Poverty and environment are inter-linked through four
main dimensions: livelihoods, resilience to
environmental risks, health and economic development.
Livelihoods: Ecosystems -- a dynamic complex of plant,
animal and micro-organism communities and their
nonliving environment interacting as a functional unit --
provide goods and services (e.g. food, clean water, energy
and shelter) on which poor people rely disproportionately
for their well-being and basic needs. They also depend on
the environment to earn incomes in sectors such as
agriculture, fishing, forestry and tourism, both in formal
and informal markets.
Resilience to environmental risks: Poor people are more
vulnerable to natural disasters (e.g. flooding, drought), the
effects of climate change, and environmental shocks that
threaten among others their livelihoods and undermine
food security. Improving environmental management of
for example watersheds and mangrove forests increase the
resilience of poor people and their livelihoods to
environmental risks.
Health: Environmental conditions account for a
significant portion of health risks to poor people. On the
other hand, good health conditions are beneficial in terms
of resilience, livelihoods, productivity and economic
development.
Economic development: The environment contributes
directly and indirectly to the economic development and
level of employment, in particular in developing
countries, through sectors such as agriculture, energy,
forestry, fisheries, and tourism.
Poverty environment linkages are dynamic and context
specific reflecting both geographic location, scale and the
economic, social, and cultural characteristics of
individuals, households, and social groups. By addressing
the environmental issues it is possible for developing
countries to ensure a sustainable path to poverty reduction
and human development. .
Examples of poverty-environment issues include soil
degradation that affects nearly 2 billion hectares,
damaging the livelihoods of up to 1 billion people living
on drylands. Around 70% of commercial fisheries are
either fully or overexploited, and 1.7 billion people – a
third of the developing world’s population – live in
countries facing water stress.
There is an uneven geography of consumption,
environmental damage and human impact. Rich countries
generate most of the world’s environmental pollution and
deplete many of its natural resources. Key examples
include depletion of the world’s fisheries and emissions of
greenhous e gases that cause climate change, both of
which are tied to unsustainable consumption patterns by
rich people and countries. In rich countries per capita
carbon dioxide emissions are 12.4 tonnes while in middleincome countries they are 3.2 tonnes and in low-income
countries, 1.0 tonne. Poor people are most vulnerable to
environmental shocks and stresses such as the anticipated
impacts of global climate change.
