Poverty-induced degradation and pollution from affluence
Also called: Environmental dichotomy · Topic: Environment and Sustainable Development · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 7 "Environment and Sustainable Development"
Meaning
India faces two environmental threats at the same time. The first is poverty-induced degradation. Poor people overuse land, forests and fuelwood simply to survive. The second is pollution from affluence. Rising incomes, more consumption and fast industrial growth create more emissions and waste. Because both happen together, India needs two sets of remedies. Reducing poverty eases the first threat. Controlling pollution eases the second.
Example
India has about 17% of the world's population (NCERT's figure) and about 20% of its livestock. It carries them on only 2.4% of the world's land. In villages, poor families cut forests for fuelwood and fodder. In cities, growing numbers of cars and factories foul the air.
Don't confuse with
- Environmental Kuznets curve: this is a theory that pollution first rises and then falls as a country grows richer, tracing an inverted U. It describes how damage changes over time with income. The dichotomy describes two different causes of damage at work in India at the same moment.
Related concepts
- Land degradation
- Deforestation
- Soil erosion
- Open access resource
- Biodiversity loss
- Air pollution
- Industrial pollution
- Water pollution
- Groundwater overuse
- Virtual water