When Emil Salim Brings the Environment to the Heart of Development
Poverty and Natural Destruction
One of the strengths of Emil Salim's thinking is his ability to see the environment as a human problem.
Natural damage does not affect everyone with the same consequences.
People who have money may still be able to buy clean water when wells are polluted. They may move when the environment is no longer comfortable. They also have better access to health services.
Poor people do not always have such choices.
When forests are damaged, local communities can lose sources of food, firewood, medicinal plants and livelihoods. When rivers are polluted, residents who cannot afford clean water bear the greatest risk. When abrasion erodes coastlines, small fishermen are at the forefront of the threat.
Therefore, environmental protection cannot be separated from efforts to overcome poverty and inequality.
Policies that only prohibit people from using forests, but do not provide livelihood options, can give rise to new problems. On the other hand, economic development that ignores people's rights can increase conflict and accelerate natural destruction.
The environment and poverty are not two independent problems. The two meet in the daily lives of people who depend on land, water, forests, coasts and seas for their livelihoods.
This view then becomes an important part of discussions about sustainable development.
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