The environments of the poor in the context of climate change and the green economy

Background

Over the past decade, the Asia and Pacific region has shown a rapid decline in income-based poverty as a result of broad-based and largely pro-poor economic growth. In addition, social indicators of poverty in the region, as expressed in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have shown substantial improvement. Asia is currently recovering from a major economic slowdown albeit on a much lower scale than before the crisis. However the development path followed by most countries has resulted in a host of negative impacts on the environment. There has been a corresponding increase in the incidence of poverty that can be attributed to environmental causes. While the Asia-Pacific region will continue to make progress in poverty reduction both in terms of income and social dimensions, environmental poverty in Asia and Pacific is likely to increase. It is estimated that by 2020, more than two-thirds of the vulnerable and poor population in the region will suffer from environmental poverty—up from less than one-half today. Aggravated by climate change and migration, especially rural dryland and urban slum poverty are increasing.

The environment and the poverty agenda are coming together through a spatial approach. The "environmental poverty" perspective categorizes poor people in a manner that demonstrates how environmental conditions affect their well being. It draws attention to the needs of :

- those living on arid and desert land areas
- flood-prone and disaster-affected poor– those frequently affected by flooding and natural disasters
- upland poor–those living in remote upland or mountainous areas
- coastal poor–those living adjacent to coasts and dependent upon coastal and/or marine resources
- slum poor–those living in substandard settlements with high exposure to urban pollutants

Two additional environmental dimensions are relevant for poverty reduction:

(a) how climate change adaptation programs can be targeted more towards poverty reduction and inclusive growth outcomes, and (b) what will make the green economy technologies also pro-poor.

Objectives

The conference addresses the challenge of achieving poverty reduction in the face of growing climate variability and change, which directly affect livelihoods and health among people already living in extreme poverty and vulnerable to it. It will take stock of the conceptual understandings and empirical evidence developed in recent years on the environment and poverty nexus, and see how this has influenced the policy formulation and implementation in Asia and the Pacific. The event will take note of studies that rightly point out the ways and degrees to which the very poor are disproportionately affected by climate change, poor transportation patterns, energy poverty, etc.

ADB and others can be leading partners in charting poverty and climate response strategies and programs; the Conference will serve to further inform this agenda and explore room for partnerships involving, in addition to ADB, interested public,donors, private sector, and civil society actors.

The following key questions will be addressed in the conference:

Given the potential role of ecologically degraded environment for deepening poverty, and the increasing threat due to climate change hazards, what role does the spatial approach play to bring the environment-poverty nexus closer to the climate agenda?

- How do the poor adapt to climate change; what are the implications for environmental and poverty programs; and how can we bring the adaptation and mitigation agenda closer for the benefit of the poor?
- How can the green economy be made more relevant for poverty reduction?
- Climate money – how can the private sector promote the climate-poverty agenda?
- What are the implications of a closer poverty-environment-climate link for public investment and donor support to make the policy rhetoric 'inclusive and sustainable development' a real proposition?

Expected Outputs

The output of the Delhi conference will include conference papers and presentations, a website with copy-edited papers, and a summary publication under ADB's Sustainable Development Series.

Specifically, the conference will develop:

- country studies on spatial dimensions of environmental factors for poverty in Asia and the Pacific;
- thematic papers on climate change adaptation with poverty reduction;
- sector and product studies on pro-poor green growth; and
- recommendations for investment and planning