Poverty and the Environment

Poverty
and the
Environment
Understanding Linkages
at the Household Level

ENVIRONMENT AND DE

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L

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T

Poverty and the Environment

ENVIRONMENT
DNADEVELOPMENT

A fundamental element ofsustainable development is environmental sustain-
ability.Hence,this series was created in 2007 to cover current and emerging issues
in order to promote debate and broaden the understanding ofenvironmental
challenges as integral to achieving equitable and sustained economic growth.The
series will draw on analysis and practical experience from across the World Bank
and from client countries.The manuscripts chosen for publication will be central
to the implementation ofthe World Bank’s Environment Strategy,and relevant to
the development community,policy makers,and academia.In that spirit,this series
will address environmental health,natural resources management,strategic envi-
ronmental assessment,policy instruments,and environmental institutions.

Also in this series:
International Trade and Climate Change: Economic,Legal,and Institutional
Perspectives

Poverty

Envir
a
o
n
n
d t
m
he
ent

Understanding Linkages

at the Household Level

© 2008 The International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development / The World Bank
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All rights reserved.
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This volume is a product ofthe staffofthe International Bank for
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interpretations,and conclusions expressed in this volume do not
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ISBN:978-0-8213-7223-4
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DOI:10.1596/978-0-8213-7223-4
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Cooking fire:Ray Witlin/World Bank
Misty rainforest:©Frans Lanting/Corbis
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vii
Acknowledgments

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1
1
Understanding Poverty-Environment Linkages
at the Household Level
2
Poverty and Environmental Change at the Macro Scale
5
Environmental Management and Pathways to Household Welfare
7
Scope ofthe Report
9
Some Key Conclusions

CHAPTER 2
11
Local Natural Resources, Poverty, and Degradation:
Examining Empirical Regularities
12
The Importance ofEnvironmental Income to the Poor
15
Commons as a Source ofInsurance
18
The Effect ofGrowth on Local Resource Use
20
Welfare Impacts ofDegradation
22
The Role ofPoverty in Environmental Change
24
Conclusions

CHAPTER 3
27
Health Outcomes and Environmental Pathogens
28
Theoretical Linkages between Health Outcomes and Environmental
Conditions
33
Empirical Evidence ofLinkages between Health Outcomes and
Environmental Conditions
41
How Robust Are the Empirical Findings?
42
Conclusions and Tentative Policy Implications

CHAPTER 4
45
Household Welfare and Policy Reforms
46
Selected Policy Reforms:Evidence from Case Studies
57
Challenges and Data Limitations
59
Conclusion

CHAPTER 5
61
Directions for Change
61
Use ofLocal Natural Resources
63
Design Principles for Improving Environmental Health
63
Better Data for Monitoring Change

v

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CONTENTS

64
Policy Reforms for Managing the Environment and
Reducing Poverty
65
Moving Forward

67
References

SEXOB12
2.1
Poverty and the Environment in Cambodia
17
2.2
The Role ofNatural Resources in Providing Insurance before and
after Hurricane Mitch
36
3.1
Does Health Information Increase Households’Efforts to Purify
Water?
38
3.2
Diminishing External Benefits from Community Coverage of
Water and Sanitation
48
4.1
Impact Evaluation Methods
50
4.2
Who Participates in the Community Management ofEnvironmental
Resources?
51
4.3
Who Benefits Most from Community Management?
FIGURES
4
1.1
Rank Correlations between Poverty and Various Environmental
Indicators in Cambodia,Lao PDR,and Vietnam
5
1.2
Poverty-Environment Linkages at the Household Level
21
2.1
Biomass Availability in Malawi
22
2.2
Effect ofIncrease in Biomass Density on Welfare ofRural Poor in
Malawi
TABLES
2
1.1
Selected Macro Indicators Linking Poverty,Natural Resources,and
Under-Five Mortality
3
1.2
Health Outcomes and Access to Environmental Infrastructure in
Selected Countries,by Wealth Quintile
15
2.1
Environmental Income as Percentage ofTotal Income in Resource-
Poor and Resource-Rich Areas
30
3.1
Factors Affecting Child Health

Acknowledgments

This book is a product ofthe poverty-environment work program in the
Environment Department ofthe World Bank.The Policy and Economics Team,
where this work is housed,is led by Kirk Hamilton.

The book is a collaborative effort,led by Priya Shyamsundar,with contributions by
Sushenjit Bandyopadhyay,Limin Wang,Mikko Paunio,and Kirk Hamilton.It draws
on the work ofmany valued colleagues,both inside and outside the Bank,including
Patricia Silva,Stefano Pagiola,Agustin Arcenas,Hanan Jacoby,Mei Xie,Bas van
der Klaauw,Alessandro Baccini,Keshav Raj Kanel,Irina Klytchnikova,Dragana
Radevic,Ana Rios,and Michael Humavindu.The volume also benefited from the
comments ofJames Warren Evans,Laura Tlaiye,Jan Bojö,Kulsum Ahmed,Anjali
Acharya,and Muthukumara Mani.

Special thanks are reserved for the manuscript’s peer reviewers,Christopher Barrett
and Maureen Cropper,who provided invaluable expert advice and guidance on
this work.Maureen in particular deserves our thanks for her substantive contri-
butions to the volume.

Finally,the generous financial support ofthe Government ofSweden for this work
is gratefully acknowledged.

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