Abstract

Poverty-environment linkages take different forms in rural and urban contexts. In rural areas, critical issues relate to access to natural resources such as land, forests etc. and their sustainable use. In urban areas, the poverty-environment agenda centres around questions relating to the use of natural resources such as water or air as sinks for the disposal of human and industrial wastes, and their impact on the poor. For the sake of analytical clarity, this paper attempts to outline the main linkages between poverty and sustainable development by distinguishing between rural and urban contexts, in order to focus on the unique features of each in general and overview of current status of environment in Indian context in particular.

Key words: Gender, poverty, livelihood, biodiversity, environmental pollution.