Hostname: page-component-669899f699-tpknm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-27T19:43:14.984Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Poverty, development, and environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2010

EDWARD B. BARBIER
EDWARD B. BARBIER*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics and Finance, University of Wyoming, 1000 E University Ave, Laramie, WY 82071, USA. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the complex relationship that exists between poverty and natural resource degradation in developing countries. The rural poor are often concentrated in fragile, or less favorable, environmental areas. Consequently, their livelihoods can be intimately dependent on natural resource use and ecosystem services. The relationship between poverty and natural resource degradation may depend on a complex range of choices and tradeoffs available to the poor, which in the absence of capital, labor, and land markets, is affected by their access to outside employment and any natural resource endowments. The paper develops a poverty–environment model to characterize some of these linkages, and concludes by discussing policy implications and avenues for further research.

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 15 , Issue 6: 15 YEARS OF EDE – ADVANCES AND CHALLENGES IN ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS , December 2010 , pp. 635 - 660
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adhikari, B. (2005), ‘Poverty, property rights, and collective action: understanding the distributive aspects of common property resource management’, Environment and Development Economics 10 (1): 7–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alix-Garcia, J., De Janvry, A., and Sadoulet, E. (2008), ‘The role of deforestation risk and calibrated compensation in designing payments for environmental services’, Environment and Development Economics 13: 375–394.Google Scholar
Aylward, B. and Echeverría, J. (2001), ‘Synergies between livestock production and hydrological function in Arenal, Costa Rica’, Environment and Development Economics 6: 359–381.Google Scholar
Badola, R. and Hussain, S.A. (2005), ‘Valuing ecosystems functions: an empirical study on the storm protection function of Bhitarkanika mangrove ecosystem, India’, Environmental Conservation 32 (1): 85–92.Google Scholar
Bandaranayake, W.M. (1998), ‘Traditional and medicinal uses of mangroves’, Mangroves and Salt Marsh 2: 133–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banerjee, A.V. and Duflo, E. (2007), ‘The economic lives of the poor’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 21 (1): 141–168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barbier, E.B. (2003), ‘Upstream dams and downstream water allocation – The case of the Hadejia-Jama'are floodplain, Northern Nigeria’, Water Resources Research 39 (11): 1311–1319.Google Scholar
Barbier, E.B. (2005), Natural Resources and Economic Development, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Barbier, E.B. (2007a), ‘Natural capital and labor allocation: mangrove-dependent households in Thailand’, The Journal of Environment and Development 16: 398–431.Google Scholar
Barbier, E.B. (2007b), ‘Valuing ecosystem services as productive inputs’, Economic Policy 22 (49): 177–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barbier, E.B. (2008), ‘In the wake of the tsunami: lessons learned from the household decision to replant mangroves in Thailand’, Resource and Energy Economics 30: 229–249.Google Scholar
Barbier, E.B. (2010), Scarcity and Frontiers: How Economies Have Evolved Through Natural Resource Exploitation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barbier, E.B. and Strand, I. (1998), ‘Valuing mangrove-fishery linkages: a case study of Campeche, Mexico’, Environmental and Resource Economics 12: 151–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnum, H.B. and Squire, L. (1979), ‘A Model of an Agricultural Household: Theory and Evidence’, Technical Report, The World Bank Occasional Papers No. 27.Google Scholar
Barrett, C.B. (2004), ‘Rural-poverty dynamics: development policy implications’, Agricultural Economics 32 (1): 43–58.Google Scholar
