Natural resource degradation effects of poverty and population growth are largely policy-induced: the case of Colombia

Abstract

The sustainability of natural resource use is influenced by population pressure, but this exercises a much less critical impact than the overall policy framework. In Colombia, various agricultural and other policies whose effect is to constrain the poor's access to land encourage environmental degradation. A case is made in favour of the new land reform process that Colombia is launching.

Multiple equilibria, soil conservation investments, and the resilience of agricultural systems

“…Many explanations for this situation have been offered in the literature. Most of these explanations have to do with institutional and economic failures that constrain farmers' knowledge about soil conservation or limit the incentives to invest in soil conservation (Lutz et al, 1994;Heath and Binswanger, 1996;Scherr, 1999).…”

Indigenous Participation in Australian Economies II: Historical engagements and current enterprises

“…Addressing such distortions is an obvious first solution (Heath and Binswanger 1996). Once policy distortions are removed, it would be possible to adopt PES schemes that give incentives to Indigenous landowners to reside on their estates, improve traditional management practices by incorporating non-Indigenous science, and hence provide environmental services for the whole of Australia.…”

Payments for ecosystem services and poverty reduction: concepts, issues, and empirical perspectives

“…The rural poor may be located on steep slopes in upper reaches of watershed or on the margins of biodiversity rich forests (Heath and Binswanger, 1996;Chomitz et al, 2007;FAO, 2007). Poverty can drive people to deplete natural resources, generating negative environmental externalities as well as long-term losses to the producers themselves (Vosti and Reardon, 1997).…”