Poverty and environment: background paper for the World Bank environment strategy

Abstract

This paper outlines what a poverty-focused environmental strategy might look like and analyzes some of the implications for the environmental community of the Bank. It draws on the 2000/2001 World Development Report framework for understanding poverty in terms of opportunity, empowerment, security, and capability, and it examines how environmental factors can contribute to each of these dimensions. For instance, opportunity declines when poor people who depend on natural resources for their livelihoods can no longer support themselves because the environmental resources degrade and they lack alternative livelihood opportunities. Capability is impaired when poor people's health is damaged by dirty water or air or by diseases related to the environment (such as malaria). Security is threatened by natural disasters and climatic variation, particularly for the poor, who tend to be physically more vulnerable to natural disasters and to have fewer resources to cope with them.