Barrett, C.B., Reardon, T., and Webb, P. (2001), ‘Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics and policy implications’, Food Policy 26: 315–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, C.B. and Swallow, B.M. (2006), ‘Fractal poverty traps’, World Development 34 (1): 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bluffstone, R.A. (1995), ‘The effect of labor market performance on deforestation in developing countries under open access: an example from rural Nepal’, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 29: 42–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulte, E.H., Boone, R.B., Stringer, R., and Thornton, P.K. (2008), ‘Elephants or onions? Paying for nature in Amboseli, Kenya’, Environment and Development Economics 13: 395–414.Google Scholar
Carter, M.R. and Barrett, C.B. (2006), ‘The economics of poverty traps and persistent poverty: an asset-based approach’, Journal of Development Studies 42 (2): 178–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, M.R., Little, P.D., Mogues, T., and Negatu, W. (2007), ‘Poverty traps and natural disasters in Ethiopia and Honduras’, World Development 35 (5): 835–856.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caviglia-Harris, J.L. (2004) ‘Household production and forest clearing: the role of farming in the development of the Amazon’, Environment and Development Economics 9: 181–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cesar, H.S.J. (2000), ‘Coral reefs: their functions, threats and economic value’, in Cesar, H.S.J. (ed), Collected Essays on the Economics of Coral Reefs, Kalmar, Sweden: CORDIO, pp. 14–39.Google Scholar
Chen, S. and Ravallion, M. (2007), ‘Absolute poverty measures for the developing world, 1981–2004’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104 (43): 16757–16762.Google Scholar
Chomitz, K.M. and Kumari, K. (1998), ‘The domestic benefits of tropical forests: a critical review’, The World Bank Research Observer 13 (1): 13–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chong, J. (2005), Protective Values of Mangroves and Coral Ecosystem: A Review of Methods and Evidence, Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.Google Scholar
Chopra, K. and Adhikari, S.K. (2004), ‘Environment development linkages: modeling a wetland system for ecological and economic value’, Environment and Development Economics 9: 19–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coady, D., Grosh, M., and Hoddinott, J. (2004), ‘Targeting outcomes redux’, World Bank Research Observer 19 (1): 61–85.Google Scholar
Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture (2007), Water for Food, Water for Life: A Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, London: Earthscan, and Colombo: International Water Management Institute.Google Scholar
Coxhead, I., Shively, G.E. and Shuai, X. (2002), ‘Development policies, resource constraints, and agricultural expansion on the Philippine land frontier’, Environment and Development Economics 7: 341–364.Google Scholar
Das, S. and Vincent, J.R. (2009), ‘Mangroves protected villages and reduced death toll during Indian super cyclone’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106: 7357–7360.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dasgupta, P. (1993), An Inquiry into Well-Being and Destitution, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, P. (1997), ‘Nutritional status, the capacity for work, and poverty traps’, Journal of Econometrics 77: 5–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dasgupta, P. (2003), ‘Population, poverty, and the natural environment’, in Mäler, K.-G. and Vincent, J.R. (eds), Handbook of Environmental Economics, Volume 1: Environmental Degradation and Institutional Responses, Amsterdam: North Holland, pp. 191–247.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, S., Deichmann, U., Meisner, C., and Wheeler, D. (2005), ‘Where is the poverty-environment nexus? Evidence from Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam’, World Development 33 (4): 617–638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dercon, S. (1998), ‘Wealth, risk and activity choice: cattle in western Tanzania’, Journal of Development Economics 55: 1–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Development Research Group (2008), ‘Lessons from World Bank Research on Financial Crises’, Policy Research Working Paper 4779, World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Diwakara, H. and Chandrakanth, M.G. (2007), ‘Beating negative externality through groundwater recharge in India: a resource economic analysis’, Environment and Development Economics 12: 271–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elbers, C., Fujii, T., Lanjouw, P., Özler, B., and Yin, W. (2007), ‘Poverty alleviation through geographic targeting: how much does disaggregation help?’, Journal of Development Economics 83: 198–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, M.M. (2004), ‘Household welfare and forest dependence in southern Malawi’, Environment and Development Economics 9: 135–154.Google Scholar
