8 - Rural Poverty and Resource Degradation

Summary

This chapter, which begins Part III, centers on a third important aspect of natural resources and economic development in poor countries: namely, that many of the poor in low- and middle-income economies are located in rural areas and remain dependent on agricultural and other renewable resources for their livelihoods, as emphasized by the above quote from Partha Dasgupta. This has two important implications for an economic approach to improved resource management for sustainable development in poor countries. First, we need to understand better the linkages between rural poverty and resource degradation, especially how they might lead to poverty–environment traps in certain geographical areas.