IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v118y2015icp40-48.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing environmental dependence using asset and income measures: Evidence from Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • Charlery, Lindy
  • Walelign, Solomon Zena

Abstract

Understanding rural environmental dependence in a rural population is an important factor in the framing of environmental policy with the dual aim of tackling poverty and conserving nature. Firstly, this study compares the assessment of environmental dependence between poverty groupings based on income and asset measures. Using a composite asset index, we were able to distinguish the asset poor from the asset non-poor. We then combined income data with the asset index, enabling us to disentangle the stochastic and structural nature of poverty. The distribution of poor and non-poor households based on income measures was significantly different from that based on asset measures. The income poor are substantially more dependent on environmental resources than the income non-poor (about 15% difference) while strikingly minimal difference was observed in environmental dependence between the asset poor and non-poor (less than 2% difference). The level of environmental dependence between the poor and non-poor households differs with the choice of welfare measure and combining two of these measures to identify wealth groups provides policy makers with better insight on the variations in environmental dependence.

Suggested Citation

  • Charlery, Lindy & Walelign, Solomon Zena, 2015. "Assessing environmental dependence using asset and income measures: Evidence from Nepal," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 40-48.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:118:y:2015:i:c:p:40-48
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.07.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800915002955
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.07.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maltsoglou, Irini & Taniguchi, Kiyoshi, 2004. "Poverty, Livestock and Household Typologies in Nepal," PPLPI Working Papers 23784, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative.
    2. Morduch, Jonathan, 1994. "Poverty and Vulnerability," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 221-225, May.
    3. Winters, Paul & Davis, Benjamin & Carletto, Gero & Covarrubias, Katia & Quiñones, Esteban J. & Zezza, Alberto & Azzarri, Carlo & Stamoulis, Kostas, 2009. "Assets, Activities and Rural Income Generation: Evidence from a Multicountry Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1435-1452, September.
    4. Lenis Saweda O. Liverpool‐Tasie & Alex Winter‐Nelson, 2011. "Asset versus consumption poverty and poverty dynamics in rural Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 42(2), pages 221-233, March.
    5. Frank Ellis, 2000. "The Determinants of Rural Livelihood Diversification in Developing Countries," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 289-302, May.
    6. Babulo, Bedru & Muys, Bart & Nega, Fredu & Tollens, Eric & Nyssen, Jan & Deckers, Jozef & Mathijs, Erik, 2009. "The economic contribution of forest resource use to rural livelihoods in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 123-131, March.
    7. Hari Ram Lohano, 2011. "Poverty Dynamics in Rural Sindh, Pakistan, 1987–88 to 2004–05," Chapters, in: Bob Baulch (ed.), Why Poverty Persists, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Deon Filmer & Lant Pritchett, 2001. "Estimating Wealth Effects Without Expenditure Data—Or Tears: An Application To Educational Enrollments In States Of India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 115-132, February.
    9. Øystein Juul Nielsen & Santosh Rayamajhi & Patricia Uberhuaga & Henrik Meilby & Carsten Smith-Hall, 2013. "Quantifying rural livelihood strategies in developing countries using an activity choice approach," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(1), pages 57-71, January.
    10. Falaris, Evangelos M., 2003. "The effect of survey attrition in longitudinal surveys: evidence from Peru, Cote d'Ivoire and Vietnam," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 133-157, February.
    11. Rayamajhi, Santosh & Smith-Hall, Carsten & Helles, Finn, 2012. "Empirical evidence of the economic importance of Central Himalayan forests to rural households," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 25-35.
    12. Adhikari, Bhim & Di Falco, Salvatore & Lovett, Jon C., 2004. "Household characteristics and forest dependency: evidence from common property forest management in Nepal," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 245-257, February.
    13. Fisher, Monica, 2004. "Household welfare and forest dependence in Southern Malawi," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 135-154, May.
    14. Michelle Adato & Michael Carter & Julian May, 2006. "Exploring poverty traps and social exclusion in South Africa using qualitative and quantitative data," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 226-247.
    15. Felix Naschold, 2013. "Welfare Dynamics in Pakistan and Ethiopia -- Does the Estimation Method Matter?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(7), pages 936-954, July.
    16. Heubach, Katja & Wittig, Rüdiger & Nuppenau, Ernst-August & Hahn, Karen, 2011. "The economic importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for livelihood maintenance of rural west African communities: A case study from northern Benin," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1991-2001, September.
    17. Angelsen, Arild & Jagger, Pamela & Babigumira, Ronnie & Belcher, Brian & Hogarth, Nicholas J. & Bauch, Simone & Börner, Jan & Smith-Hall, Carsten & Wunder, Sven, 2014. "Environmental Income and Rural Livelihoods: A Global-Comparative Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 12-28.
