May
To uplift millions from poverty, accelerated growth is wished. In doing so, natural resources are being quickly depleted. The idea that with fast growth we will get means to handle the environmental damage we cause is false. To solve the problem, author looks at the BRICS on the fields of development, environmental indicators, resource usage and societal factors.
Brics account for 43% of world population, 30% of land area (13% is arable), 10% global GDP, income per capita 31% of global average, CO2 emissions 66% of global.
Brazil thought it has unlimited resources, realizing now. 23% poverty, limited investment.
Russia last 15 years: steep decline, then growth of GDP, falling life expectancy, increased income differentiation, first reduced, then increased CO2 emissions.
India is overusing arable land, has increased use of fertilizer by 20% in less than decade. 19% of land is reserved/protected. Population growth is reducing, poverty was harshly reduced, life expectancy doubled since independence. Water shortage, high energy inefficiency.
China has very inefficient, very high energy usage, water shortage.
South Africa has abundancy of resources and a lot of tourism. The market is well developed, but unemployment is very high and there’s still big differences between black and white, and big income differentiation overall. 50% lived in poverty in 2003. Water scarcity.  24% of rural people have access to piped water, 15% to sanitation.
The governments can’t solve the problems alone, need help from companies, their residents and international organizations/other governments. They need mostly financial and technological help, but “Georges-cu-Roegen was unequivocal in asserting that residents of ‘developed’ nations must accept a lower standard of living if ‘underdeveloped’ countries are ever to escape poverty” (Gowdy and Mesner, 1998).
Some BRICS try to not separate a ministry of environment, just involve it in general discussions.
China’s ‘New Development Strategy’:
•	Top down approach
•	Circular economy (reusing waste as resource)
•	Narrowing gap between rural and urban areas
•	Energy efficiency
•	Reducing water usage
India:
•	Better recycling & waste management
•	Tackling environmental issues by looking at administrative tools, impact assessment, research and collection and dissemination of environmental information.
•	Heavily needs residents to do things themselves, government needs to spread Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) to help them do this.
Brazil:
•	Societal control, stakeholder participation to yield sustainable solutions
•	A work plan focussed on
o	high-level government commitment
o	flexibility to reallocate existing resources where necessary to meet incremental demands
o	capacity to quickly leverage partnerships to stimulate the flow of private sector and international resources, as well as technical support
Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative in South Africa:
•	Mainly just focussed on economic growth to reduce poverty, aimed to half poverty by 2014 (from which starting point???), attain a growth rate of 6%, improve infrastructure and empower the black man.
•	Still very resource intensive (plantation forestry, mining platinum, biofuel projects, big scale farming and livestock projects), using water and land, without allowing new companies to the market (only enriching the rich).
The countries now outsource public projects, but there are no environmental guidelines available, which causes more environmental degradation.
India keeps close eye, developing rules as they go, which boosts private sector morale.
Brazil has lot of private-public combinations for firms, but since the government is never clear to the companies when they can expect funding, lots of things are postponed.
China is more privatized than you’d think. Started in 1970s already, privatization mostly in 1990s, since 2007 open market.