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Institute for Justice &
Democracy in Haiti promotes democracy and
justice in Haiti through documentation of human
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World Leaders Urged to
Finance Ecosystem Restoration as Root to Better
Rural Liv

Sept. 1 2005

Press Release
- United Nations Environment Programme

Nairobi - A new report on the
environment was described today “as essential
reading for any world leader serious about
defeating poverty”.

Klaus Toepfer,
Executive Director of the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), said the study
entitled The Wealth of the Poor clearly
demonstrated “the importance of healthy forests,
marine environments, freshwaters and other key
ecosystems for meeting internationally agreed
development targets”.

“In the past the
environment has been viewed as something like a
Hermes silk tie or a Gucci handbag—a luxury only
affordable when all other issues have been
resolved,” he said.

“But this World
Resources Institute (WRI) report, allied with a
series of other new and authoritative studies
released over recent months such as the
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, overturns this
myth and underlines in graphic detail the
importance of ‘nature’s’ natural capital
alongside financial and human capital,” added Mr
Toepfer.

“These numerous studies also
make it clear that targeted investments in the
restoration of ecosystems are not only cost
effective but have a high rate of return in
areas such as rural incomes, improving drinking
water supplies and reducing the spread of
infectious diseases,” he said.

Economists now estimate that the carbon
removal and storage capacity of tropical forests
is a natural service that may amount to $60
billion a year.

Healthy ecosystems like
wetlands and mangroves are also being shown to
be economically important.

Intact
mangroves, nurseries for fish and natural sea
defenses against aggressive waves, are valued at
$1,000 a hectare by the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment. Cleared and converted to shrimp
farms, the value falls to about $200 a hectare.

Another of the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment reports, the work of over 1,300
scientists and experts, concludes that water
scarcity will, like changes in oil supply,
impact companies globally.

Up to a fifth
of freshwater use currently exceeds long-term
sustainable supply and is being met by water
transfers or unsustainable “mining of
groundwater”.

In mid-September, an
estimated 170 heads of state will gather in New
York to discuss United Nations reforms and to
take stock of the Millennium Development Goals.

The Goals include halving the numbers of
people without access to sustainable water
supplies, the empowerment of women and reducing
hunger.

“I would urge Presidents and
Prime Ministers to make this WRI report and the
findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
indispensable parts of their pre-Summit reading.
I am sure that the conclusions will suggest to
them, as they do to me, fresh, imaginative,
sensible and truly sustainable approaches to the
pressing development issues of the day,” said Mr
Toepfer.

He said the study would also
inform a key event taking place on 14 September
in New York under the umbrella of the Poverty
and Environment Partnership—an alliance of
organizations and government bodies including
UNEP, the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), the UK Department for International
Development, the Norwegian Agency for
Development Cooperation and the Belgium Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and
Development Cooperation.

The event will
present findings and discuss ways of
mainstreaming the environment in the eight
Millennium Development Goals and in national
Poverty Reduction Strategies or (PRSPs).

Restoration of Woodland Enclosures in
Tanzania

The report, produced by the
Washington-based WRI in collaboration with UNDP,
UNEP and the World Bank highlights how targeted
investments in ecosystems in developing
countries can change peoples lives.

Among the case studies is a
re-afforestation project in an area of Tanzania
called the Shinyanga region just south of Lake
Victoria.

Until recently it was
nick-named the Desert of Tanzania as a result of
deforestation and the conversion of woodlands
into croplands.

However an 18-year
project aimed at creating village based,
woodland, enclosures has reversed land
degradation and improved rural livelihoods. Some
350,000 hectares of ngitili, the local world for
enclosures, have been planted covering well over
800 villages and 2.8 million people.

A
new study by the Tanzanian government and the
group IUCN calculates that the cash benefits of
the restoration are about $14 per person per
month, some $5.50 higher than the national
average.

Fuelwood, timber and medicinal
plants are amongst the highest economic value to
households with other outputs including thatch,
fodder for livestock and wild foods including
berries and honey.

Villagers report big
cuts in the time taken to collect materials. For
example the time taken to collect fuelwood is
down between two to six hours a day; to collect
water is down by up to two hours a day and
forage between three and six hours during the
harvest season.

Income generated by the
communal enclosures, for example from timber
sales, has helped some villagers to build
classrooms, village offices and healthcare
centres.

The time saved by women in
collecting natural resources is allowing them
more time to focus on other income-generating
activities while fostering better child care and
school attendance.

Recovering Coastal
Fisheries in Fiji

Another case study
focuses on a set aside scheme developed with
local people at Ucunivanua, a sea side village
on the Fijian island of Viti Levu.

Here
the kaikoso clam has, for generations, been an
important source of food and income as well as a
cultural, clan symbol or totem.

In
recent years catches of the clams have declined
sharply in number and size with women spending
all day digging in the mud and seagrass beds to
fill just half a bag compared with just a few
hours to fill a whole bag in previous decades.

In order to restore the marine
ecosystem, local residents in collaboration with
the University of the South Pacific, established
a 24-hectare locally managed marine protected
area or tabu.

Studies, comparing clam
harvests in the closed area since the late
1990s, indicate that number of clams and their
size have increased markedly.

In 1997
the number clams of less than 2.5 centimeters
found per 50 cubic meters was zero. Now over
3,500 clams of this size are being found in the
closed area.

A similar pattern emerges
for all sizes. In 1997, big clams of greater
than 5.5 centimeters were found at a density of
eight per 50 cubic meters. Now the density is
530.

Significantly, yields and clam size
have blossomed outside the tabu into the
adjacent harvest site.

Whereas one clam
was found per 50 cubic meters in 1997, over 500
are found in the same volume of mud and
seagrass. Even the bumper-sized clams are
increasing from one to 91 per 50 cubic meters
now.

The success of the pilot, initially
a three year closure, has prompted the local
community to extend it indefinitely.

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