Contribution of Poverty to Environmental Degradation in Cameroon

Abstract

The paper titled contribution of poverty to environmental degradation examines how environmental quality has been decreasing in Cameroon, particularly in the North West and South West Regions. Poverty is the primary attribute of most developing countries; this study aims at investigating the extent to which poverty can contribute to the continual uprising of climate change through specific causes like environmental degradation. The study adopted a a mixed methods approach utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon through interviews and questionnaires. Findings indicate that poverty is among the principal sources of environmental damage in North West and South West regions of Cameroon. The paper further found out that poverty has greatly contributed to environmental degradation as a result of deforestation of existing forests with some statistics of 32.5%. This is explained by that fact that, the massive rural exodus into urban areas creates scarcity of suitable land for agriculture. As a result, the population tends to encroach into the forest thereby destroying the existing ecosystem. Therefore, the efforts to reduce environmental degradation must be comprehensive enough and the priority of environmental policies should in the first place, target poverty reduction.