Civil society organisations that represent public interest need support, in terms of funding and recognition in policy debates. This will be vital in ensuring the effective regulation of the private sector.

Source(s):
‘The Evolving Roles of Environmental Management Institutions in East Africa: From Conservation to Poverty Reduction’, by Claire Ireland and Godber Tumushabe, in ‘Reducing Poverty and Sustaining the Environment’, Earthscan: London, edited by Stephen Bass, Hannah Reid, David Satterthwaite and Paul Steele, 2005

Funded by: UK Department for International Development

id21 Research Highlight: 31 March 2006

Further Information:
Claire Ireland
IDL Group
Brockley Combe
Backwell
Bristol, BS48 3DF
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1934 862 770
Contact the contributor: claire.ireland@theidlgroup.com

IDL Group, UK

Other related links:
'Using community conservation to achieve the MDGs'

'Monitoring the role of environmental management in the MDGs'

'Payments for environmental services: an alternative to traditional conservation approaches'

'Ecosystem conservation is the key to economic development'

See id21's links on conservation and biodiversity