sign in sign up
<<
Home , Poverty in Africa

PCA ETR:INTRODUCTION FEATURE: SPECIAL

African : A grand challenge for sustainability science

Robert W. Kates*† and Partha Dasgupta‡ *33 Popple Point, Trenton, ME 04605; and ‡Faculty of Economics, of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 9DD,

hen we began to put to- description of poverty in developing Common indices developed by the gether this special feature countries as: Development Pro- on poverty and sustainabil- gramme are the human development ity science, we sought In the world of the poor, people index composed of three measures of significantW science-based research and don’t enjoy , don’t own development (per capita gross domestic perspectives on poverty worldwide. many assets, are stunted and wasted, product, , and ) or However, the six articles that have don’t live long, can’t read or write, the composed of emerged from a lengthy solicitation, don’t have access to easy credit, are measures of deprivation in the develop- preparation, and review process, with unable to save much, aren’t empow- ment indices (child and young adult ered, can’t ensure themselves well one exception, all focus on sub-Saharan mortality, illiteracy, and lack of water against crop failure or household ca- . The exception, the absolute pov- and sanitation) (7). lamity, don’t have control over their erty measures for the developing world The most recent definitions are de- own lives, don’t trade with the rest of by Chen and Ravallion (1), serve to pro- rived from work by Sen (8, 9) and Nuss- the world, live in unhealthy surround- vide the latest evidence for an African baum and colleagues (10, 11), who view ings, suffer from ‘‘incapabilities,’’ are exceptionalism that dominates the devel- poverty as the diminished capability or poorly governed. opment needs of today. freedom to achieve valued beings and Briefly stated, all developing country And more rarely, doings (called functionings). In a sense, regions have shown marked improve- functionings are both the ends and the ment in key indicators of poverty, . . . and suffer from a deteriorating means of human life and include the health, economy, and food, except for natural resource base and have a enormous range of both. However, al- sub-Saharan Africa. For poverty, the high birth rate (5). though capabilities have attracted wide global number of people living below Poverty description, the most common interest among scholars, humanists, and the line of $1 per day form of poverty study and scholarship, social scientists, when deprivation in ca- decreased between 1981 and 2004 from takes three major forms: poverty line pabilities is actually measured, many of 1,470 million to 969 million. The per- numbers, indices, and capabilities, all of the same indicators found in poverty centage of extremely poor fell from 40% which are found in the composite state- line and development deprivation stud- to 18%. However, in sub-Saharan Af- ment. Poverty line numbers describe ies are employed. rica, the numbers almost doubled from who (individuals, households, places, 168 million to 298 million, and the per- nations) is poor, based on a poverty line Understanding Causation centage stayed almost constant from below which basic necessities cannot be Describing poverty and explaining its 42% to 41% (1). For health, the life ex- provided. These lines are often mea- causes are two very different tasks. De- pectancy at birth in sub-Saharan Africa sured by nutritional requirements, in- velopment experts nonetheless routinely peaked in 1990 at 50 years but has since comes, or baskets of consumption. In write as though to describe were to ex- declined to 46 years, while steadily rising Chen and Ravallion (1), the number of plain. However, description offers little in all developing country regions to an poor are those with less than $1 or $2 guidance for action. It does not say what average of 65 years (2). Over the period per day per capita expenditure on con- is a cause and what is an effect, it does 1960–2000, sub-Saharan Africa’s per sumption, and this number is derived not distinguish between proximate and capita measure of annual economic from 560 nationally representative deep causes, it does not say what is a growth () was a household surveys in 100 low- and middle- variable and what is a parameter in the mere 0.1%, whereas other developing income countries, representing 93% of environment in which the poor reside, country regions experienced accelerated the population of the developing world. and it does not say whether variables growth averaging 3.6% (3). Food pro- They provide an adjustment to compare can be interpreted in samples to ‘‘move’’ duction per capita grew by 2.3% per urban and rural poverty by compensat- together over time (time series data) or year between 1980 and 2000 in Asia, ing for the higher living costs in urban across parameter values at a point in grew by 0.9% in Latin America, and places. With the use of these surveys, time (cross-sectional data). Above all, declined by 0.01% in tropical Africa (4). Chen and Ravallion have developed the description does not help to identify the Understanding African exceptionalism long-term data described above. pathways that lead to a state of affairs. and contributing to its reduction is one In contrast to these temporal changes, Yet, an enormous literature has drawn of the grand challenges of sustainability Okwi et al. (6) describe the spatial dif- on description to arrive directly at policy science. In this brief introduction, we ferentiation of poverty in , using a prescriptions. One senses that even the have characterized the ways in which national poverty line for calculating and United Nations Millennium Develop- scientists can contribute to meeting the mapping the proportion of poor people ment Goals and the plans the United challenges as describing poverty, under- in 2,232 small locations and 7 provinces. standing causation, and offering and However, as the composite descriptive evaluating policies and solutions. sentence suggests, poverty is more than Author contributions: R.W.K. and P.D. wrote the paper. what one cannot afford to buy or con- The authors declare no conflict of interest. Describing Poverty sume. Many additional measures of hu- †To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: A broad reading of the development man development and well-being have [email protected]. literature might provide a composite been identified and combined in indices. © 2007 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA

