Poverty and the Environment

The workshop looked at how the poor are both victims and agents of environmental degradation. The reduction in natural capital, seriously impede the prospects for long term economic development and reductions in poverty.

The other link, poverty leading to environmental degradation, is less obvious. On the one hand, poverty may result in myopic behaviour, ignoring long term environmental effects and lack of means to protect the environment. On the other hand, the means to destroy the environment may not be so readily available.