Philippines Economics of Developing Countries

Philippines

Economics of developing countries

The Philippines: Sustainability in the 21st century

One of the most common criticisms of the green movement's philosophy of sustainable development is that it unfairly penalizes poorer countries. It forces them to adopt environmentally friendly practices that are counterproductive to their expansion while the world's most powerful nations continue to prosper. As the 28th poorest nation, on a list of the world's 94 poorest developing nations, the Philippines would seem to have ample reason to use this as an excuse to not practice sustainable efforts (Tarradell 2004, p.1). However, the Philippine nation has tried not to use the fact that its economy is 'a work in progress' to justify unsustainable practices. In 1996, the government passed Philippine Agenda 21: A National Agenda for Sustainable Development for the 21st Century. PA 21 set an agenda for social reform based upon an "ecosystem-based and people-centered approach… the key concepts of integration, multi-stakeholdership and consensus building" (Tarradell 2004, p.4).

The plan has ambitious goals, such as maintaining the forest in a sustainable manner, promoting indigenous knowledge and technologies to improve the environment, and the creation of a National Land Use Policy (Tarradell 2004, p.5). To improve the nation's utilization of natural resources in 1999 the framework was reformulated "considering the impact of population growth on the ability of the government to provide services, on productivity, and on environmental resources" (Tarradell 2004, p.7). Simply put, the larger the family size, the higher the incidence of poverty and the higher the rate of population growth, the greater the drain on the environment overall (Orbeta 2003, p.8).

The Philippines has manifested a slow fertility decline; much slower than most countries in its region. It has also remained average in its rates of mortality. There is a projected and continued high population growth, resulting in more social service demands -- creating a "demographic onus" rather than the "demographic bonus" enjoyed by other East Asian countries (Orbeta 2003, p.6). Poverty alleviation has been modest and mainly concentrated in urban areas. For the nation as a whole the number of poor increased from 4.6 million in 1985 to 5.14 million in 2000 (Orbeta 2003, p.7). "Demographic changes (decline in population growth, fertility, mortality and changing age distribution) have sizeable impacts on economic growth" and "account for about half of recorded economic growth in Southeast Asia, one third in East Asia" (Orbeta 2003, p.8). Access to family planning remains problematic in the Philippines, and government instability in recent years has further hampered the development of appropriate health services, especially for rural areas. For example, in January 2001 President Macapagal-Arroyo occupied the presidency after a civilian coup, backed by the military, until elections took place in May 2004 (Orbeta 2003, p.8). The lack of population control, decreased access to educational opportunities, healthcare, and opportunities has been particularly "deleterious" in its effects upon the nation's resources of human capital (Orbeta 2003, p.12). Additionally, longstanding political corruption has resulted in the exploitation of the nation's natural resources to serve foreign and domestic elites and limited the available funds to deal with the burgeoning population (Tarradell 2004, p.3).

Another problem with population control is that it is hard to tell which aspects of the high fertility and poverty rates are willed or unwilled. For cultural and religious reasons, as well as to ensure their security in old age, many families desire large numbers of children. "To sort which ones are due to lack of control over fertility and which ones are due to preferences" is essential to create an effective birth control campaign (Orbeta 2003, p.13). The nation's high population density of 282 inhabitants per sq km means that fertility control is essential to reach the other ambitious environmental goals set by PA 21. Although some of the Philippines' southern islands are sparsely populated, these areas are often undesirable to live in for political reasons, given that they are home to armed conflicts and terrorist groups (Tarradell 2004, p.3)..