www.pnas.org͞cgi͞doi͞10.1073͞pnas.0708566104 PNAS ͉ October 23, 2007 ͉ vol. 104 ͉ no. 43 ͉ 16747–16750 Downloaded by guest on September 26, 2021 Nations identified for meeting them (12) organizations that improved governance Our own assessment is that geopoli- reflect this methodological stance. can serve as a principal mechanism to tics, poverty, governance, and geography There is, however, a growing body of reduce poverty. The first is that most all contribute to African exceptionalism, analysis on the in sub- political scientists believe the economy although their respective importance Saharan Africa and its exceptional per- shapes governance institutions more varies by region, country, and place. We sistence. Geopolitics has been a favored than the reverse. More importantly, have developed this view at greater explanation, focusing first on a heritage however, is the finding that distinctive length in Kates’ early analysis of ‘‘least of that left little in the way African socioeconomic and political development’’ (21) and Dasgupta’s more of infrastructure, economy, health, and conditions combine, so that poor people recent emphasis on the interplay among and much that would lead to in Africa seek to meet their needs out- poverty, reproduction, and the state of future problems with conflict-laden bor- side the ‘‘system’’ through an ‘‘economy the local environmental resource base ders and many small landlocked nations. of affection’’ and are less influenced (5). A similar emphasis on the impor- Added to this were the failures of effec- either by the institutions of governance tance of context in understanding causa- tive and sufficient development aid and or by formal markets (16). tion in human-environment systems is of a globalized economy to bring bene- The third article comes from a team central to the PNAS special feature on fits to Africa. Poverty itself is often in- led by economist Paul Okwi (5) of the the need to move “beyond panaceas” in voked in the form of the ‘‘poverty trap’’ International Livestock Research Insti- the governance of natural resource sys- that locks Africans into a vicious circle tute. It focuses on geographic causation, tems, published earlier this year under of little savings, leading to little capital but within a single country, Kenya, for the leadership of Elinor Ostrom (22). investment, few skills, and truncated which the authors report on research Policies and Solutions education. More recently, governance using poverty mapping of 2,232 small has emerged as a favored theme that locations and 7 provinces. Physical qual- Describing African exceptionalism and attributes African exceptionalism to a ities such as land use, soil type, slope, understanding its causes are prerequi- culture that counters entrepreneurship elevation, and distance to public re- sites to policies and solutions for with ties of ethnicity and family, leading sources, as well as demographic and in- reducing African poverty. The most to conflict and maintaining high levels come inequality, explain more than half promising efforts deal with the varied of corruption. The newest approach has of the variation in rural poverty num- causes. Some efforts are already involved the rediscovery of geography, bers. However, as with Africa as a underway. Addressing geopolitics is the and addresses the extensive aridity, poor whole, combinations vary from province New Partnership for Africa’s Develop- soils, and endemic disease of the conti- ment (NEPAD). This pan-African initia- to province. nent as well as the scattered populations tive seeks to promote peace, , Two other articles, described below, in many small landlocked nations, cou- good governance, and enhanced coop- also add to this picture of causation. In pled ironically with the highest popula- eration with development partners the report by Sanchez et al. (17) on the tion growth rates in the world. and civil society. Increasing aid for de- efforts to create millennium villages, the This special feature has three articles velopment is emerging through debt authors understand causation as a pov- on understanding causation: a global forgiveness and the entrance of new erty trap in which poverty itself, hunger analysis, a research perspective, and a development partners such as China. national study that specifically address and disease, rapid population growth, A limited U.S. and European trade pol- cause and effect. In one article (3), Paul environmental degradation, and poor icy gives Africa some trade preferences Collier, Director of the Centre for the governance are all mutually reinforcing (Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, (4, 18). Thus, in rural areas where Study of African Economies at Oxford Ͼ Everything but Arms), but in general, University, argues that the cause of 70% of the population live, poverty it still blocks African access to global worldwide poverty is the lack of eco- prevents farmers from self financing or markets. nomic growth. To explain the excep- getting credit for needed farm inputs Governance has improved despite the tional failures of African economies to (, improved seeds), and soils failure to end conflicts in Chad, , grow over the last quarter century, he become depleted of nutrients after re- and and the retreat from de- draws on extensive sets of statistical re- peated crop cycles without sufficient mocracy in . Violent conflicts gressions of national growth and key replenishment (19). Poverty and envi- have ended in the Congo, Ivory , physical (resource scarcity and wealth, ronmental degradation interact with a Liberia, and and have coastal and landlocked locations) and health crisis, particularly hunger, ma- been prevented in Burundi and Togo. human (small national populations and laria, and AIDS. The resulting high Most hopeful has been the increasing ethnic diversity) geographic features. In child mortality blocks the demographic leadership from major African nations varying combinations, these features transition to low fertility rates. Rapid and the way peaceful transitions of cause problems globally for many devel- population growth and large families power are slowly emerging as a norm. oping economies (13), but they are ex- exacerbate poverty. Finally, poverty also Finally, the limits of geography are ceptionally prevalent in sub-Saharan contributes to poor governance. The being addressed, particularly illness Africa. failure of international governance to (spearheaded by the Gates Foundation). Another article, by G. Hyden (14), a provide sufficient public sector invest- Population growth continues to slow, political scientist at the University of ment and aid and to make global mar- with reduced births from the demo- Florida, provides perspective on the cur- kets accessible contributes as well. graphic transition and unfortunately rent widespread attribution of African Mabogunje (20), in his urban poverty increased deaths from AIDS and tuber- exceptionalism to poor governance, with experiment, adopts the Sachs view of a culosis. In addition, in the first few years the implication that improved gover- poverty trap (4) but adds to the mix of of this century, economic growth in nance would lead to poverty reduction. governance considerations of the failure Africa has increased, and the trend of A 50-year review of African politics and of African governments to enhance the rising poverty in Africa has reversed, related studies (15) leads him to ques- capabilities of their own people and the although the numbers (because of popu- tion, for two major reasons, the prevail- desirable, but insufficient, efforts of civil lation growth) are still high. Increas- ing view in international development society institutions to take up the slack. ingly, education and science are also

