[...]... the absence of credit and insurance institutions in poor rural areas fosters uncertainty and vulnerability Development initiatives intended to raise agricultural productivity and reduce resource degradation rarely address the specific needs of the poor; while some aspects of the decentralization process may even increase the power of local elites at the expense of the poor majority Finally, while the. .. suboptimal use of both land and land resources.” 6 1 The endnotes begin on page 137 11 LANDS OF THE POOR The United Nations estimates that some 70 per cent of the 5.2 billion hectares of drylands used for agriculture around the world are already degraded This has an impact on about 250 million people worldwide However, the number of people at risk could be as much as four times this figure, given that the global... village livestock and transhumant livestock.61 25 LANDS OF THE POOR This situation can be explained by the increasing poverty and social inequalities in rural areas, degraded and declining resources, the spread of cultivated farm crops to the detriment of forests and grazing lands, and the variable productivity of resources; as well as the erosion of the customary laws and regulatory frameworks regulating... environmental conditions, changes in the conditions of local people’s access to and use of renewable productive natural resources, and the increasing vulnerability of the poor In the words of a nomadic 26 AN ANALYSIS OF POVERTY AND THE ENVIRONMENT pastoralist from Niger: “In the past, all our wounds could be healed Today, all our scratches become a gaping sore” While the degradation of the natural resource base... roles and functions of these institutions In the area of institutions/norms, LDPs will support the institutionalization of environmental procedures and mechanisms, and promote the incorporation of democratic principles into the regulatory frameworks governing local land systems This chapter also discusses the component of LDPs concerned with building the capacities of local stakeholders The basic assumption... number of cross-cutting issues that inform current debate on the sustainable use and management of natural resources This chapter also analyses certain aspects of the environmental approach adopted by major international funding agencies and the governments of developing countries The importance of the concept of ‘local environmental governance’ is stressed: as an integral part of the wider notion of ‘local... expense of the environment, or to protect the environment without taking account of the basic priorities of the poor The concept of ‘land reforms’ is a complex construct that aims to: (i) redistribute land (especially in East Asia and a number of Latin American countries); (ii) strengthen tenure and convert customary rights into statutory rights (particularly in Africa); (iii) build the capacity of land... access to and use of common resources (forests, wetlands, rangelands) These are of particular importance to the rural poor, and their disintegration has a major impact on local livelihoods.34 Major strategies aimed at reducing poverty (Poverty Reduction Strategies, PRSs) have underplayed the importance of environmental and land use issues They fail to (i) explicitly recognize the poor s dependence... increasing the productivity of natural resources Rural women are particularly affected by environ- 23 LANDS OF THE POOR mental degradation Their land rights are seldom acknowledged by either customary or modern regulations, and their rights rarely correspond to their environmental responsibilities and technical know-how Furthermore, women are often prevented from making management decisions regarding the. .. Growing recognition of the efficiency of the ‘common property regimes’ used by collective groups; and of their potential to favour economies of scale and equitable access to resources, and to protect biodiversity; The importance of political and social factors in resource use; The potential role of customary land tenure systems in providing security of tenure to small-scale producers, thereby encouraging . generations. The World Summit Implementation Plan emphasized the role of local gov- ernments in the implementation of Agenda 21 and the outcomes of the Summit,. planning mechanisms 103 iv LANDS OF THE POOR v Part III : Conclusion CHAPTER 6: The way forward 115 MDGs and the environment: their limitations and potential