Adenrele Awotona
University of Massachusetts Boston, USA
Title: Environmental Health, Poverty and Disaster Risk Reduction
Biography
Biography: Adenrele Awotona
Abstract
Statement of the Problem: The United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Development Agenda titled Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on September 25, 2015. It outlines 17 Sustainable Development Goals the first of which calls for an end to “poverty in all its forms everywhere.” Various studies have, however, indicated that the multifaceted forces, both internal and external, which work together to generate and sustain the circumstances of pervasive poverty universally have yet to be properly understood.
Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: The purpose of this presentation is to examine how some of these forces, especially those related to environmental degradation, pitiable environmental health conditions and vulnerability of the underprivileged to disasters of all types, are major hindrances to the abolition of poverty in all places. It also analyzes the complex fundamental causes infl uencing the vulnerability of people and social structures.
Findings, Conclusion & Significance: Disasters, unplanned urban development, ecosystem degradation, and fragile livelihoods undermine the sustainable development of communities. So do inequalities; weak institutions (poor governance, political instability, underdeveloped fi nancial markets, and lack of supportive institutional and policy environments); unresponsive legal and regulatory frameworks; inadequate infrastructural development (including food and nutrition insecurity; inadequate water supply, squalid sanitary conditions and poor waste management; widespread illiteracy and underdeveloped information and communication technologies; lack of healthcare facilities and medical networks; ineffi cient transport networks; and lack of safeguards of urban areas against erosion, flooding, landslides, and disasters); as well as insuffi cient formal structures for environmental sustainability and climate change (such as meager information management systems; almost nonexistence of relevant public education amongst government and community-based agencies).
Recommendations: There is a need for a comprehensive and integrative approach to public policy formulation and implantation that encompasses development planning, human development and disaster risk reduction. This should be addressed through multi-level government and grassroots community efforts, cross-sector initiatives and global actions.