Issues > July/August 2007 (#121) > A Lending Hand: Promoting Sustainability in Less-Developed Countries

A Lending Hand: Promoting Sustainability in Less-Developed Countries

Last weekend at Live Earth, Chris Rock joked, “I pray that this event ends global warming the same way that Live Aid ended world hunger.” Cynicism aside, the bitter truth behind Rock’s quip is that poverty and environmental destruction are inextricably linked. “When you are poor, environmental conservation is a luxury that you cannot afford,” says David Woollcombe , president of Peace Child International, a nonprofit organization that works with local young people to promote sustainability in less developed countries. “If you are cold, you don’t care about conservation of forests, you care about keeping warm. This is why many people say that poverty is the greatest enemy, the greatest polluter of the environment.”

The poor, of course, also lack the clout and the resources to keep their environs from being exploited. Mindful of this issue, the United Nations produced its millennium development goals to reduce poverty by 2015, the seventh of which aims to “integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources.” This translates into the complicated task of bringing prosperity to the impoverished by maintaining the natural world around them. And, it often comes down to local groups to bring these issues home. There are, however, many ways to help.

Peace Child International’s Be the Change! program supports small-scale development projects through its 14 registered affiliates. “We have found that young people in the world’s poorest countries care deeply about the environment around them,” says Woolcombe. Local groups submit their proposals and Peace Child finds funding for them. Current projects include a water and sanitation program in Uganda, a desertification study and prevention project in China, and a conservation project focusing on native medicinal plants in Zimbabwe.

In Rajasthan, India, the Barefoot College works without UN aid to provide skills and education to the poor (women in particular) from countries around the world. Among other programs, the College gives villagers solar panels and training to provide renewable sources for electricity and light in remote communities in India, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Cameroon and other African nations. Their training has resulted in 11,000 solar household systems, saving 1.67 million tons of carbon emissions.

Organizations such as Ten Thousand Villages and E Shop Africa give everyone an opportunity to support small local businesses by shopping online for their products. Friends of Tilonia sell handcrafted textiles, such as quilted duffel bags ($54), to assist the Barefoot College (www.tilonia.com). Last year, Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work developing “microloans” to small businesses in Bangladesh and other developing countries. Although Grameen Bank does not take donations, Kiva.org allows individuals to loan any amount to small businesspeople in these nations.

What you can do:

Support – visit www.peacechild.org to get involved or donate.

Loan – visit www.kiva.org to make a loan of any size to an entrepreneur.

Donate – plant two mangrove seedlings (£15, US$30) or a whole quarter acre (£50, US$101) through www.goodgifts.org. Save The Children and Cows ‘n’ Things also provide animals, seeds and essentials to those in less developed countries (www.savethechildren.sandbag, www.cowsnthings.org.uk).

Buy – visit www.eshopafrica.com or www.tenthousandvillages.com to support local crafts and small business people in less developed nations.