Fisher, M.M. and Shively, G.E. (2005), ‘Can income programs reduce tropical forest pressure? Income shocks and forest use in Malawi’, World Development 37 (7): 1115–1128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, M.M., Shively, G.E., and Buccola, S. (2005), ‘Activity choice, labor allocation, and forest use in Malawi’, Land Economics 81 (4): 503–517.Google Scholar
Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) (2001), ‘Forest Resources Assessment 2000: Main Report’, FAO Forestry Paper 140, Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2003), State of the World's Forests 2003, Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
Gonazález-Vega, C., Rodríguez-Meza, J., Southgate, D., and Maldonado, J.H. (2004), ‘Poverty, structural transformation, and land use in El Salvador: learning from household panel data’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 86 (5): 1367–1374.Google Scholar
Gray, L.C. and Mosley, W.G. (2005), ‘A geographical perspective on poverty-environment interactions’, The Geographical Journal 171 (1): 9–23.Google Scholar
Grieg-Gran, M.-A., Porras, I., and Wunder, S. (2005), ‘How can market mechanisms for forest environmental services help the poor? Preliminary lessons from Latin America’, World Development 33 (9): 1511–1527.Google Scholar
Guo, Z., Xiao, X., Gan, Y., and Zheng, Y. (2001), ‘Ecosystem functions, services and their values – a case study in Xingshan County of China’, Ecological Economics 38: 141–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammitt, J.K., Liu, J.-T., and Liu, J.-L. (2001), ‘Contingent valuation of a Taiwanese wetland’, Environment and Development Economics 6: 259–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holden, S., Shiferaw, B., and Pender, J. (2004), ‘Non-farm income, household welfare, and sustainable land management in a less-favoured area in the Ethiopian highlands’, Food Policy 29: 369–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Islam, M. and Braden, J.B. (2006), ‘Bio-economic development of floodplains: farming versus fishing in Bangladesh’, Environment and Development Economics 11: 95–126.Google Scholar
Jackson, J.B.C., Kirby, M.X., Berger, W.H., Bjørndal, K.A., Botsford, L.W., Bourque, B.J., Bradbury, R.H., Cooke, R., Erlandson, J., Estes, J.A., Hughes, T.P., Kidwell, S., Lange, C.B., Lenihan, H.S., Pandolfi, J.M., Peterson, C.H., Steneck, R.S., Tegner, M.J., and Warner, R.R. (2001), ‘Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems’, Science 293: 629–638.Google Scholar
Jacoby, H.G. (1993), ‘Shadow wages and peasant family labor supply: an econometric application to the Peruvian Sierra’, Review of Economic Studies 60: 903–921.Google Scholar
Jansen, H.G.P., Rodriguez, A., Damon, A., Pender, J., Chenier, J., and Schipper, R. (2006), ‘Determinants of income-earning strategies and adoption of conservation practices in hillside communities in rural Honduras’, Agricultural Systems 88: 92–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kremen, C., Niles, J.O., Dalton, M.G., Daily, G.C., Ehrlich, P.R., Fay, J.P., Grewal, D., and Guillery, R.P. (2000), ‘Economic incentives for rainforest conversion across scales’, Science 288: 1828–1832.Google Scholar
Lemley, A.D., Kingsford, R.T., and Thompson, J.R. (2000), ‘Irrigated agriculture and wildlife conservation: conflict on a global scale’, Environmental Management 25 (5): 485–512.Google Scholar
López, R. (1998), ‘Agricultural intensification, common property resources and the farm household’, Environmental and Resource Economics 11 (3–4): 443–458.Google Scholar
López-Feldman, A. and Wilen, J.E. (2008), ‘Poverty and spatial dimensions of non-timber forest extraction’, Environment and Development Economics 13: 621–642.Google Scholar
McSweeney, K. (2005), ‘Natural insurance, forest access, and compound misfortune: forest resources in smallholder coping strategies before and after Hurricane Mitch in northeastern Honduras’, World Development 33 (9): 1453–1471.Google Scholar