16748 ͉ www.pnas.org͞cgi͞doi͞10.1073͞pnas.0708566104 Kates and Dasgupta Downloaded by guest on September 26, 2021 seen as a mechanism to escape the pov- community along with its extensive would seek to contain the detrimental erty trap. New initiatives to rebuild diaspora. Such a consultation took place aspects of informal institutions, such as major , provide access to sci- in 1998 in the city of Ijebu-Ode, in clientelism, by a troika made up of rep- entific literature, make connec- Southwestern (estimated 1999 resentatives of government, civil society, tions widely available, and provide $100 population, 163,000), where, except for and resource providers. Additionally, he laptops seek to overcome the knowledge remittances from relatives away from would pursue all three approaches at limits of small poor countries. home, an estimated 90% of the popula- the same time. Sustainability science and technology tion lived in extreme poverty. The Collier’s research (3) identifies four can also address these needs as a user- consultation brought together the tradi- sets of policies that international and inspired science, both fundamental and tional authorities, local government, regional institutions might undertake, applied. They can address cutting-edge neighborhood associations, market guided by his framework of major geo- questions regarding interactive nature– women, businesses, and citizens in other graphic differences. Resource-rich coun- society systems and their evolving dy- cities and abroad. The Ijebu-Ode experi- tries with high ethnic diversity especially namics, as in the effort to understand ment finds increasing evidence that need to have strong checks and balances the causes of exceptional African pov- poverty in the city has been reduced on how governments use their power erty. However, they also recognize the significantly through the microfinancing and distribute funding. International concurrent need to address sustainabil- of existing and new productive activities policies on transparency and financial ity concerns in problem-solving modes, and through the estimated 8,000 jobs disclosure can help. Such countries are applying what we already know in sci- these have created. Many of these jobs also prone to violent internal conflicts ence-based action programs and learn- came from new or more productive ac- and expanding international and re- ing from the results. Thus, small-scale tivities for which training was provided gional peacekeeping, and security guar- but important efforts can provide new by local practitioners and scientists. antees could help. Resource-scarce experiments in poverty reduction. Two However, community-based poverty re- coastal countries that have missed the of these are reported on in this special duction efforts also have limitations of opportunities to develop Asian-style ex- feature, one rural and one urban. continued leadership, staffing, and fund- port-based manufacturing will require In the rural-oriented experiment, ing. To help cope with these limitations, temporary preferential market access. Sanchez et al. (17) report on the con- Mabogunje (21) argues that increased Finally, countries that are both resource- cept, strategy, and initial results of the national and international aid in the scarce and landlocked have the least Millennium Village Project (78 villages, form of credit funds should be made opportunity for growth. They will need 12 major agroecological zones, and 10 available and that national efforts substantial foreign aid, not for fostering African countries). The project seeks to should continue to improve the capabil- economic growth but for direct address critical interacting needs in agri- ity of poor people through education. provision and consumption of basic culture, health, and infrastructure in However, his research also suggests a necessities. rural Africa through science-based major opportunity to improve the credit interventions funded both by public in- standing of poor people through a more Reflections on this Special Feature vestments and local efforts. First- and determined effort at land reforms that This is one of several inaugural special second-year results from villages in would release much of the land assets of features in the Sustainability Science Kenya, Ethiopia, and Malawi have gen- the poor from a kinship nexus and align section of PNAS (23). Here we reflect erated crop surpluses that have met them with the demands of the free mar- on our special feature as a whole, both caloric requirements, enabled school ket economy. for its findings and as sustainability sci- feeding programs, and provided cash Other articles in this special feature ence. Three major collective findings earnings for farm families while reduc- also report research on the likely effi- stand out: place matters, cause is compli- ing prevalence. There are still cacy of alternative policies and other cated, and experimentation is necessary. significant questions as to project sus- interventions. For example, Okwi et al. Place matters because sub-Saharan tainability and the scaling up of the fa- (6) use their regression models to test Africa is different from the rest of the vorable initial results. The agricultural two specific proposed solutions for sub- developing world. Its poverty differs by portion of the project is intended to be Saharan African , increased agroecological zones, its urban poverty self-financing in 5 years, but the public soil fertility and improved access to differs from rural poverty, its resource- good initiatives in health, education, and markets. The first provincial-level simu- rich countries differ from resource- infrastructure will need continuing cen- lation finds that improved fertility, scarce countries, and its coastal tral government support. Indeed, the either by fertilizer or by improved man- locations differ from its landlocked loca- Millennium Village Project will continue agement techniques, would reduce pov- tions. Within a single country, Kenya, to require major increases in interna- erty significantly, a finding supported by poverty differs by province and location, tional development assistance and con- the Sanchez et al. experiment (17). and in Nigeria, poverty differs by city. tinuing science-based assistance for a However, improving travel time to the Thus, policies and solution need to re- green revolution in Africa for major ad- nearest market centers had only a mi- flect the different causes, problems, and vances in treating malaria, HIV–AIDS, nuscule effect on poverty. opportunities of specific contexts and and neglected tropical diseases, and for Hyden’s findings (14) have suggestions places. improvements in information technol- for policy that run counter to most devel- Cause is complicated because geopoli- ogy. The experiment is very much an opment aid policy. In his evolution ap- tics, poverty, governance, and geography ongoing one. proach, he would build on already- all contribute to African exceptionalism. The urban experiment in poverty re- existing informal institutions that might However, the research reported here, duction reported on by Akin Mabogunje evolve in a direction in line with the together with other recent findings in a (21), Chairman Emeritus of the Devel- formal requirements of national devel- similar vein, is far more nuanced than opment Policy Centre (Ibadan, Nigeria), opment. In a diffusion approach, he previous efforts that simply or singly was whether poverty can be dramatically would look for ‘‘pockets of productivity’’ blamed history, geography, culture, or reduced through a city consultation and ‘‘champions of success’’ and support the industrialized North. A coherent process that seeks to mobilize an entire these. In his insulation approach, he story of the causes of African exception-

