Globalized Poverty and Environment: 21st Century Challenges and Innovative Solutions

381 Pages·2014·9.422 MB·English

by  Nathaniel O. Agola, Joseph L. Awange (auth.)

Nathaniel O. Agola
Joseph L. Awange
Globalized Poverty
and Environment
21st Century Challenges and Innovative
Solutions
Globalized Poverty and Environment
Nathaniel O. Agola Joseph L. Awange
•
Globalized Poverty
and Environment
21st Century Challenges and Innovative
Solutions
123
NathanielO.Agola Joseph L.Awange
Doshisha University Department of SpatialSciences
Kyoto Curtin University
Japan Bentley,WA
Australia
and
Geodetic Institute
Karlsruhe Instituteof Technology
Karksruhe
Germany
ISBN 978-3-642-39732-5 ISBN 978-3-642-39733-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-39733-2
SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2013945277
(cid:2)Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2014
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Foreword
In the early twenty-first century, we are standing in a critical juncture. Concerted
actionofthehumankindmaybeabletoputanendtostructuralpovertyforthefirst
time in human history, enlarging opportunities for future generations to sustain
their lives on the planet. If we make a wrong choice, however, poverty and
inequality will persist, joblessness will violently tear up social webs, and natural
assetswillcontinuetobeplunderedinirretrievableways.Wearepressedtodecide
our course.
In 2000, the international community has shifted the helm. All UN member
states agreed upon the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and pledged to
achieve such goalsashalvingtheproportionofpeoplelivingonlessthan$1.25a
dayby2015.Nextgoalsthatarenowbeingnegotiatedwillmoreexplicitlyinclude
environment-related agendasdiscussedatRioin2012,pursuemoreequitableand
inclusive ways of economic development, and address the issues of democratic
accountability.
In the meantime, the phenomenal growth of Asian and African economies
raises serious concerns about worsening inequalities in those emerging regions as
wellasthelong-termsustainabilityoftodayspatternsofresourceconsumption.In
parallel,theexpansionofForeignDirectInvestment(FDI)dwarfstheconventional
grant aid as means of effective poverty reduction especially on the continent of
Africa, while decentralized management is becoming a normative practice of aid
agencies as learning organizations.
Thisbookprovidesagoodsummaryofeconomictheoriesofpovertyaswellas
a vivid depiction of the state of environmental degradation in the world. People
oftenworkseparatelyondifferentissuesthatare,infact,closelyintertwined.The
principle of holism is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and
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vi Foreword
I believe that this joint venture of two experts on poverty and environment has
produced something more than a sum of two separate monographs on the issues.
Various points raised in this volume are worth heeding when we think of for-
mulationandimplementationofatrulyeffectivepost-MDGsdevelopmentagenda.
Kyoto, Japan 2013 Yoichi Mine
Graduate School of Global Studies
Doshisha University
Kyoto, Japan
Preface
Poverty reduction and environmental degradation challenges rank top among the
most difficult problems for the global community. These problems are multidi-
mensional, and therefore in terms of conception, and efforts aimed at providing
solutions, they straddle the fields of economics, social studies, health, education,
andnaturalscience.Thisbookreviewsthekeyconceptionsandeconomictheories
of poverty, how it is intertwined with environmental degradation challenge—
poverty-environment nexus, and offers innovative socioeconomic and scientific
geospatial solutions for the twenty-first century.
Thisbookdispelstheoverlysimplisticviewthatthepoorcauseenvironmental
destruction,and assuch there is linearcausality relationshipbetween poverty and
environmental destruction. We validate that the two issues are two sides of the
same coin, and they are a function of a two-way complex cause and effect
mechanism. In certain instants, the poor cause environmental degradation, and in
some instances they are mere victims of other groups socioeconomic actions.
Surprisingly, there are also instances where the poor perceive environmental
quality as an important determinant of their earning capacity, housing quality,
health, security and energy suppliers, and therefore their actions are positively
aligned with environmental conservation.
