How Do Common Pool Natural Resources Affect Rural Poverty and Inequality? A Multi-Country Comparison

27 Pages Posted: 8 Nov 2023

See all articles by Anamika Das

Anamika Das

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment

Sharachchandra Lele

Centre for Environment & Development, ATREE; IISER Pune; Shiv Nadar University

Geoff Wells

Stockholm University - Stockholm Resilience Center; McGill University; University of Edinburgh

Suman Attiwilli

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment

Mahesh Poudyal

University of Kent - School of Anthropology and Conservation

Kate Schreckenberg

King's College London

Tim M. Daw

Stockholm University - Stockholm Resilience Center

Brian Robinson

McGill University

Siddappa Shetty

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment

Abstract

The role of common pool natural resources (CPRs) such as forests, grasslands, rivers, lakes, wetlands and oceans in rural economies has been much debated in the literature, often on the basis of micro-level and context-specific analyses focusing on a single CPR in a single location. This paper draws on data from nine low and medium-income countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America to estimate the contribution of CPR-based income to poverty and inequality, and to explore how CPR-based income is associated with household assets, the abundance of CPRs, and institutions of resource access.Our analysis confirms that CPR income contributes significantly to the income of the rural poor. Households below the World Bank $1.9 poverty line derive on average one fourth of their household income from CPR. Therefore, there is a potential synergy between SDGs 14 (conserving life below water) and 15 (conserving life on land), and SDG 1 (poverty reduction). Elite households, however, generally benefit more from CPRs, not because of differential access to the resource but because of their differential access to complementary productive assets, financial capital, social networks and markets. Hence, CPRs reduce inequality only when resource extraction is done for subsistence purposes using labour-intensive methods.

Keywords: Common Pool Resources, poverty, Inequality, tenure, resource abundance, elite-capture

Suggested Citation

Das, Anamika and Lele, Sharachchandra and Wells, Geoff and Attiwilli, Suman and Poudyal, Mahesh and Schreckenberg, Kate and Daw, Tim and Robinson, Brian and Shetty, Siddappa, How Do Common Pool Natural Resources Affect Rural Poverty and Inequality? A Multi-Country Comparison. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4622007 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4622007

Anamika Das (Contact Author)

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment ( email )

Royal Enclave,
Sriramapura, Jakkur Post
Bangalore, KS 560 064
India

Sharachchandra Lele

Centre for Environment & Development, ATREE ( email )

Royal Enclave
Jakkur P.O.
Bengaluru, Karnataka 560064
India

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.atree.res.in/users/dr-sharachchandra-lele

IISER Pune ( email )

Pashan
Pune, Maharashtra 411029
India

Shiv Nadar University ( email )

NH91 Tehsil, Dadri
Greater Noida
Delhi NCR, Delhi NCR 201314
India

Geoff Wells

Stockholm University - Stockholm Resilience Center ( email )

Kräftriket 2B
Stockholm, SE-114 19
Sweden

McGill University ( email )

1001 Sherbrooke St. W
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1G5
Canada

University of Edinburgh ( email )

Old College
South Bridge
Edinburgh, Scotland EH8 9JY
United Kingdom

Suman Attiwilli

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment ( email )

Royal Enclave,
Sriramapura, Jakkur Post
Bangalore, KS 560 064
India

Mahesh Poudyal

University of Kent - School of Anthropology and Conservation ( email )

United Kingdom

Kate Schreckenberg

King's College London ( email )

United Kingdom

Tim Daw

Stockholm University - Stockholm Resilience Center ( email )

Kräftriket 2B
Stockholm, SE-114 19
Sweden

HOME PAGE: http://www.stockholmresilience.su.se/daw

Brian Robinson

McGill University ( email )

1001 Sherbrooke St. W
Montreal
Canada

Siddappa Shetty

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment ( email )

Royal Enclave,
Sriramapura, Jakkur Post
Bangalore, KS 560 064
India

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