Kates and Dasgupta PNAS ͉ October 23, 2007 ͉ vol. 104 ͉ no. 43 ͉ 16749 Downloaded by guest on September 26, 2021 alism and how they can be overcome, development. It is an exemplar of sus- nonetheless overly reflect their disciplin- however, remains to be told. tainability science because it tackles a ary origins. The transdisciplinary goal of Experimentation is necessary, as in all big problem (in current jargon, a grand fully integrating the natural and social science; the examples given in this spe- challenge). In our judgment, it is a sciences and of using truly socioecologi- cial feature whet our appetites for more. challenge rivaled in our time perhaps cal models is not realized. Major contri- Socioecological experiments in poverty only by and peace and butions from technology and the health reduction suffer from many of the same security. It illustrates sustainability sci- sciences are absent but should be forth- problems encountered by large-scale ence because it is clearly interdiscipli- coming in other special features. And, health intervention experiments but lack nary, with lead authors and editors as in previous work, our special feature the mitigating experience and tradition from economics, geography, political remains stronger on critical analysis of gold-standard case-control studies, science, and soil science. It is interna- than on offering practical and place- rigorous evidence collection and analy- sis, frank discussions of ethical issues, tional: the lead authors and editors all based solutions. and, probably most important, a societal come from different countries, includ- Yet there is hope. Among them, the willingness to fund and support long- ing two from Africa itself, and all have authors and editors have several centu- term studies. Thus, to an unusual worked in developing countries. Most ries of professional experience to draw degree, we are relegated to so-called importantly, it asks fundamental ques- on, and several exhibit a touch of skep- ‘‘natural experiments’’ and the second- tions but seeks practical and place- ticism, perhaps even cynicism. How- best use of regression techniques to based solutions. ever, none evidence the loss of hope extract reliable lessons from them. But it is also lacking in other quali- that poverty can be overcome and that Finally, this special feature is sus- ties. Although interdisciplinary overall science has much to contribute to that tainability science, but still in early as a special feature, some of our articles effort.

