Economic Dev & Environment

Since 1980, over fifty developing economies have embarked on the formulation of national conservation strategies. The record of implementation of these strategies has been abysmal, not because of a lack of political will, but due to fundamental flaws in the current global approaches to the environment. This book throws light on the confusion and chaos which has marked the debate on environmental issues and the economy in developing countries. It shows how the environmental movement has adopted incoherent and confusion attitudes to the relationship between environment and economic development, resulting in ad-hoc and unsystematic changes being recommended for different developing economies. The whole gamut of development policies are being challenged without any clear alternative being presented. Without a clear objective, global confusion is the result. Economic Development and Environmental Policy sets out a five point alternative framework for addressing the important issues that have emerged. First; to abandon to abandon the environment umbrella and vague concepts such as 'sustainable development' as an objective for policy. Second; to adopt the classification of environmental problems into either natural resource management or pollution issues. Third; to recognise the centrality of economic development imperatives. Fourth; to give priority to interventions which increase local economic efficiency or reduce human welfare loos. Fifth; priority natural resource management and pollution issues should be integrated into specific sectoral concerns rather than entrusted to marginal ministries. It is argued that these measures would provide a basis for devising realistic policy and institutional changes in support of natural resource management and pollution concerns, in the context of the imperatives of economic development.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements; Preface; PART 1 - ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT - CONCEPTUAL ISSUES: A conceptual framework for environment and development - perspectives on "sustainable development"; A typology of natural resource and environmental issues; Economic development and natural resource use; Valuing natural resources : quantification issues at the project level; Quantification issues at the macro level; Formulating national conservation strategies and environmental plans. PART 2 - COUNTRY CASE STUDIES OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY: Economic development and environmental policy in Pakistan; Lesotho - economic insecurity and environmental policy in apartheid's labour reserve; Development imperatives and Jordan's environment policy; Summary and conclusions.