Abstract
Highlighting the nexus between poverty and environment is essential to promote poverty alleviation and sustainable development. This study analyzed spatial differences and environmental factors influencing poverty incidence and reduction using spatial statistical methods and GeoDetector tools. It focused on Lijiang in the Hengduan Mountains of western China as the case area. The results indicate a notable decline in poverty incidence in most Lijiang villages during 2014–2018 under China’s poverty alleviation strategy. However, there are distinct spatial differences for both poverty incidence and reduction. The main environmental factors affecting poverty incidence and reduction are available water storage and geological hazard risks. Socioeconomic factors such as administrative unit and distance to city center also play a key role. The anti-poverty policies in various administrative units have the most significant influence. However, existing policy formulation mainly considers elevation factor in mountainous areas. This study suggests that water resources and geological hazards should also be highly considered, and not only elevation. It is imperative to promote the construction of water conservancy facilities and improve the prevention and control of geological disasters. Moreover, targeted poverty alleviation should focus on, not only policy or socioeconomic factors, but also main environmental factors affecting poverty incidence and reduction.
Highlights
Poverty is a global issue hindering sustainable development [1,2,3], and its eradication continues to be a common goal for the international community [4,5]
This study aimed to explore the nexus between poverty and the environment, namely, to explore what environmental factors are related to poverty incidence and reduction
This study further examined the environmental effects on poverty incidence at the village level, and the findings highlight key factors influencing special regions and that these factors differ by geographical scale
Summary
Poverty is a global issue hindering sustainable development [1,2,3], and its eradication continues to be a common goal for the international community [4,5]. In 2000, the United Nations introduced the Millennium Development Goals, one of which was to halve the extreme poverty headcount ratio as per the 1990 levels by 2015. In 2015, the United Nations enacted the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which were primarily aimed at eliminating all forms of global poverty by 2030. Regions with uninhabitable environments or scarce natural resources are more likely to fall into the poverty trap, and this is true for developing or undeveloped nations. Human efforts including projects related to transport, construction, hydraulic engineering, and protection against natural disasters are improving poverty conditions
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