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The multifaceted relationship between environmental risks and poverty: new insights from Vietnam

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2018

Ulf Narloch  and
Mook Bangalore
Ulf Narloch
Affiliation:
The World Bank, Washington, DC, USA
Mook Bangalore*
Affiliation:
The World Bank, Washington, DC, USA Department of Geography and Environment, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics, London, UK
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: M.Bangalore@lse.ac.uk
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Abstract

Despite complex interlinkages, insights into the multifaceted relationship between environmental risks and poverty can be gained through an analysis of different risks across space, time and scale within a single context using consistent methods. Combining geo-spatial data on eight environmental risks and household survey data from 2010–2014 for the case study of Vietnam, this paper shows: (i) at the district level, the incidence of poverty is higher in high risk areas, (ii) at the household level, poorer households face higher environmental risks, (iii) for some risks the relationship with household-level consumption varies between rural and urban areas, and (iv) environmental risks explain consumption differences between households, but less so changes over time. While altogether these analyses cannot establish a causal relationship between environmental risks and poverty, they do indicate that Vietnam's poor are disproportionally exposed. Given growing pressures due to climate change, addressing such risks should be a focus of poverty reduction efforts.

Keywords

Climate changeconsumption, environmenthouseholdslivelihoodspovertyrisksvulnerabilityI30I32O10Q50Q54R20
Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 23 , Special Issue 3: Poverty and Climate Change , June 2018 , pp. 298 - 327
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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