Poverty-environment trap: a non linear probit model applied to rural areas in the North of Brazil.

摘要

The present study analyses the relationship between rural poverty and environmental degradation, aiming to validate or to refute the poverty-environment trap thesis that asserts that poverty is a major cause of environmental degradation, forming a vicious circle situation. The present study analyses this relationship in Tocantins State, located in the Brazilian Legal Amazon Region and in which the main biome is cerrado (savannah). A non-linear probit model was used to analyse this relationship and the results refute the hypothesis that rural poverty and environmental degradation are directly correlated, forming a poverty-environment trap situation. Moreover, the study is unprecedented in the region in question and the results show that this relationship is ambiguous and therefore policies that aim to alleviate rural poverty do not necessarily have positive impacts on environmental preservation.