An Economic Assessment of the Poverty-Environmental Quality Nexus in the Lambussie-Karni District of Ghana

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2012-03-14
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Abstract
The poor in Ghana depend on the environment for their livelihood and survival and their lives are greatly affected by the way they use the environmental resources. This study aimed to examine the poverty-environment nexus in Lambussie-Karni District. The study puts the hypothesis of bi-directional link between poverty and environment to test. The results provide evidence in consonance with the dominant view in the literature that environmental degradation spurs rural poverty and vice versa thereby providing evidence in support of the poverty- environment nexus in the study area. Also results indicate that environmental degradation spurs rural poverty and vice versa. Furthermore it was found that the impact of poverty on environmental degradation was greater than the impact of environmental degradation on poverty. The results indicate that income levels of majority of the respondents were below the poverty line (US$1 per day), with the environment severely degraded. The livelihoods of the poor in the Lambussie-Karni District would be significantly enhanced by close integration of poverty-alleviation and environmental strategies aimed at reducing environmental problems. Also development of alternative sources of energy, intensification and modernization of environmental education are also essential to alleviate poverty in the district.
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A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts
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