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Economic growth and development are intricately linked to the sound management of environmental resources. It is the poorest countries and the poorest people who rely most heavily on environmental resources, and are therefore most affected by their degradation:
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In low-income countries, environment-based wealth accounts for around 25% of the total wealth (compared to less than 4% in OECD countries); for example, over 1 billion people world-wide draw their living from forest-based assets.
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It is estimated that 15 of 24 essential services provided by ecosystems (ranging from food production to water quality and availability, disease management and climate regulation) are already being eroded.
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Unsafe water, due to poor access to water supply, sanitation facilities and hygiene, is responsible for 3.1 % of all deaths worldwide (3.7 % of global burden of disease). Over 99 % of this burden occurs in developing countries.
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The urban poor are the most exposed to severe air and water pollution and solid and hazardous waste and cannot escape the negative impacts of urbanisation.
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In developing countries, 20% of the total loss of life expectancy is attributable to environmental causes.
Global environmental challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and desertification, have important implications for the achievement of many development objectives: poverty alleviation, enhanced access to primary education, gender equity, reduced child mortality, improved maternal health, and the eradication of many diseases are closely linked to a healthy environment.
Many synergies exist between promoting development and sustaining environment. Integrative policy options are already being implemented on a limited basis to achieve the dual goals, but they need to be scaled up and expanded. While national initiatives within developing countries are clearly central, development co-operation has an important role to play in supporting such efforts.
The Ministerial meeting provided a timely opportunity to discuss the two-way relationship between poverty and environmental degradation and the scope for win-win approaches to address them. OECD development and environment ministries and agencies joined forces to launch a process to work in partnership with developing countries to integrate environmental factors efficiently into national development policies and poverty reduction strategies. The outcomes of the meeting were an agreed framework for common action, as well as a concrete agenda for integrating climate change adaptation into development co-operation.
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