Wemakeitpossibleforourreaderstounderstandpovertybygivingathorough
concise review of the major theoretical economic frameworks, measures of pov-
erty,andpointouttheneedtounderstandrural–urbandichotomyofpoverty.Ofall
thetheoriesandmeasures,nonestandsoutasfaultless,thereforewepointtheneed
totreatthesemeasuresasconvenienttoolslackinginperfectaccuracyandutmost
scientificreliability.Wealsopositthatifconceptionsandmeasuresarenotbeyond
fault, and so are the supposedly knowledgeably crafted poverty reduction and
environmental preservation solutions.
The book finally proposes a raft of innovative economic and geospatial-based
solutions. The economic solutions are centered on the idea of need to go beyond
the humdrum macroeconomic and policy measures targeting poverty and envi-
ronmental issue to envisaging a new paradigm in which private sector and other
stakeholderscancreateinnovativeandinclusivemarketswherevalueisco-created
and shared.
Our concern with the need for bringing the concepts of innovation to solving
povertyleadsustoproposeaninclusive-shared-valuemodelbasedonwhatwecall
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viii Preface
Value Ecosystem, which requires a paradigm shift in how market value is
perceived, and how judiciously costs and the accompanying returns could be
willfully allocated. In the low-income countries, the most pervasive question is
always where money is going to come from whenever any attempt is made to
practicallysolveanysocioeconomicproblem.Affordabilityisthereforeoneofthe
most pressing problems when considering implementation of almost all shades of
solutions conceived of by public, private sector actors, and even more so NGOs.
Value Ecosystem Model proposed here is a novel approach, which starts with the
idea that there is always latent value locked up in the various entities and sub-
systems that constitute entire economic and social systems.
Incomeinequalityremainsapervasiveprobleminthecurrentglobaleconomic
system.Inequalityisaproblemforconsumption,resourcemobilizationandiseven
a disincentive to labor motivation. The central issue here is therefore how
resources can be effectively mobilized, and labor productivity improved based on
high worker motivation? We think social innovation is a necessary approach to
how new economic organizations can be created to deal with resource mobiliza-
tion, equity, and motivation of workers to create wealth for not only individuals,
but even whole communities. We validate this approach by analyzing the
Mondragon Model. Mondragons are industrial cooperatives created to solve
povertyproblemintheBasqueregioninthefirsthalfofthetwentiethcenturyfrom
very humble beginnings, but have over the decades flourished into a business
empirecomprisinghigh-technologycompanies,bankingservices,educational,and
retailnetworkwiththelowestfailureratethatisunrivaledbyanyknownmodelin
the history of capitalism.
Even more remarkable is the resource mobilization abilities of the Mondragon
system, and its equity allocation of the wealth created within the system. These
industrial cooperatives are simply owned, managed and controlled by the mem-
bers, which is a solution to a problem conventional corporate governance system
hasfailedtoconclusivelysolve.Aligninginterestsofcorporateownersandagents
(managers/controllers) is a perennial problem that will never go away in con-
ventional corporate ownership and control structures. Yet despite the success,
lowest failure rate, and perfect alignment of ownership and control, and positive
income distribution qualities of the Mondragon, very scanty attention has been
paid to the model in economic development and management studies. It is inter-
esting to observe that with the global rise of social media, well-coordinated
communities are fast emerging as the most sustainable value and wealth creators,
and this suggests a new paradigm.
Finally, we attempt to solve the perennial problem of duality in economic
structure.Thereareconsiderablecoststohavinganunderdevelopedeconomyside
by side with a relatively sophisticated one on the other end of shared spatial
dimensionsuchasinacityorcountry.Wesuggestfiveactionpoints,whichcanbe
jointlyleveragedtosolvetheproblemofduality.Weusetheexampleofpost-war
Japanese economic experience to validate our suggestions. Solving duality prob-
lemrequiresmoreattentiongiventhefailureoftrickle-downeconomicsastypified
byhigheconomicgrowthfiguresforSub-SaharanAfricancountries,whichfailsto
Preface ix
translate into rise in incomes of majority and cutting down high unemployment
rates.
