This discussion paper is the first in a series of papers prepared as part of IFPRI's 2020 Vision initiative, which seeks to develop an international consensus on how to meet future world food needs while reducing poverty and protecting the environment. It shows that poverty and environmental...

The condition of the world's natural resource base in the year 2020 largely depends on whether poverty has been eradicated. Poverty and environmental degradation are closely linked, often in a self-perpetuating negative spiral in which poverty accelerates environmental degradation and...

Poverty is a rural phenomenon in most of the developing world, especially the low-income developing countries. The rural poor make up more than 75 percent of the poor in many Sub-Saharan African and Asian countries. Accelerated public investments are needed to facilitate agricultural and rural...