    18. Ellis, Frank, 2000. "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198296966, Decembrie.
    19. Joshi, Niraj Prakash & Maharjan, Keshav Lall & Piya, Luni, 2012. "Poverty dynamics in Far-western Rural Hills of Nepal: Evidences from panel data," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 125785, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. David E. Sahn & David Stifel, 2003. "Exploring Alternative Measures of Welfare in the Absence of Expenditure Data," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 49(4), pages 463-489, December.
    21. Michael Carter & Christopher Barrett, 2006. "The economics of poverty traps and persistent poverty: An asset-based approach," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 178-199.
    22. Carter, Michael R. & May, Julian, 2001. "One Kind of Freedom: Poverty Dynamics in Post-apartheid South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(12), pages 1987-2006, December.
    23. Ethan Ligon & Laura Schechter, 2003. "Measuring Vulnerability," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(486), pages 95-102, March.
    24. Hogarth, Nicholas J. & Belcher, Brian & Campbell, Bruce & Stacey, Natasha, 2013. "The Role of Forest-Related Income in Household Economies and Rural Livelihoods in the Border-Region of Southern China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 111-123.
    25. Naschold, Felix, 2012. "“The Poor Stay Poor”: Household Asset Poverty Traps in Rural Semi-Arid India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 2033-2043.
    26. Vedeld, Paul & Angelsen, Arild & Bojo, Jan & Sjaastad, Espen & Kobugabe Berg, Gertrude, 2007. "Forest environmental incomes and the rural poor," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(7), pages 869-879, April.
    27. Cavendish, William, 2000. "Empirical Regularities in the Poverty-Environment Relationship of Rural Households: Evidence from Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(11), pages 1979-2003, November.
    28. Saurav Dev Bhatta & Suman K. Sharma, 2011. "The Determinants and Consequences of Chronic and Transient Poverty in Nepal, 1995–96 to 2003–04," Chapters, in: Bob Baulch (ed.), Why Poverty Persists, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    29. Jonathan Haughton & Shahidur R. Khandker, 2009. "Handbook on Poverty and Inequality," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 11985, December.
    30. Nielsen, Martin Reinhardt & Pouliot, Mariève & Kim Bakkegaard, Riyong, 2012. "Combining income and assets measures to include the transitory nature of poverty in assessments of forest dependence: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 37-46.
    31. Patricia Uberhuaga & Carsten Smith-Hall & Finn Helles, 2012. "Forest income and dependency in lowland Bolivia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 3-23, February.
    32. Mamo, Getachew & Sjaastad, Espen & Vedeld, Pal, 2007. "Economic dependence on forest resources: A case from Dendi District, Ethiopia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(8), pages 916-927, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yaping Liu & Zhe Huang & Jin Chen & Linlin Nie, 2023. "Diagnosis of the Livelihood Sustainability and Its Obstacle Factors for Poverty-Alleviation-Relocation Residents in Tourism Communities: Data from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-27, April.
    2. Jifei Zhang & Chunyan Liu & Craig Hutton & Hriday Lal Koirala, 2018. "Geographical Dynamics of Poverty in Nepal between 2005 and 2011: Where and How?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-24, June.
    3. Joyeeta Gupta & Arthur Rempel & Hebe Verrest, 2020. "Access and allocation: the role of large shareholders and investors in leaving fossil fuels underground," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 303-322, June.
    4. Dai, Xuhuan & Li, Bo & Zheng, Hua & Yang, Yanzheng & Yang, Zihan & Peng, Chenchen, 2023. "Can sedentarization decrease the dependence of pastoral livelihoods on ecosystem services?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    5. Paudel, Ganesh & Bhusal, Prabin & Kimengsi, Jude Ndzifon, 2021. "Determining the costs and benefits of Scientific Forest Management in Nepal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    6. Xie, Chengyuan & Jin, Xiaotong, 2023. "The role of digitalization, sustainable environment, natural resources and political globalization towards economic well-being in China, Japan and South Korea," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    7. Jiao, Xi & Walelign, Solomon Zena & Nielsen, Martin Reinhardt & Smith-Hall, Carsten, 2019. "Protected areas, household environmental incomes and well-being in the Greater Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Baral, Sony & Chhetri, Bir Bahadur Khanal & Baral, Himlal & Vacik, Harald, 2019. "Investments in different taxonomies of goods: What should Nepal's community forest user groups prioritize?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 24-32.
    9. Sony Baral & Bijendra Basnyat & Kalyan Gauli & Ambika Paudel & Rachana Upadhyaya & Yajna Prasad Timilsina & Harald Vacik, 2019. "Factors Affecting Fuelwood Consumption and CO 2 Emissions: An Example from a Community-Managed Forest of Nepal," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-12, November.
    10. Walelign, Solomon Zena & Jiao, Xi, 2017. "Dynamics of rural livelihoods and environmental reliance: Empirical evidence from Nepal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 199-209.
