Resource detail

Southeast Asia and East Asia have been hailed as success stories of economic growth, but poverty, the environment, and climate change remain major challenges. Poverty reduction is often said to compete with efforts to save the environment and respond to climate change. It is also argued that policies on the environment and climate change should not be carried out at the expense of eradicating poverty or promoting economic growth. The book tries to show that it is possible to reduce poverty, protect the environment, and respond to climate change at the same time — if certain policies are followed. To emphasize the relationships between the three “wins”, the book introduces a spatial approach to poverty, one that focuses on the environments in which the poor live, i.e., regions where the environment — often aggravated by climate change — are major determinants of poverty. These areas are lood-prone and disaster-afected lands, uplands, coastlands, dryland, and slums.