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Rural poor rely on forests
for nearly a quarter of
household income
A 7 year global landmark study by CIFOR
found that income from forests contributes on
average more than one-fifth of total household
earnings for people living in or near forests –
documenting for the first time on such a scale
the key role that the environment plays in
poverty alleviation.
The size of ‘environmental incomes’ – from
wood, game, plants and other resources
harvested from the wild – has until now been
poorly documented, and is not obvious to
most policy makers. Many existing tools for
assessing poverty and income, such as the
World Bank’s Living Standard Measurement
Survey, fail to adequately capture income from
natural resources. The true value of forests
in the livelihoods of the world’s rural poor
remains largely invisible.
The Poverty and Environment Network (PEN)
study comprises data collected by 32 partners,
mostly PhD students who spent a year or more
in the field, from more than 8,000 households
at 58 sites in 24 countries.
Among those surveyed, forest income – on
average – constitutes more than one-fifth of
total household income, while environmental
income (forest and non-forest) makes up
more than a quarter. These numbers from
the study’s global database were presented in
June 2011 at a conference at the Royal Society
in London.
‘Earlier studies have emphasised the special
importance of forest incomes to the poorest
households. One surprising finding of
this project is that, overall, forest reliance,
defined as the share of forest income in total
household income, apparently varies little with
income levels. Hence, forest income is not just
for the poor but for everyone at these sites,’
said Arild Angelsen, PEN coordinator and
CIFOR Senior Associate.
Photo by Fiona Paumgarten/CIFOR