Environmental Policy Instruments in Developing Countries

Developing countries face a wide range of environmental and resource problems including many already solved in industrialized countries. Since agriculture, forestry, and fisheries constitute a much larger part of the economy in these countries and the poor are disproportionately concentrated in these sectors, problems of resource depletion such as inappropriate allocation of surface water, soil erosion and deforestation are all very important. Indoor air pollution related to heating and cooking as well as waterborne diseases associated with unsafe water and sanitation are leading causes of death. The persistence of these problems in developing countries is related to a number of key factors discussed in this paper and generally related, in some way, to the failure of public good provision.