A great deal of discussion continues as to the real extent
of global environment degradation and its implications. What few people
challenge however is that the renewable natural resources of developing countries
are today subject to stresses of unprecedented magnitude. These pressures are
brought about, in part, by increased population and the quest for an ever
expanding food supply. Because the health, nutrition and general well-being of
the poor majority are directly dependent on the integrity and productivity of
their natural resources, the capability of government to manage them
effectively over the long term becomes of paramount important.
Developing countries are becoming more aware of the ways in
which present and future economic development must built upon a sound and
sustainable natural resource base. Some are looking at our long tradition in
environmental protection and are receptive to U.S. assistance which recognizes
the uniqueness of the social and ecological system in these tropical countries.
Developing countries recognize the need to improve their capability to analyze
issues and their own natural resource management. In February 1981, for
example, AID funded a national Academy of Sciences panel to advise Nepal on its
severe natural resource degradation problems. Some countries such as Senegal,
India, Indonesia and Thailand, are now including conservation concerns in their
economic development planning process.
Because so many governments of developing nations have
recognized the importance of these issues, the need today is not merely one of
raising additional consciousness, but for carefully designed and sharply
focused activities aimed at management regimes that are essential to the
achievement of sustained development.
Q: How much environmental pollution has taken place in the developing and developed world?
Through the U.S. prides itself on behing a leader in the
world community, a recent report shows that it lags far behind other industrialized
countries in meeting the needs of its youngest and most vulnerable citizens.
The U.S. has a higher infant mortality rate, a higher proportion of low birth
weight babies, a smaller proportion of babies immunized against childhood
diseases and a much higher rate adolescent pregnancies. These findings,
described as a quiet crisis requiring immediate and far-reaching action,
appeared in a report prepared by a task force of educators, doctors,
politicians and business people. According to the report, a fourth of the
nation’s 12 infants and toddlers live in poverty. As many as half confront risk
factors that could harm their ability to develop intellectually, physically and
socially. Child immunizations are too low, more children are born into poverty,
more are in substandard care while their parents work and more are being raised
by single parents When taken together, these and other risk factor can lead to
educational and health problems that are much harder and more costly to
reverse.
The crisis beings in the womb with unplanned parenthood.
Women with unplanned pregnancies are less likely to seek pre-natal care. In the
U.S. 80% of teenage pregnancies and 56% of all pregnancies are unplanned. The
problems continue after birth where unplanned pregnancies and unstable
partnerships often go hand in hand. Since 1950, the number of single parent
families had nearly tripled. More than 25 percent of all births today are to unmarried
mothers. As the number of single parent families grows and more women enter the
work force, infants and toddlers are increasingly in the care of people other
than their parents.
Most disturbingly, recent statistics show that American
parents are increasingly neglecting or abusing their children. In only four
years from 1987-1991, the number of children in foster care increased by over
50 percent. Babies under the age of one are the fastest growing category of
children entering foster care. The crisis affects children under the age of
three most severely the report says. Yet, it is this period-from infancy
through preschool years- that sets the stage for a child’s future.
