The relationship between Poverty and Environment

Environment Switch

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENVIRONMENT AND POVERTY


We live in an unequal world, where the lack of food and other necessities is a symptom of deeper systemic issues. Attempts to solve global environmental challenges must consider the nature and scale of human need around the world. Climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, pollution, and other aspects of global environmental change are not only environmental problems; they are also economic and social ones.

From an environmental perspective, both poverty and unsustainable patterns of production and consumption are key drivers of environmental degradation. At the same time, environmental degradation and climate change can drive poverty. While there is no easy solution, poverty and the environment must be addressed together.In some communities environment has really contributed to the gross poverty rates hence dictating the living standards of people. This can be stemmed from the improper handling of the environment or failure to respond to environment related problems. The world has faced so many environmental changes like global warming, heavy floods in the some parts of the world, illegal trading of endangered animals which are so purposeful to the environment and the failure to address or mitigate such problems has caused gross poverty. 

In Uganda for example landslides,floods and persistent shortages of water have led to the crippling of agriculture which is the most bread winner activity of many families. Despite decades of work defining poverty and trying to bring together the environment and poverty eradication agendas, people are still in poverty and the Earth’s ecosystems are nearing collapsing. From a global perspective, ecosystem collapse will make everyone poorer. Conversely, exclusion and suffering in economies that value profit over people in other words, poverty may lead to short-term resource management choices, at the cost of long-term environmental quality. In the multilateral arena, an important question is whether poor countries are “victims” or “agents” of environmental degradation. 

The concept of developing countries having contributed to the problems being faced by the environment should be dropped and our minds should be focused directly on the changing factors. We are the actors of change and we ought to participate in changing the face of the different environments we live in.


Article by:

Herbert Mugisha

law student and passionate environmentalist

mugishaherbert04@gmail.com

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