Unit 6 - Poverty And The Environment

Question 1

How is wealth defined (world bank, where is the wealth of nationals?)

Answer 1

1. Natural capital - incl. Minerals, (non)timber resources, agri land, protected areas (excl. diamonds, fish stocks, subsoil water)
2. Produced capital - incl. Machinery, equipment, buildings, infra, urban land
3. Intangible capital - incl. Human capital, formal/informal institutions plus net foreign financial assets.

Wealth was calculated as the NPV of national consumption (adjusted for saving rates, over 25 years)

Question 2

How can a country transform natural assets into other forms of assets

Answer 2

A share of the profits (rents) from exploitation of natural assets has to be either:

• saved by private actors
• invested in other forms of assets or taxed by the state and used to fund public investments in infra or asset creating services such as education, health or agri research and extension.

Question 3

What are the major natural assets of poor households?

Answer 3

1. Land - unequally distributed, limited access for the poor
2. Livestock - form of savings, source of products, and productive power
3. Fish

Question 4

Tragedy of the commons

Answer 4

The tragedy of the commons is an economic theory of a situation within a shared-resource system where individual users acting independently according to their own self-interest behave contrary to the common good of all users by depleting that resource through their collective action.

Question 5

The influencers of common property resource availability

Answer 5

• population growth is reducing the area of common property resources available per head of population
• privatisation of common property often to non-poor groups
• a neglect of the institutions responsible for the management (reduction in quality)

Question 6

Roles of the common property resources

Answer 6

1. generating income in the lean season (when hh are short of food and cash)
2. Safety nets in times of shock

Question 7

Why is the common property resources contribution to livelihoods bigger in drier areas than in high potential areas?

Answer 7

1. Higher population density less common land
2. Higher potential agri land, often better linked to markets (higher income for products and employment) + more diversified rural economy
3. Greater commercialisation and better access to market suppliers means more purchasing and less gathering (fuels for example)

Question 8

The vicious circle model

Answer 8

A series of negative relationships between population growth, environmental degradation and poverty.

The relationship between poverty and population growth is complex though, research proofs two different results.

Rising population provokes downward spiral of environmental degradation and increase poverty, as more people require feeding:

• more intensive farming without additional inputs like fertilizor
• more land is converted into cultivation (potentially marginal land).

Question 9

Contrary to the vicious cycle school of thought there is another school that sees population growth as creating conditions under which agricultural intensification and investment can occur. For example through:

Answer 9

1. More people encourage infra development by raising returns to the investment as more people are services
2. Market opportunities and improved transport linkages - incentives to invest in land assets
3. Promotion of soil conservation technologies to protect the resource base
4. Secure property rights also gives security to invest in land assets.
5. Population growth increases supply of labour - agri intensification is labour intensive.

Question 10

Rapidly (unplanned) growing urban areas are confronted with environmental problems.

Answer 10

• water and sanitation
• waste removal
• slum/informal settlements in environmentally sensitive or risk-prone areas
• air pollution

With the risk of rapid disease transmission which is called by Sherbinin (2009) the “environmental burden of disease”

Question 11

The relationship between population growth and economic growth

Answer 11

Kellye and Schmidt (2001)

High fertility rate - the average number of children born per women, lead to slower economic growth.

Question 12

Falling fertility rates are linked to:

Answer 12

• lower martality rates due to better disease control and less insurance births
• rising costs for education
• urbanisation
• female eduction and empowerment
• availability of family planning advice and contraception.

Question 13

Window of opportunity

Answer 13

A demographic window of opportunity for countries to exploit for poverty reduction and growth. High activity ration means high number of active people compared to inactive people.

As fertility rates decline, dependency falls - more workers to support each child.
As life expectancy increases, the group of dependents increases.

Question 14

How will CC affect the poor?

Answer 14

1. Extreme weather events (floods, droughts, tropical storms) leads to =
   - loss of livelihood assets
   - displacement
   - loss of lives
2. Sea level rise
3. Higher temperatures, altered rainfall patterns leads to:
   - lower productivity
   - food insecurity
   - diseases
   - conflict over scarce resources

Question 15

Consequences of the CC impact:

Answer 15

1. Migration

2. Conflict (over scarce resources)

Question 16

Agriculture and deforestation contributes this % to GHG emissions and through these causes:

Answer 16

15% (WB, 2007) for agri, 11% for deforestation (main cause land clearing for agri)

• N2O from soils (fertilizer and manure application)
• MH4 from livestock production
• biomass burning
• rice production

Question 17

The impact of CC on agricultural production and prices is a concern, around this topic we should be interested in:

Answer 17

• impact for particular areas/regions where large number of poor people are dependent on agri in one way or another for their livelihood
• impact on food availability (globally), and food prices that are important for the poor.

Question 18

CC affects agriculture production and yields in the following ways:

Answer 18

• rising temp are good for yields in moderate climates, however high temps are bad for yields
• CO2 increase can enhance yields through CO2 fertilisation
• changes in rainfall patterns affect water availability
• higher temps will result to higher concentrations of pests and diseases = bad for yields.

Uncertainties about magnitudes of effects and interactions.

Question 19

Two basic approachs to estimate the impact of CC on crop production:

Answer 19

1. Sumulations using agronomic models - many assumptions about effects
2. Statistical anayles using historical data

Question 20

International markets for grain crops tightened in the first half of the 2000s because:

Answer 20

1. Growing demand for meat - and maize/soyabeans are major feed grains for livestock
2. US Biofuel policy diverted maize to domestic energy production instead of international markets.
3. Annual consumption was at 35year low
4. Climate related production shocks
5. International price of oil

Question 21

What impact do price spikes and higher prices in the medium term have on poor people?

Answer 21

Poor hh buy more food than they sell, they also devote a large proportion of their expenditures to food purchase.
THey could change their diet, but on the short term they will have to eat less = consumption poverty increases or depth of poverty increases.

Medium term:
Impact on poor is unclear, production will increase in respond to the higher prices and this will require more labour input.
Initial findings now suggest that the medium term impact of higher prices is a reduction in global poverty levels.

Question 22

The importance of forest to

Answer 22

1. Protect soils against wind and water erosion
2. provide a natural buffer against floods and droughts
3. Moderate local and regional climates
4. Help stabilise global climate by absorbing carbon (sequestering)

Question 23

Why does the vicious circle model not apply for urban areas?

Answer 23

The option of returning to their home rural area still exists.

Therefore urban morbidity (ziektecijfers) and mortality rates are similar to those in rural areas.

Also poverty does not lead to population growth in urban areas, as space is more rare, less labour is needed and people chose quality over quantity

Question 24

What is at the heart of a poverty trap?

Answer 24

That a hh cannot safe enough to invest in increased productive assets.