TY - JOUR
T1 - Combining income and assets measures to include the transitory nature of poverty in assessments of forest dependence: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo
AU - Reinhardt Nielsen, Martin
AU - Pouliot, Mariève
AU - Bakkegaard, Riyong Kim
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - A considerable amount of research on poverty–environment relations in developing countries under the
CIFOR-PEN initiative focuses on household income generation from forests, using total annual income as a
measure of poverty. However, income alone produces a static picture in a snapshot of time while poverty
is a dynamic state that can be a transitory phenomenon. Using income only also fails to consider that households
can liquidate asset to overcome income shocks. Here we show that using asset quintiles, measured by
value of assets, produce a distinctly different pattern than the commonly observed negative relation between
income and forest dependence. We then present an approach, enabling categorization of households as
chronic or transient poor, transient rich and rich providing a more nuanced picture than that provided by
CIFOR-PEN studies so far. The validity of groupings is tested by comparing household characteristics and exposure
to shocks. We then show that the chronic poor are most reliant on forest income, while the transient
poor consume a higher share of harvested forest products. The transient rich have higher agricultural productivity
and absolute forest income. Rich households relies more on business. Based on the results we suggest
recommendations for improving future studies on poverty–environment relations.
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
AB - A considerable amount of research on poverty–environment relations in developing countries under the
CIFOR-PEN initiative focuses on household income generation from forests, using total annual income as a
measure of poverty. However, income alone produces a static picture in a snapshot of time while poverty
is a dynamic state that can be a transitory phenomenon. Using income only also fails to consider that households
can liquidate asset to overcome income shocks. Here we show that using asset quintiles, measured by
value of assets, produce a distinctly different pattern than the commonly observed negative relation between
income and forest dependence. We then present an approach, enabling categorization of households as
chronic or transient poor, transient rich and rich providing a more nuanced picture than that provided by
CIFOR-PEN studies so far. The validity of groupings is tested by comparing household characteristics and exposure
to shocks. We then show that the chronic poor are most reliant on forest income, while the transient
poor consume a higher share of harvested forest products. The transient rich have higher agricultural productivity
and absolute forest income. Rich households relies more on business. Based on the results we suggest
recommendations for improving future studies on poverty–environment relations.
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KW - Poverty–environment relations
KW - Forest dependence
KW - Shocks
KW - Safety net
KW - Transient poverty
KW - Democratic Republic of Congo
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.03.009
DO - 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.03.009
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0921-8009
VL - 78
SP - 37
EP - 46
JO - Ecological Economics
JF - Ecological Economics
ER -