Rural Poverty and Natural Resource Degradation

Abstract

The main purpose of this chapter is to investigate the influence of rural poverty on resource degradation in Latin America. The main trends in resource degradation that will be examined are rural households’ decisions to degrade rather than conserve land resources, and the expansion of frontier agricultural activity that contributes to deforestation. In addition, the influences of recent policy changes on poverty—environment linkages will be explored. I am grateful for comments provided by Ramón López and Alberto Valdés, research assistance by Claudia Romano, and editorial assistance by Suzanne Gnaegy.