1. Chen S, Ravallion M (2007) Proc Natl Acad Sci 7. United Nations Development Programme (2006) 15. Hyden G (2006) African Politics in Comparative USA 104:16757–16762. Human Development Report 2006 (Palgrave Mac- Perspective (Cambridge Univ Press, New York). 2. Jamison DT, Breman JG, Measham AR, Alleyne G, millan, New York). 16. Hyden G (1980) Beyond Ujamaa in : Claeson M, Evans DB, Jha P, Mills A, Musgrove P, 8. Sen A (1985) Commodities and Capabilities (Oxford Underdevelopment and an Uncaptured Peasantry eds (2006) Disease Control Priorities in Developing Univ Press, Oxford). (Univ of California Press, Berkeley). Countries (Oxford Univ Press, Oxford), 2nd Ed. 9. Sen A (1999) Development as Freedom (Oxford 17. Sanchez P, Palm C, Sachs J, Denning G, Flor R, 3. Collier P (2007) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA Univ Press, Oxford). Harawa R, Jama B, Kiflemariam T, Konecky B, 104:16763–16768. 10. Nussbaum MC, Amartya S, eds (1993) The Quality Kozar R, et al. (2007) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 4. Sachs JD, McArthur JW, Schmidt-Traub G, Kruk of Life (Clarendon, Oxford). 104:16775–16780. M, Bahadur C, Faye M, McCord G (2004) Ending 11. Nussbaum MC (2000) Women and Human Devel- 18. Sachs JD (2005) The End of Poverty (Penguin, New Africa’s Poverty Trap, in Brookings Papers on opment: The Capabilities Approach (Cambridge York). Economic Activity (Brookings Institution, Wash- Univ Press, Cambridge, UK). 19. Sanchez PA, Swaminathan MS (2005) Science 307–357. ington, DC), no 2, pp 117–216. 12. UN Millennium Project (2005) Investing in 20. Mabogunje A (2007) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 5. Dasgupta P, ed (2004) World Poverty: Causes and Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the 104:16781–16786. Consequences, Annual Conference on Millennium Development Goals (Earthscan, 21. Berry L, Kates RW, eds (1980) in Least Developed Development Economics 2004 (World Bank, London). Nations, Alternative Ways to Development (Holmes Washington, DC). 13. Collier P (2007) The Bottom Billion: Why the and Meier, New York), pp 243–253. 6. Okwi P, Ndeng’e G, Kristjanson P, Arunga M, Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be 22. Ostrom E, Janssen MA, Anderics JM (2007) Proc Notenbaert A, Omolo A, Henninger N, Benson T, Done About It (Oxford Univ Press, Oxford). Natl Acad Sci USA 104:15176–15178. Kariuki P, Owuor J (2007) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 14. Hyden G (2007) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:16751– 23. Clark WC (2007) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:16769–16774. 16755. 104:1737–1738.

16750 ͉ www.pnas.org͞cgi͞doi͞10.1073͞pnas.0708566104 Kates and Dasgupta Downloaded by guest on September 26, 2021