Environment in East Timor Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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The small country 5,794 square miles (15,007 square kilometers) now known as the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, or more commonly as East Timor, has been alternately occupied by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the Japanese. The most repressive occupation, however, occurred in the 20th century when the United States, Canada, Britain, and Australia supported Indonesia’s brutal military occupation of East Timor from 1975 to 1999. Estimates of lives lost during this occupation vary from 100,000 to 250,000. Following the 1999 bid for independence, Indonesia retaliated by launching a military backlash and a scorched-earth policy. Around 1,300 Timorese were subsequently killed and 300,000 were forced to seek refuge in West Timor.

Part of the Malay Archipelago, East Timor is a set of islands located in southeastern Asia at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago. In addition to the eastern half of Timor, the nation encompasses the Ambeno region in the northwest portion of Timor and the islands of Pulau Atauro and Pulau Jaco. Bordering on the shared waters of the Timor, Banda, and Savu Seas, East Timor has a 438-mile (706-kilometer) coastline. The climate is tropical with distinct rainy and dry seasons, and the country is subject to frequent flooding and landslides and to occasional earthquakes, tsunamis, and tropical cyclones. The terrain is mountainous with elevations ranging from sea level to 9,717 feet (2,963 meters). Natural resources include gold, petroleum, natural gas, manganese, and marble.

The Indonesian occupation left East Timor with an annihilated infrastructure that included massive destruction to irrigation systems, water supplies, schools, and homes. The entire electric grid of the country was wiped out. On September 20, 1999, Australian troops led the International Force for East Timor in restoring peace to the islands. In 2002, East Timor became the first nation to establish independence in the 21st century. The infrastructure is in the process of being restored, and all but 30,000 or so refugees have returned. Current Timorese population estimates range from 800,000 to 1,000,000. Oil and gas resources are being developed, and a petroleum reserve fund has been created.

Poorest Country in the World

At present, however, East Timor is the poorest country in the world, with a per capita income of only $400. Some 42 percent of the population live below the poverty line. An abnormally high fertility rate of 7.8 children per female is partially a response to the high infant mortality rate (45.89 deaths per 1,000 live births) that results from common childhood diseases and a low immunization rate (50 percent for children under two years of age). Approximately 8 percent of the population live in urban areas where one-fifth of adults are unemployed. Low literacy (58.6 percent) and educational (75 percent) rates make it more difficult for young people to obtain employment, and hundreds emigrate each year. Around 80 percent of Timorese depend on subsistence agriculture for survival. The UNDP Human Development Reports rank East Timor 140th of 234 countries on overall quality-of-life issues.

Current environmental problems in East Timor are a result of massive poverty leading to over-extraction and unsustainable harvesting of forests, resulting in widespread deforestation and soil erosion. Coral reefs and fisheries have been threatened and soil eroded by droughts and seasonal rains. The burning of wood in poorly ventilated kitchens leads to a plethora of respiratory diseases. Timorese health is also adversely affected by the fact that 66 percent of the population lack access to improved sanitation, and 48 percent have no access to safe drinking water. There is also great concern that the increased exploitation of petroleum resources may result in further environmental problems, as have been witnessed in poorer oil-exporting nations around the world.

Under the guidance of the Ministry of Development and Agriculture, the Timorese government has expressed its commitment to creating a sustainable environment that will promote economic growth, eradicate poverty, enhance biodiversity, and halt land degradation.

The government is working with Australia and a number of international agencies to establish policies geared toward achieving these goals. However, environmentalism in East Timor is still in its infancy. Due to its status as a fledgling nation, East Timor has not begun participating in international environmental agreements.

Bibliography:

A. Bowers and Frederique Apfell-Marglin, eds., Rethinking Freire: Globalization and the Environment Crisis (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005);
Timothy Doyle, Environmental Movements in Minority and Majority Worlds: A Global Perspective (Rutgers University Press, 2005);
Kevin Hillstrom and Laurie Collier Hillstrom, Asia: A Continental Overview of Environmental Issues (ABC-CLIO, 2003);
Michael Howard, Asia’s Environmental Crisis (Westview, 1993).