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), Ecosystems and Human Well-being: A Framework for Assessment, Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Minot, N. and Baulch, B. (2002), ‘The spatial distribution of poverty in Vietnam and the potential for targeting’, Policy Research Working Paper 2829, Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Moberg, F. and Folke, C. (1999), ‘Ecological goods and services of coral reef ecosystems’, Ecological Economics 29: 215–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moberg, F. and Rönnbäck, P. (2003), ‘Ecosystem services of the tropical seascape: Interactions, substitutions, and restoration’, Ocean & Coastal Management 46: 27–46.Google Scholar
Narain, U., Gupta, S., and van 't Veld, K. (2008a), ‘Poverty and resource dependence in rural India’, Ecological Economics 66 (1): 161–176.Google Scholar
Narain, U., Gupta, S., and van 't Veld, K. (2008b), ‘Poverty and the environment: exploring the relationship between household incomes, private assets, and natural assets’, Land Economics 84 (1): 148–167.Google Scholar
Naylor, R. and Drew, M. (1998), ‘Valuing mangrove resources in Kosrae, Micronesia’, Environment and Development Economics 3: 471–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Othman, J., Bennett, J., and Blamey, R. (2004), ‘Environmental management and resource management options: a choice modelling experience in Malaysia’, Environment and Development Economics 9: 803–824.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pagiola, S., Arcenas, A., and Platais, G. (2005), ‘Can payments for environmental services help reduce poverty? An exploration of the issues and the evidence to date from Latin America’, World Development 33 (2): 237–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pascual, U. and Barbier, E.B. (2006), ‘Deprived land-use intensification in shifting cultivation: the population pressure hypothesis revisited’, Agricultural Economics 34: 155–165.Google Scholar
Pascual, U. and Barbier, E.B. (2007), ‘On price liberalization, poverty, and shifting cultivation: an example from Mexico’, Land Economics 83 (2): 192–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pattanayak, S.K. and Kramer, R.A. (2001), ‘Worth of watersheds: a producer surplus approach for valuing drought mitigation in Eastern Indonesia’, Environment and Development Economics 6: 123–146.Google Scholar
Pattanayak, S.K., Mercer, D.E., Sills, E., and Yang, J-C. (2003), ‘Taking stock of agroforestry adoption studies’, Agroforestry Systems 57: 173–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pattanayak, S.K. and Sills, E. (2001), ‘Do tropical forests provide natural insurance? The microeconomics of non-timber forest products collection in the Brazilian Amazon’, Land Economics 77 (4): 595–612.Google Scholar
Pender, J. (2004), ‘Development pathways for hillsides and highlands: some lessons from Central America and East Africa’, Food Policy 29: 339–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Population Division of the United Nations Secretariat (2008), World Urbanization Prospects: The 2007 Revision: Executive Summary, New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
Postel, S.L. and Thompson, B.H. Jr. (2005), ‘Watershed protection: capturing the benefits of nature's water supply services’, Natural Resources Forum 29: 98–108.Google Scholar
Ravallion, M. (2008), ‘Bailing out the World's Poorest’, Policy Research Working Paper 4763, World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Reardon, T. and Vosti, S.A. (1995), ‘Links between rural poverty and the environment in developing countries – asset categories and investment poverty’, World Development 23: 1495–506.Google Scholar
Richards, M. (1997), ‘The potential for economic valuation of watershed protection in mountainous areas: a case study from Bolivia’, Mountain Research and Development 17 (1): 19–30.Google Scholar
Rodwell, L.D., Barbier, E.B., Roberts, C.M., and McClanahan, T.R. (2003), ‘The importance of habitat quality for marine reserve-fishery linkages’, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 60: 171–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rönnbäck, P., Crona, B., and Ingwall, L. (2007), ‘The return of ecosystem goods and services in replanted mangrove forests: perspectives from local communities in Kenya’, Environmental Conservation 34 (4): 313–324.Google Scholar
Rosegrant, M.W., Cai, X., and Cline, S.A. (2002), World Water and Food to 2025: Dealing with Scarcity, Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.Google Scholar
Ruitenbeek, H.J. (1994), ‘Modeling economy-ecology linkages in mangroves: economic evidence for promoting conservation in Bintuni Bay, Indonesia’, Ecological Economics 10 (3): 233–247.Google Scholar
