The Future Of Western Development Assistance by Elliott R Morss Victoria A Morss

Author:Elliott R Morss, Victoria A Morss [Elliott R Morss, Victoria A Morss]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367292416
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2019-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

Ecological Concerns

Recent famines in Africa and Asia have raised western sensitivity to the plight of millions of people who barely subsist. By and large these people live in peasant economies based on the production of renewable or nonrenewable natural resources. And there is no question ecological systems are breaking down in many of these Third World countries. Ecologists have claimed that alterations and stresses from increasing demand on some ecosystems are severe enough that the ecosystem will continually deteriorate and eventually collapse. Perpetual overuse of biological systems, they argue, creates a chain reaction of deterioration with each disruption of the natural balance causing further adjustments that may eventually result in complete instability. The cycle works like this: Increasing population requires additional land for production and household fuels; forests and woodlands are cleared for crops, livestock, and fuel; intensive nonregenerative land use ensues; vegetation density and soil nutrition are reduced; as the soil cover deteriorates the capacity to retain water diminishes; rainfall runs off; soil erosion increases; people seek new virgin territory to clear; and, unless the cycle is broken, human demands will exceed the capacity of the biological systems.

Consider the evidence. According to a survey of ecological trends between 1977-1985 of twenty countries in Africa, not one of the indicators of ecological deterioration (sand dune encroachment, rangeland deterioration, forest depletion, decline of irrigation systems, and rain-fed agricultural systems) showed improvement. One observer of the complex connections and interactions in ecosystems commented that it is likely there will not be enough water in the lake above the Panama Canal to operate the locks in twenty years because rapid deforestation of the watershed that feeds the lake is causing siltation.18 And these are not isolated examples.

Development planners have been accused of overlooking ecological concepts and the biological carrying capacity of the world. As a result of this oversight, some experts argue world demand for food and fuel has stretched and weakened natural systems, presaging a gradual economic decline, social fragmentation, and the break down of political structures.19 Undoubtedly, environmental degradation exists: topsoil is eroding, tropical forests are disappearing, and nonrenewable resources are declining. The issue is are development experts asking the right questions about the consequences of tampering with the environment, and are governments prepared to make unpopular, political and economic decisions about land use?

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