Poverty, economic growth, deprivation, and water: The cases of Cambodia and Vietnam

Ambio

Volumn 37, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 225-231

  Varis, Olli ^a  

^a AALTO UNIVERSITY   (Finland)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

FRESH WATER;

COMPLEXITY; ECONOMIC GROWTH; MARGINALIZATION; POVERTY; POVERTY ALLEVIATION; WATER RESOURCE;

CAMBODIA; POLICY; POVERTY; REVIEW; VIET NAM;

CAMBODIA; FRESH WATER; POVERTY; PUBLIC POLICY; VIETNAM;

ASIA; CAMBODIA; EURASIA; MEKONG DELTA; SOUTHEAST ASIA; TONLE LAKE; VIET NAM;

EID: 48249092708     PISSN: 00447447     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1579/0044-7447(2008)37[225:PEGDAW]2.0.CO;2     Document Type: Review

References (20)

1. Ward, K. and Rowcroft, P. 2005. Economic development and water resource demands in the Lower Mekong Basin. In: The MRC Basin Development Plans - Monographs. MRC Development Series. Mekong River Commission. Vientiane, pp. 143-190.
2. Nafziger, E.W. 1997. The Economics of Developing Countries (3rd ed). Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
3. Maxwell, S. 1999. The Meaning and Measurement of Poverty. Overseas Development Institute, London.
4. World Bank. 2003. World Development Indicators 2003. World Bank, Washington DC, CD-ROM.
5. Kuznets, S. 1955. Economic growth and income inequality. Amer. Econ. Rev. 45, 1-28
6. Kuznets, S. 1963. Quantitative aspects of the economic growth of nations. Econ. Dev. Cull. Change 11, 1-80.
7. Cornia, G.A. (ed). 2005. Inequality, Growth, and Poverty in an Era of Liberalization and Globalization. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 438 pp.
8. Shorrocks, A. and van der Hoeven, R. (eds). 2005. Growth, Inequality, and Poverty Prospects for Pro-poor Economic Development. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 283 pp.
9. Dagdeviren, H., van der Hoeven, R. and Weeks, J. 2005. Redistribution does matter: growth and redistribution for poverty reduction. In: Growth, Inequality, and Poverty Prospects for Pro-poor Economic Development. Shorrocks, A. and van der Hoeven, R. (eds). Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 125-153.
10. United Nations Development Programme publishes annually its Human Development Report, which includes several international comparisons using an array of human development-oriented indices. For more information, see http://hdr.undp.org.
11. When ranking the peninsular Southeast Asian countries with respect to almost any of the poverty indicators, the result is more or less the same: Singapore comes by far first (with least poverty incidence), Malaysia and Thailand follow, and Vietnam comes next, well ahead of Myanmar, Lao PDR, and Cambodia. The last ones are among the least-developed Asian countries in these comparisons. It is clear that the limits of such analyses are tested when tailoring poverty reduction policies at national or local levels.
12. Sen, A. 2000. Development as Freedom. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 396 pp.
13. Palo, M. and Mery, G. (eds). 1996. Sustainable Forestry Challenges for Developing Countries. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 384 pp.
14. Varis, O. and Keskinen, M. 2006. Policy analysis for the Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia - A Bayesian network model approach. Int. J. Wat. Res. Dev. 22, 417-431.
15. The Bayesian network methodology is based on the systematic analysis of causal interconnections in complex environmental-social-economic systems. The objective is to assess risks to various components of the environmental and social system under concern as consequences of different policy strategies. For more information, see 16 and 17.
16. Varis, O. 1998. A belief network approach to optimization and parameter estimation: application to resource and environmental management. Artif. Intel. 101, 135-163
17. Varis, O. and Lahtela, V. 2002. Integrated water resources management along the Senegal River - Introducing an analytical framework. Int. J. Wat. Res. Dev. 18, 501-521.
18. The plot shows the sensitivity of the goals to changes in sector policies. The further the line is away from the zero line (the polygon denoted with 0.0%), the more impact the policy has on the respective development goal. The impact is negative if the line goes inside the polygon, otherwise it is positive.
19. GMS. 2006. Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative. Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Core Environment Program, Manila, 32 pp.
20. The author deeply thanks Marko Keskinen, Mira Käkönen, and Matti Kummu, as well as the other members of the MRCS/WUP-FIN team, particularly Juha Sarkkula, Jorma Koponen, Markku Virtanen, Seppo Hellsten, Ulla Heinonen, and the Cambodian and Vietnamese co-workers and trainees. Also, the fluent cooperation with the Mekong River Commission and Finnish Environment Institute is appreciated. The Water Resources Laboratory staff from Helsinki University of Technology, and particularly Pertti Vakkilainen, is equally acknowledged. This work has received funding from the Academy of Finland Project 211010.