News Analysis: Poverty Eradication, a Long Way off

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, August 27, 2002

News Analysis: Poverty Eradication, a Long Way off

Poverty eradication, key for sustainable development in developing countries, has a long way to go though it gains some progresses.

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Poverty eradication, key for sustainable development in developing countries, has a long way to go though it gains some progresses.

The world leaders, who promise to reduce poverty or help the poor out of the plight, have failed to provide a common definition of "poverty", making it difficult to judge progress or to compare the performance of different countries.

At present, the consensus around the world is that poverty means a condition characterized by absence or deprivation of essential needs at a basic level such as nutrition, housing, health services, safe drinking water and sanitation facilities, and education.

The world leaders are to be commended for having transformed the 1995 commitment to eradicate poverty into measurable and time-bound goals.

The total number of people living in poverty declined slightly in the 1990s from about 1.3 billion to 1.2 billion. In the 1990s, the poverty rate in developing countries, based on an income threshold of 1 US dollar per day, declined from 29 percent of the population to 23 percent.

The UN expressed optimism that if the rate of decline could be maintained, the poverty rate in 2015 would be just about half of the 1990 rate in accordance with the United Nations Millennium Declaration goal.

However as a disproportionate majority of the poor are women and children, the struggle ahead seems overwhelming. It has rightly fully been compared to the 19th century campaign to abolish slavery.

Moreover although the Asian poverty rate has fallen from about 28 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 1998, the rate in sub-Saharan Africa has remained unchanged at about 48 percent with the number of people living in poverty increasing from 220 million to 300 million over the last decade.

Over the past few years, the human development index has declined in more than 30 countries. The average African household consumes 20 percent less today than it did 25 years ago.

When people living in poverty are asked to identify their priorities, care for the environment or the need for sustainable development are rarely at the top of their lists. Housing, feeding and clothing the family, education for their children and care in their old age are significant concerns in their daily living.

Some 60 percent of the world's poor live in the fragile and highly vulnerable areas that have also witnessed rapidly environmental degradation caused by man-made factors.

"A global human society based on poverty for many and prosperity for a few, characterized by islands of wealth, surrounded by a sea of poverty, was unsustainable," said Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa who opening the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg on Aug. 26.

WSSD Secretary-General Nitin Desai admitted that though there had been successes somewhere, the overall record was very poor, especially at the local level in areas of poverty eradication, achieving sustainable consumption patterns and handling ecological matters.

"Poverty and deterioration of the environment continued," Desai said.

Noting that the global HIV/AIDS pandemic was steadily rolling back human development gains, Frank Meinjties, a member of the South African Civil Society Management Committee for the WSSD, considered that poverty does not make a retreat just because "governments have been making fine statements. It marches on."

Gordon Bispham, a consultant on environment and development for Barbados, stressed that poverty eradication must be central to all negotiations at the WSSD.

"We hope to create a common platform that recognize the diversity in our cultures and our common vision," said Bispham.

In Latin America, some political leaders have entered this debate by arguing the existence of a "psychological factor." Even when poverty is actually decreasing, increased inequities make people feel poorer because their distance to the rich has also increased.

Local observers warned that high inequality is an obstacle to reducing poverty as it reduces the effect of economic growth on poverty reduction.

Nevertheless, Luo Yi, a research fellow with the Chinese Association for International Understanding, said with the efficient planning and the right strategies, poverty eradication was manageable.

According to Yi, the focus was on policy development for poverty eradication, self-reliance and instilling a work ethnic in the poor.

Li said the civil society and government partnerships are responsible for ensuring that technology transfer and education are synchronized while scientific research is linked to the country's learning centers.

Another strategy focuses on increasing farm yields and, where necessary, assisting poor households to move out of unproductive areas into more favorable farmlands.

"Labor transfers from the poor areas were carried out with environmental management in mind," she added.

Local observers said if the family of humanity want to put an end to the plight of poverty, it is very imperative for only a minor of the rich to do meaningful things aimed at eventually eradicating poverty worldwide.

"We are of one mind that the imperative of human solidarity as well as actual experience, demand that, together we must strive for a shared prosperity," said the South African president, also president of the WSSD.

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