We hope the Summit took note of how the region fares with overall global development goals. Asia is home to 60 percent of the world’s total population. The latest statistics presented by the reputable Population Reference Bureau indicate that, contrary to what popular media suggests, world population growth has not stopped and in fact, increases at a rate of 1.2 percent per year, resulting in an additional 80 million people annually, with 99 percent of that growth coming from less developed countries. This is despite headways made by population control measures. This gradual rise in population is expected to stand at 9.1 billion in 2050.
It can be remembered that at the turn of the new millennium, the nations of the world agreed to an ambitious agenda for addressing the worst aspects of poverty, known as the Millennium Development Goals. While just one of these goals is specific to natural resource sustainability, the achievement of the overall agenda depends upon balanced human interactions with the natural resources required for survival and health. A basic concern that should be addressed is the increased depletion of the natural resources on which life depends – fresh water, cropland, fisheries and forests among them. The global inventories of all these are either in absolute decline or at roughly stable levels despite the need to be allocated among growing numbers of people. The poor are at the most disadvantaged with these shortages. What’s more, scarcity tends to stimulate the pricing of goods that had always been free, or to make costly goods that long were inexpensive. The basics of life – shelter, fuel, water and food – become more expensive as supply fails to keep up with growing demand. Furthermore, these resources are not being renewed at the pace needed to sustain current, let alone future humanity.
Natural resource scarcity can sharpen poverty in multiple ways. First, the scarcity itself makes life harder. Women must walk farther to find fuel wood and fresh water. The water families rely on may be contaminated with pathogens and polluted with chemicals because many users tap into the same supply for different purposes. The loss of forests can increase destructive and deadly flooding in nearby communities. Also, as natural resources needed for health and life get scarce, greater poverty is often the result. Everyone’s life is poorer when entire species dies out, when forests once filled with living things turn into farmland, or when human-induced climate change contributes to more intense droughts and more powerful storms. And we are only beginning to learn how the destruction of ecosystems and the loss of services provided by the environment may contribute, directly or in roundabout ways, to the emergence of new diseases, the loss of food security and the likelihood of violent conflict.
As the ASEAN Summit ends, it would be good to take stock of these basic concerns. Everyone should be aware and be involved.