B. Mezgebu
13 February 2008
opinion
Addis Ababa — The answer is no, according to The Economist of January 20th 2008, because, there are many instances to show that individual countries and how those countries are governed matter most.
Let's just have a glance at how things are not in black and white: "After decades of expansion in China and other fast emerging economies, some of the negative side-effects and their impacts on human welfare, above all the death toll caused by foul air and water, are horribly clear." In other words bad environment can arise from good economics. It is not so as the conventional wisdom tells, that wealth or economic progress right away translates into healthier or cleaner environment.
On the other hand, poverty has little to be proud of. It leaves people unable to afford medicine, suffer malnutrition, only capable of depressed production and subjected to polluted water and air. So there is no salivation in poverty either.
The article in The Economist in fact goes on to show with the aid of graphs that the relationship between growth and the state of the environment is neither straight nor simple.
However, economic development and the financial means that it makes available can help liberate people out of the vicious circle of poverty and unlivable environment by such acts as cleaning of the water supply and improvements in sanitation.
To reiterate, economic growth does not automatically guarantee improvements in the environment. Some emerging economies such as China and India, until very recently anyway, have more polluted air as the number of industries burning carbon in those countries keep on increasing. In other words, who said economic growth and good environment are like the night following the day?
There are some positive surprises in this department. Poor, developing countries, those with good governance, are capable of cleaning their act and give quite a livable and pleasant environment to their citizens, though their coffers might be half-full.
The reverse may be true in some cases: A startling example of this is Belgium. This wealthy European nation was dubbed by the same magazine as the sick man of Europe.
The Belgium environmental record is said to be worse than several developing countries. A big putdown of its European peers.
In a recent ranking of Environmental Performance index, both Nicaragua and better yet, Costa Rica stood out from among many developing and even some developed countries. This goes to show that good governance, more than money, is the key to addressing this sort of thing.
The Economist elaborated further: " A mixture of factors related to good government ------ accurate data, transparent administration, lack of corruption, checks and balances---- all show a clear statistical relationship with environmental performances. Among countries with comparable income, tough regulations, and above all enforcement are the key factors in keeping things green." Many people in our country here are of the opinion that tough regulations and proper enforcement are primarily glaring gaps in this country's efforts in resource conservation. Others go even further by saying that there are not that many substantive laws in the sector to speak of in the first place.
A new factor affecting the relationship between growth and the state of our Earth worldwide is the issue of green house emissions, or the warming of our Planet. This new factor in the equation has been no doubt preoccupying countries regardless of which side of the affluence divide countries stand. This is perhaps as it should be, since time is of the essence. After all, whatever accords are signed or remedies implemented, results are not expected to come about until after several decades later.
In Ethiopia, environmental degradation should perhaps be looked at in the classical sense. Because more than global warming what is hurting us here in the immediate is deforestation plus soil erosion. Deforestation has been here as far back as memory could allow. It aggravates soil erosion by run off, which saps the fertility and productivity of our agricultural lands.
Soil erosion generates silts that fill water dams and shortens their life expectancy. The country has bad experience in this respect from dams such as the Koka. Have we learned from our past mistakes? The answer is a glaring no. The new Tekeze Dam that is on its way to be completed this year is also unprotected. This was official. Please, whoever please plant trees in its watersheds.
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