Population, poverty, and policies.

A new paradigm that links population, poverty and environment has become widely accepted in studies on population growth and economic development. In this paradigm, poverty, population, and the environment are closely linked, and common property resources are central elements explaining externalities within each component. The "World Development Report, 1990" on poverty and the "World Development Report, 1992" on the environment, published by the World Bank, have emphasized on behavioral aspects of poverty-driven degradation of the environment. Policy approaches that have been advocated in these reports include promotion of poverty alleviation; reduction of rural risks and tenure insecurity; redressing of maldistribution of income; strengthening of education and public health programs; and expansion of family planning. Still, economic growth provides the foundation for all approaches that seek to stop the destructive spiral identified in this paradigm.