Sarntisart, I. and Sathirathai, S. (2004), ‘Mangrove dependency, income distribution and conservation’, in Barbier, E.B. and Sathirathai, S. (eds), Shrimp Farming and Mangrove Loss in Thailand, London: Edward Elgar, pp. 96–114.Google Scholar
Scherr, S.J. (1999), ‘Poverty-environment interactions in agriculture: key factors and policy implications’, Paper 3 in United Nations Development Program and European Community, Poverty and Environment Initiative, New York: UNDP.Google Scholar
Scherr, S.J. (2000), ‘A downward spiral? Research evidence on the relationship between poverty and natural resource degradation’, Food Policy 25: 479–498.Google Scholar
Shackleton, C.M. and Schackleton, S.E. (2006), ‘Household wealth status and natural resource use in the Kat River valley, South Africa’, Ecological Economics 57: 306–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shively, G.E. (1997), ‘Poverty, technology, and wildlife hunting in Palawan’, Environmental Conservation 24 (1): 57–63.Google Scholar
Shively, G.E. and Fisher, M. (2004), ‘Smallholder labor and deforestation: a systems approach’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 86 (5): 1361–1366.Google Scholar
Shone, B.M. and Caviglia-Harris, J. (2006), ‘Quantifying and comparing the value of non-timber forest products in the Amazon’, Ecological Economics 58: 249–267.Google Scholar
Silvano, R., Udvardy, A.M.S, Ceroni, M., and Farley, J. (2005), ‘An ecological integrity assessment of a Brazilian Atlantic Forest watershed based on surveys of stream health and local farmers’ perceptions: implications for management’, Ecological Economics 53: 369–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takasaki, Y., Barham, B.L., and Coomes, O.T. (2004), ‘Risk coping strategies in tropical forests: floods, illness, and resource extraction’, Environment and Development Economics 9: 203–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (2006), ‘Marine and coastal ecosystems and human wellbeing: a synthesis report based on the findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment’, Nairobi: UNEP.Google Scholar
Valiela, I., Bowen, J.L., and York, J.K. (2001), ‘Mangrove forests: one of the world's threatened major tropical environments’, BioScience 51 (10): 807–815.Google Scholar
Vedeld, P., Angelsen, A., Sjaastad, E., and Berg, G.K. (2004), ‘Counting on the Environment: Forest Incomes and the Rural Poor’, Environment Department Paper 98, World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Walters, B.B., Rönnbäck, P., Kovacs, J.M., Crona, B., Hussain, S.A., Badola, R., Primavera, J.H., Barbier, E.B., and Dahdouh-Guebas, F. (2008), ‘Ethnobiology, socio-economics and management of mangrove forests: a review’, Aquatic Botany 89: 220–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walton, M.E., Giselle, M., Samonte-Tan, P.B., Primavera, J.H., Edwards-Jones, G., and Le Vay, L. (2006), ‘Are mangroves worth replanting? The direct economic benefits of a community-based reforestation project’, Environmental Conservation 33 (4): 335–343.Google Scholar
World Bank (2003), World Development Report 2003, Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank (2008a), Poverty and the Environment: Understanding Linkages at the Household Level, Washington, DC: The World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank (2008b), World Development Indicators, Washington, DC: The World Bank.Google Scholar
World Commission on Environment and Development (1987), Our Common Future, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Worm, B., Barbier, E.B., Beaumont, N., Duffy, J.E., Folke, C., Halpern, B.S., Jackson, J.B.C., Lotzke, H.K., Micheli, F., Palumbi, S.R., Sala, E., Selkoe, K.A., Stachowicz, J.J., and Watson, R. (2006), ‘Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem services’, Science 314: 787–790.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wunder, S. (2001), ‘Poverty alleviation and tropical forests – what scope for synergies?’, World Development 29: 1817–1833.Google Scholar
Wunder, S. (2008), ‘Payments for environmental services and the poor: concepts and preliminary evidence’, Environment and Development Economics 13: 279–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zilberman, D., Lipper, L., and McCarthy, N. (2008), ‘When could payments for environmental services benefit the poor?’, Environment and Development Economics 13: 255–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar