Poverty and Land Degradation Nexus in Developing Countries

Poverty and environmental degradation are two of the world's most pressing issues today. Fundamentally, both the rich and the poor are closely related to environmental issues. However, there is a widespread perception that the poor interact with the environment more frequently, whilst the activities of the rich produce more significant environmental destruction. The environment is harmed by both the rich and the poor, but in different ways and to varying levels. Deforestation, land degradation, water scarcity and contamination, air pollution, and biodiversity loss are critical environmental problems in developed and developing nations. In this study, the environmental concerns of the poor are addressed by focusing only on land degradation, a significant issue in many developing countries. The study's primary objectives are to define, evaluate, and analyse how poverty and land degradation are related, as well as to offer policy solutions for lowering or eliminating these two problems by reviewing the existing literature. The analytical framework for the study is carried out by postulating some causality relationship between poverty, power, wealth, greed, Institutional Failure, Market Failure and Environmental Degradation and finally, environmental degradation leading to poverty. From the study, three significant activities contributing to land degradation were identified: desertification, soil degradation, and salinisation. The agents of these activities include both commercial and subsistence farmers; profit maximisation and subsistence are the motives behind the land degradation, and the incentives are survival, lack of land tenure and improper irrigation. There are many socio-economic consequences associated with land degradation. Literature also postulates that agricultural production, the economy, and food security are all significantly impacted by land degradation. These effects result in an inadequate food supply, nutritional imbalance, a decline in income, the import of food products from other nations, economic distress, and a decrease in the production of nutrient-rich plants and livestock.