Environment
The natural resources available to people for food and other
production, maintaining healthy lives, and the pleasure
of
a beautiful landscape — perhaps filled with wild animals
-- can seem boundless. But growing populations are placing
increasing pressure on the resources in many countries and
many of these resources, once used, are not renewable.
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Source: Carrie Stokes/USAID |
Fresh
water supplies -- essential for agricultural production,
for drinking, for maintenance of important habitats of animals – are projected to be inadequate to meet the needs
of one-third of the world’s population by 2025, unless
better use is made of this precious resource. In many coastal
areas, pollution has reduced
the quality of the water, affecting
the health of coral reefs and fisheries and the lives of the many millions of people worldwide who make their living by fishing in oceans and bays. Forests are being cut down faster than they are being regenerated or planted. Tropical forests, in particular, are an important source of biodiversity, that is, plants and animals.
USAID takes an integrated approach to natural
resources management.
Land and water must be managed skillfully so that they are
able to maintain our basic ability to produce food for the
nine billion people that the world is expected to have by
2050. Food supplies must increase by 40 percent while the
land available for farmers to expand production is estimated
to be only 10 percent more than is already being used. Water
supplies must be used more efficiently – and water quality
must be maintained or even improved if people are to remain
healthy. More than 2 million children are estimated to die
each year from diseases caused by drinking dirty water.
Forests must be protected by those who live in or close
to them. New approaches to involving these people in the
wise
management of a resource important to everyone in the world
are being developed and applied in many areas. Sound methods
for harvesting trees for timber integrate economic goals
with environmental management goals, community management
of forest
areas integrate community needs with innovative approaches
to eco-tourism. These kinds of programs promise to slow
the
rate of deforestation, especially in tropical countries.
However, illegal and destructive logging remain a threat
to biodiversity
conservation. Once lost, it will be impossible for the
world to recover that diversity which has provided us with
the bases
for new medical drugs and other benefits.
USAID’s programs in natural resource management are
closely linked with programs to improve health,
increase agricultural
productivity, mitigate or adapt to climate
change, and even
governance – in
this case, governance of the environment.
Environmental Compliance
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