POVERTY AND ENVIRONMENT

PREPARED AND PRESENTED

BY OMARI MZIRAI
 MODULE CONTENTS

• Concepts and consequences of poverty.

• Consumerism, poverty and environmental
degradation
• Internal and External causes of poverty.
• Monitoring indicators and measures of poverty.
• Linkages between poverty and environment
• Environmental management and poverty reduction
• Environmental Justice.
WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND BY
POVERTY
 Concepts and consequences of
poverty.

• Define poverty
• Type of poverty
• Consequence of poverty
 Poverty definition

• Different people think about poverty in different

ways. Some people think that poverty is about being
able to buy and sell but other people think about
getting a fair share of education and health care or
about being given respect, and having some
influence over what happens in their life. Because of
these differences it is useful to think about two main
types of poverty - income poverty and non-income
poverty
 Poverty definition

• Poverty is the lack of basic human needs, such as

clean water, nutrition, health care, education,
clothing and shelter, because of the inability to
afford them. This is also referred to as
absolute poverty or destitution
 Poverty definition

• Relative poverty is the condition of having fewer

resources or less income than others within a society
or country, or compared to worldwide averages.
About 1.7 billion people live in absolute poverty;
before the industrial revolution, poverty had mostly
been the norm.
 Income poverty

• Income poverty happens when a household takes in

less than one US dollar per day. This means that
people will not have enough food or medicine and
they will have poor clothes and houses. Income
poverty is due to people not having access to money
or other assets. If people do not have any other
assets like land to grow their own food, then income
poverty can result in stunted growth and early death.
Non income poverty
 Non income poverty

• Non income poverty happens when people may have a

little bit of money but otherwise the quality of their life
is not good. They do not have access to affordable
social and physical services (schooling, health care,
medicines, safe water, good sanitation, good transport)
and they may not feel safe in their homes either
because they cannot trust the authorities or because
they belong to some particularly vulnerable group
.
 HOW DIFFERENTLY POVERTY IS
DEFINED

• World Bank:.
• There are many definitions of poverty depending on
the contest of the situation and the views of the
person defining it. These are some forming various
sources including a well known development scholar.
Poverty is also often divided into relative poverty and
absolute poverty.
 HOW DIFFERENTLY POVERTY IS
DEFINED

• There are many definitions of poverty depending on

the contest of the situation and the views of the
person defining it. These are some forming various
sources including a well known development scholar.
Poverty is also often divided into relative poverty and
absolute poverty. World Bank:.
 HOW DIFFERENTLY POVERTY IS
DEFINED

• Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being, and

comprises many dimensions. It includes low incomes
and the inability to acquire the basic goods and
services necessary for survival with dignity. Poverty
also encompasses low levels of health and education,
poor access to clean water and sanitation,
inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and
insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one’s
life. UN:
 HOW DIFFERENTLY POVERTY IS
DEFINED

• “Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and

opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of
basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not
having enough to feed and cloth a family, not having a school or
clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s food
or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It
means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals,
households and communities. It means susceptibility to
violence, and it often implies living on marginal or fragile
environments, without access to clean water or sanitation”
World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995:
 HOW DIFFERENTLY POVERTY IS
DEFINED

• “Poverty is a condition characterized by severe deprivation of

basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water,
sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and
information. It depends not only on income but also on access
to services. It includes a lack of income and productive
resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods; hunger and
malnutrition; ill health; limited or lack of access to education
and other basic services; increased morbidity and mortality
from illness; homelessness and inadequate housing; unsafe
environments and social discrimination and exclusion.
 HOW DIFFERENTLY POVERTY IS
DEFINED
• It is also characterized by lack of participation in decision
making and in civil, social and cultural life. It occurs in all
countries: as mass poverty in many developing
countries, pockets of poverty amid wealth in developed
countries, loss of livelihoods as a result of economic
recession, sudden poverty as a result of disaster or
conflict, the poverty of low-wage workers, and the utter
destitution of people who fall outside family support
systems, social institutions and safety nets.
Amartya Sen:
 HOW DIFFERENTLY POVERTY IS
DEFINED

• Amartya Sen: To meet nutritional requirements, to

escape avoidable disease, to be sheltered, to be
clothed, to be able to travel, and to be educated.
 HOW DIFFERENTLY POVERTY IS
DEFINED

• HOW DO WE THEN DEFINE POVERTY IN TANZANIA

CONTEXT? .
HAVE A LOOK ON POVERTY STATUS BY 2009
 TYPE OF POVERTY

• Poverty has many dimensions, monetary and non-

monetary, absolute and relative, material and
psychological. One can distinguish between three
types of poverty:
.
 POVERTY
TYPE A

• Insufficient resources to meet basic needs, such as

nutrition, shelter, health and education. This
insufficiency can result in the following material
symptoms of poverty:
 Low income or consumption levels
 Low average calorie intake levels
 High infant mortality rates
 Low life expectancy rates
 POVERTY
TYPE A

 High illiteracy rates

 High unemployment
 Widespread diseases, especially curable ones
 Famine or high risk of famine
 High rates of economic migration
 POVERTY
TYPE B

 Apart from these absolute monetary and non-

monetary kinds of poverty, there is also relative
poverty: people compare themselves to others,
mostly others who are relatively close by and better
off
 POVERTY
TYPE B

• This inequality of income or consumption can result

in the following psychological symptoms of poverty:
 Feelings of loss of dignity
 Low self-esteem
 Feelings of relative powerlessness
 Feelings of lack of participation in culture and politics
 Feelings of discrimination and resentment.
 DISCUSS THIS?

• Poverty type A is often linked to poverty type B, i.e.

the more unequal a society, the more people suffer
from absolute poverty
 Poverty “type C”

• A third kind of poverty is vulnerability, the actual or

perceived risk of future poverty. This vulnerability can
result in the following psychological symptoms of
poverty:
 Fear, stress
 Feelings of insecurity
 Irrational precaution measures
 Family planning decisions
 Migration.