CPRC Working Paper 62

The relationships between poverty and the environment are highly contested, debated and researched. The sustainable development agenda, advocated at the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development, brings these relationships to the fore. Environmental sustainability, alongside social and economic sustainability, is seen as an essential component in achieving the goal of sustainable development. The relationship between environmental sustainability and poverty is two-fold. From an environmental perspective poverty is often seen as a key driving force behind unsustainable environmental use. In relation to poverty reduction though, the environmental aspect of sustainability is often neglected. This is despite the fact that the poor are the most exposed to environmental changes and are the most reliant on access to natural resources for their livelihood and coping strategies. Environmental change then, can drive poverty. When looking at the chronically poor – those who remain poor for much or all of their lives, many of whom pass on poverty to their children – the transmission of assets which can buffer against environmental hazards and of entitlements to good-quality environmental resources ar