On environment, we recognize that poverty and environmental issues occur in
spaceandassucharelocationorarea-based,i.e.,geographicalorspatialinnature.
Analysis of environmental and poverty related issues, therefore, needs to be
spatially undertaken. This is informed by the fact that they occur in geographical
space on the one hand, and from policy perspective, the poverty-environment
nexusisrelevantonlyifithasimplicationsfortheallocationandadministrationof
public resources for alleviation of poverty and environmental problems on the
other hand.
This book offers timely state-of-the-art geospatial solutions, e.g., remote
sensing, Geographical Information System (GIS), and Gravity Recovery and
ClimateExperiment(GRACE)satellitesmissiontotargetthemostpressingglobal
problems. For example of GRACE satellite data are presented as efficient geo-
spatial tools that are useful in estimating changes in stored water in the water-
poverty-environment nexus. Other areas include: pollution, agriculture and
disaster management, where geospatial techniques are applied under strong
environmentalimpactassessmentregulatoryregimes.Thegeospatialsolutionsare
quite timely and need to be urgently applied, because the poor are the most
vulnerable to frequently occurring global environmental problems and disasters
such as floods, droughts, polluted agricultural lands, and water shortages.
This is a TIGeR publication No. 470.
Kyoto, Japan, July 2013 Nathaniel O. Agola
Bentley, Australia Joseph L. Awange
Acknowledgments
Several figures in this book have been generously provided by various authors.
In this regard, the second author (Joseph) would like to thank M. Motagh (GFZ)
andM.Jia(GeoscienceAustralia).Somefiguresandmaterialsalsocamefromthe
work undertaken jointly with colleagues B. Heck (Karlsruhe Institute of Tech-
nology, Germany), W. Featherstone, M. Kuhn, K. Fleming and I. Anjasmara
(Curtin University), M. Sharifi (Tehran University), A. Hunegnaw (University of
Edin burgh), E. Forootan (Bonn University), JBK Kiema (University of Nairobi)
and students B. Obera, Khandu, and T. Opande. To you all, ‘‘arigato gozaimasu’’
(Japaneseforthankyouverymuch).ToallhisCurtinUniversity3rdyear(Satellite
and Space Geodesy unit), and 2nd year (Civil Engineering) students who used
materials from the draft book and provided feedback, Joseph would like to say
‘‘Danke sehr’’ (German for thank you very much).
Joseph also wishes to express his sincere thanks to Prof. B. Heck of the
Department of Physical Geodesy (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT),
Germany) for hosting him during the period of his Alexander von Humboldt
Fellowship (2008–2011) when part of this book was written. In particular, his
ideas, suggestions, and motivation on Chap. 13 have enriched the book consid-
erably.JosephisalsogratefultoProf.B.Veenendaal(HeadofDepartment,Spatial
Sciences,CurtinUniversity,Australia)forthesupportandmotivationthatenabled
the preparation of this edition. He also wishes to acknowledge the support of
Curtin Research Fellowship, while his stay at KIT was supported by a Alexander
von Humboldt’s Ludwig Leichhardts Memorial Fellowship. To all, he says,
‘‘ahsantesana’’(Swahiliforthankyouverymuch).Lastbutnotleast,hewishesto
thank his wife Naomi Awange and daughters Lucy and Ruth Awange for their
patienceandsupport,especiallythehardtimestheyenduredwhenhewasawayin
Germany.
Ontheotherhand,thefirstauthor(Nathaniel)wishestothankhisentirefamily
forconstantsupportinhisacademicendeavors,whichmoreoftenthannotalways
robsallofusoftimewecouldsharetogether.Todadwhopulledmeintohisstudy
room filled with books, yourcasualinstruction that when Igrow up Ishould read
all those books, gives you the place as my greatest source of inspiration in the
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