Environmental Reliance Traps and Pathways – Theory and Analysis of Empirical Data From Rural Nepal
Existing theoretical and empirical work on poverty traps does not in detail investigate interactions between environmental reliance and socioeconomic factors over time. A string of studies has documented that environmental products provide rural households with both subsistence and cash income and t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2020.571414/full |
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| author | Solomon Zena Walelign Solomon Zena Walelign Solomon Zena Walelign Solomon Zena Walelign Xi Jiao Xi Jiao Carsten Smith-Hall |
| author_facet | Solomon Zena Walelign Solomon Zena Walelign Solomon Zena Walelign Solomon Zena Walelign Xi Jiao Xi Jiao Carsten Smith-Hall |
| author_sort | Solomon Zena Walelign |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Existing theoretical and empirical work on poverty traps does not in detail investigate interactions between environmental reliance and socioeconomic factors over time. A string of studies has documented that environmental products provide rural households with both subsistence and cash income and that high environmental reliance is often associated with poverty. These studies are snapshots and do not allow an understanding of environmental reliance dynamics – are households trapped at high levels of environmental reliance, what factors enable movement from high to low reliance, and how are such movements associated with total household income? Here we develop and present a theory of environmental reliance traps that allows analysis and explanation of changes in household-level environmental reliance over time. We propose operational parametric and non-parametric models for empirical investigation of the theory and employ these using an environmentally augmented three-wave panel household income and asset dataset (n = 427, pooled n = 1212) from Nepal. We found no evidence of an environmental reliance trap in the study population, meaning that all households converged on a single long-term environmental reliance equilibrium point. Households with high environmental reliance moving down toward the equilibrium (n = 358) have low income and asset endowments; while households with low environmental reliance moving up toward the equilibrium (n = 854) are better off, in terms of both income and assets. The approach identified the poorer households that make a living from harvesting substantial amounts of environmental products The probability of being a high-downward moving household is negatively associated with the size of landholding, market access, and female headship, and positively associated with the household head being born in the village and belonging to the most common caste. We argue that the identification of environmental reliance pathways can simultaneously inform interventions aimed at environmental conservation and poverty reduction. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T18:10:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e4e90b62a1484703ade34f73bbf8daca |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2624-893X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T18:10:00Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change |
| spelling | doaj.art-e4e90b62a1484703ade34f73bbf8daca2022-12-21T23:35:58ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Forests and Global Change2624-893X2020-11-01310.3389/ffgc.2020.571414571414Environmental Reliance Traps and Pathways – Theory and Analysis of Empirical Data From Rural NepalSolomon Zena Walelign0Solomon Zena Walelign1Solomon Zena Walelign2Solomon Zena Walelign3Xi Jiao4Xi Jiao5Carsten Smith-Hall6Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkDepartment of Geography, Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, NorwayCenter for Effective Global Action, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United StatesSchool of Economics, University of Gondar, Gondar, EthiopiaDepartment of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkSustainability and Entrepreneurship Center, Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, ThailandDepartment of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, DenmarkExisting theoretical and empirical work on poverty traps does not in detail investigate interactions between environmental reliance and socioeconomic factors over time. A string of studies has documented that environmental products provide rural households with both subsistence and cash income and that high environmental reliance is often associated with poverty. These studies are snapshots and do not allow an understanding of environmental reliance dynamics – are households trapped at high levels of environmental reliance, what factors enable movement from high to low reliance, and how are such movements associated with total household income? Here we develop and present a theory of environmental reliance traps that allows analysis and explanation of changes in household-level environmental reliance over time. We propose operational parametric and non-parametric models for empirical investigation of the theory and employ these using an environmentally augmented three-wave panel household income and asset dataset (n = 427, pooled n = 1212) from Nepal. We found no evidence of an environmental reliance trap in the study population, meaning that all households converged on a single long-term environmental reliance equilibrium point. Households with high environmental reliance moving down toward the equilibrium (n = 358) have low income and asset endowments; while households with low environmental reliance moving up toward the equilibrium (n = 854) are better off, in terms of both income and assets. The approach identified the poorer households that make a living from harvesting substantial amounts of environmental products The probability of being a high-downward moving household is negatively associated with the size of landholding, market access, and female headship, and positively associated with the household head being born in the village and belonging to the most common caste. We argue that the identification of environmental reliance pathways can simultaneously inform interventions aimed at environmental conservation and poverty reduction.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2020.571414/fullenvironmental dependenceenvironmental dynamicsenvironment and developmentpoverty trapsrural livelihoodsHimalayas |
| spellingShingle | Solomon Zena Walelign Solomon Zena Walelign Solomon Zena Walelign Solomon Zena Walelign Xi Jiao Xi Jiao Carsten Smith-Hall Environmental Reliance Traps and Pathways – Theory and Analysis of Empirical Data From Rural Nepal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change environmental dependence environmental dynamics environment and development poverty traps rural livelihoods Himalayas |
| title | Environmental Reliance Traps and Pathways – Theory and Analysis of Empirical Data From Rural Nepal |
| title_full | Environmental Reliance Traps and Pathways – Theory and Analysis of Empirical Data From Rural Nepal |
| title_fullStr | Environmental Reliance Traps and Pathways – Theory and Analysis of Empirical Data From Rural Nepal |
| title_full_unstemmed | Environmental Reliance Traps and Pathways – Theory and Analysis of Empirical Data From Rural Nepal |
| title_short | Environmental Reliance Traps and Pathways – Theory and Analysis of Empirical Data From Rural Nepal |
| title_sort | environmental reliance traps and pathways theory and analysis of empirical data from rural nepal |
| topic | environmental dependence environmental dynamics environment and development poverty traps rural livelihoods Himalayas |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2020.571414/full |
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