LINKS BETWEEN RURAL POVERTY AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN DEVELOPING-COUNTRIES - ASSET CATEGORIES AND INVESTMENT POVERTY

This paper presents a framework for analyzing the links between povert y and the environment in rural areas of developing countries. It intro duces the concept of ''investment poverty'' and relates it to other me asures of poverty in analysis of these links. The notion of poverty is examined in the context of categories of assets and categories of env ironment change, with particular focus on farm household income genera tion and investment strategies as determinants of the links. The stren gth and direction of the poverty-environment links are shown to differ (even invert) depending on the composition of the assets held by the rural poor and the types of environmental problems they face. Policy s trategies need to focus on conditioning variables that affect market d evelopment, community wealth, infrastructure, household asset distribu tion, and the affordability and appropriateness of natural resource co nservation technologies.