Natural Resource Dependence Rural Development And Rural Poverty

Extract: Rural poverty and population decline are now only weakly connected with a rural county's economic dependence on agriculture, mining, or Federal landownership. Thus, natural resource dependent counties are not the principal target for programs designed to relieve population decline and low-income problems in rural America. This report examines the influence of natural resource dependence on rural income levels and recent population growth.

Most land in the United States is in rural areas, as are the sources of most of its fresh water and almost all its other natural resources. One of the first books to approach resource economics and rural studies as fundamentally interconnected areas of study, Frontiers in Resource and Rural Economics integrates the work of 18 leading scholars in resource economics, rural economics, rural sociology and political science in order to focus on two complex interdependencies-one pertaining to natural resources and human welfare, the other to urban and rural communities and their economies. The book reviews the past 50 years of scholarship in both natural resource and rural economics. It contrasts their different intellectual and practical approaches and considers how they might be refocused in light of pressing demands on human and natural systems. It then proposes a 'new rural economics' that acknowledges the full range of human-ecosystem and urban-rural interdependencies. It explores the relationship between natural resources and economic growth, and considers the prospects for amenity-driven growth that would benefit both new and traditional inhabitants of rural areas. Later chapters explore the politics of place, spatial economics, strategies for reducing rural poverty, and prospects for linking rural and environmental governance. Throughout, the book emphasizes innovative research methods that integrate natural resource, environmental, and rural economics.

The second edition of this landmark book explores how natural resources contribute to development in poor economies.

This book provides an international perspective on rural planning, focused on developing countries. It examines conventional development planning and innovative local planning approaches, drawing together lessons from recent experience of rural planning and land use. The authors examine past and current practice and ways that land use planning and management of natural resources can underpin sustainable local livelihoods. They draw on case studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America to present findings relevant throughout the developing world.

This book brings together several systems-level approaches to the consideration of the interaction of livelihood choices, natural resource management and participatory action research on sustainable development. By focusing on these approaches to community change, the volume hopes to encourage readers to consider how they might adopt methods such as Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA), Community Capitals Framework (CCF) and Participatory Action Research (PAR) in their own research, practice and teaching. Thus, this volume will engage readers in reflection about the importance of systems-level approaches that address poverty from the perspective of the poor, natural resource management that maintains the resource for future generations, and the engagement of local people in designing and implementing, and thus owning, strategies that address equity as well as economic security and the environment. This book was originally published as a special issue of Community Development.

Overview and background; From the old the new development paradigm; The world of the rural poor; Rural poverty processes; Access for the rural poor to resources: land; Access of the rural poor to resources: infrastructure, technology and social services; Access of the rural poor the resources: labour and capital markets; Reorienting government policies and institution to help the poor; Rural women in development; Alleviating rural poverty through natural resource management and preservation; Strategies for targeting specific groups; Partnership and participation: necessary elements for poverty alleviation.

Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is an approach that offers multiple related benefits: securing rural livelihoods; ensuring careful conservation and management of biodiversity and other resources; and empowering communities to manage these resources sustainably. Recently, however, the CBNRM concept has attracted criticism for failing in its promise of delivering significant local improvements and conserving biodiversity in some contexts. This book identifies the flaws in its application, which often have been swept under the carpet by those involved in the initiatives. The authors analyse them, and propose remedies for specific circumstances based on the lessons learned from CBNRM experience in southern Africa over more than a decade. The result is essential reading for all researchers, observers and practitioners who have focused on CBNRM in sustainable development programmes as a means to overcome poverty and conserve ecosystems in various parts of the globe. It is a vital tool in improving their methods and performance. In addition, academics, students and policy-makers in natural resource management, resource economics, resource governance and rural development will find it a very valuable and instructive resource.