Expository Case

Southeastern Asia has experienced many successes in some of the goals set by the United Nations. Extreme poverty and hunger in this region has declined in the past ten to fifteen years. Asia in general, leads the decline in global poverty. Southeastern Asia has already hit the UN's target goal for the year 2015 and is now at a poverty level of 7.3 percent of the population. Specifically, this is the percentage of people living on less than $1 a day.

One of the factors leading to this great decline in poverty within southeastern Asia has been the great economic growth and progress within the region. Countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore have all experienced high economic growth spurts within the last ten to fifteen years. In a report by UN-Habitat, most of the decline in poverty has been attributed to this growth.

Studies in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines have shown that most of the decline in poverty rates has been attributed to economic growth rather than to improved distribution. However, growth alone can produce undesirable distributional outcomes even when reducing poverty. In China, where large-scale poverty reductions have been achieved, inequality has deepened, with income distribution now in favor of urban areas and coastal regions (UN-Habitat).

Associated with this decline in poverty is a decline in hunger. Chronic hunger is measured by the proportion of people lacking the food needed to meet their daily needs. Hunger has declined the most within Southeastern Asia (by about 6 percent); however, this decline has been much more minimal due to the rise in the number of people going hungry. As mentioned earlier, much of the decline in poverty is associated with economic growth; yet, as the economy increases within the region, the distribution of income becomes more disparate. The wealth isn't distributed equally and thus helps to create a widening of the gap between those impoverished and those well off.

Thailand is a unique example of decline in poverty and hunger in Southeastern Asia. During the 1950's, the King of Thailand instituted a new farming systems approach (nicknamed "New Theory") to help lessen poverty and hunger among the poorer sects of the population. The goal behind this "New Theory" or Tridsadeemai (ทฤษฎีใหม่) (see Bureau of Agricultural promotion 1999, Khn Kaen University 1999, Phonhomthong, 2001) as it came to be known locally was four fold: 1) To help rural Thais find an alternative to raising opium, 2) To conserve natural resources for future use, 3) To promote an environmental ethos in land and forest resource utilization, and 4) promote provident living. The intent of the "New Theory" was to provide farmers and hill tribes with the skills and resources to grow all they needed with minimal dependency on outside sources.

The results from this new farming