Sustainability and Social Justice
Evaluating Poverty-Environment Dynamics
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Developing indicators to more effectively evaluate poverty-environment dynamics and inform policy is an urgent research priority. It is critical that these indicators are used in ways that accurately represent the relationship they are meant to inform. This article evaluates the theory and use of poverty-environment indicators, a relatively new tool developed to aid in the design and evaluation of poverty reduction strategies in the context of environmental change. We argue that while they have great potential, in their current form and use, poverty-environment indicators may contribute to critical misunderstandings of processes on the ground. These issues stem from a problematic and largely unacknowledged process of simplifying particular poverty-environment relationships. This article lays out the problematic character of this simplification process, and suggests how we might address these problems to create more useful understandings of poverty-environment dynamics to inform policy. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.
Publication Title
International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology
Publication Date
4-1-2009
Volume
16
Issue
2
First Page
87
Last Page
93
ISSN
1350-4509
DOI
10.1080/13504500902808792
Keywords
development policy, poverty reduction strategies, poverty-environment assessment, poverty-environment indicators, sustainable development, poverty
Repository Citation
Carr, Edward; Kettle, Nathan; and Hoskins, A., "Evaluating Poverty-Environment Dynamics" (2009). Sustainability and Social Justice. 103.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_idce/103