ABSTRACT
The health and economic well-being of people living in poverty depends on a wide
range of environmental resources: fresh water for drinking, sanitation and agricul-
ture; fertile soil and healthy fisheries for the production of food; and the diverse prod-
ucts of forest and marine ecosystems.Moreover, the diversity of nature-its aesthetic,
nutritional and pharmacological variety-greatly enriches people’s physical and
spiritual experience. But when natural resources are depleted, or when air, soil and
water are polluted, poor and economically vulnerable people suffer the most.