    11. Joyeeta Gupta & Arthur Rempel & Hebe Verrest, 0. "Access and allocation: the role of large shareholders and investors in leaving fossil fuels underground," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-20.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Walelign, Solomon Zena & Charlery, Lindy & Smith-Hall, Carsten & Chhetri, Bir Bahadur Khanal & Larsen, Helle Overgaard, 2016. "Environmental income improves household-level poverty assessments and dynamics," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 23-35.
    2. Lindy Charlery & Martin R. Nielsen & Henrik Meilby & Carsten Smith-Hall, 2016. "Effects of New Roads on Environmental Resource Use in the Central Himalaya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-20, April.
    3. Walelign, Solomon Zena & Jiao, Xi, 2017. "Dynamics of rural livelihoods and environmental reliance: Empirical evidence from Nepal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 199-209.
    4. Dokken, Therese & Angelsen, Arild, 2015. "Forest reliance across poverty groups in Tanzania," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 203-211.
    5. Mohammad Abdullah, Abu Nasar & Stacey, Natasha & Garnett, Stephen T. & Myers, Bronwyn, 2016. "Economic dependence on mangrove forest resources for livelihoods in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 15-24.
    6. Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Do, Truong Lam & Bühler, Dorothee & Hartje, Rebecca & Grote, Ulrike, 2015. "Rural livelihoods and environmental resource dependence in Cambodia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 282-295.
    7. Dehghani Pour, Milad & Motiee, Naser & Barati, Ali Akbar & Taheri, Fatemeh & Azadi, Hossein & Gebrehiwot, Kindeya & Lebailly, Philippe & Van Passel, Steven & Witlox, Frank, 2017. "Impacts of the Hara Biosphere Reserve on Livelihood and Welfare in Persian Gulf," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 76-86.
    8. Nielsen, Martin Reinhardt & Pouliot, Mariève & Kim Bakkegaard, Riyong, 2012. "Combining income and assets measures to include the transitory nature of poverty in assessments of forest dependence: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 37-46.
    9. Angelsen, Arild & Jagger, Pamela & Babigumira, Ronnie & Belcher, Brian & Hogarth, Nicholas J. & Bauch, Simone & Börner, Jan & Smith-Hall, Carsten & Wunder, Sven, 2014. "Environmental Income and Rural Livelihoods: A Global-Comparative Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 12-28.
    10. Bir Chhetri & Helle Larsen & Carsten Smith-Hall, 2015. "Environmental resources reduce income inequality and the prevalence, depth and severity of poverty in rural Nepal," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 513-530, June.
    11. Jiao, Xi & Walelign, Solomon Zena & Nielsen, Martin Reinhardt & Smith-Hall, Carsten, 2019. "Protected areas, household environmental incomes and well-being in the Greater Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 1-1.
    12. Solomon Zena Walelign & Mariève Pouliot & Helle Overgaard Larsen & Carsten Smith-Hall, 2015. "A novel approach to dynamic livelihood clustering: Empirical evidence from Nepal," IFRO Working Paper 2015/09, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    13. Harun M. Kiruki & Emma H. Zanden & Patrick Kariuki & Peter H. Verburg, 2020. "The contribution of charcoal production to rural livelihoods in a semi-arid area in Kenya," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(7), pages 6931-6960, October.
    14. Oli, Bishwa Nath & Treue, Thorsten & Smith-Hall, Carsten, 2016. "The relative importance of community forests, government forests, and private forests for household-level incomes in the Middle Hills of Nepal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 155-163.
    15. Jiao, Xi & Pouliot, Mariève & Walelign, Solomon Zena, 2017. "Livelihood Strategies and Dynamics in Rural Cambodia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 266-278.
    16. Noack,Frederik & Wunder,Sven & Angelsen,Arild & Börner,Jan, 2015. "Responses to weather and climate : a cross-section analysis of rural incomes," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7478, The World Bank.
    17. Porro, Roberto & Lopez-Feldman, Alejandro & Vela-Alvarado, Jorge W., 2015. "Forest use and agriculture in Ucayali, Peru: Livelihood strategies, poverty and wealth in an Amazon frontier," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 47-56.
    18. Muhammad Zada & Syed Jamal Shah & Cao Yukun & Tariq Rauf & Naveed Khan & Syed Asad Ali Shah, 2019. "Impact of Small-to-Medium Size Forest Enterprises on Rural Livelihood: Evidence from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-17, May.
    19. Meilby, Henrik & Smith-Hall, Carsten & Byg, Anja & Larsen, Helle Overgaard & Nielsen, Øystein Juul & Puri, Lila & Rayamajhi, Santosh, 2014. "Are Forest Incomes Sustainable? Firewood and Timber Extraction and Productivity in Community Managed Forests in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 113-124.
    20. Jane Kabubo‐Mariara, 2013. "Forest‐poverty nexus: Exploring the contribution of forests to rural livelihoods in Kenya," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(3), pages 177-188, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:118:y:2015:i:c:p:40-48. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.