Reflection on Mainstream Viewpoints of the Interactions between Poverty and Land Degradation
对贫困与土地退化关系主流观点的反思

This paper examines the mainstream viewpoint that poverty leads to land degradation, through reflection on the theoretical foundation of the Environmental Kuznets' Curve (EKC). Some of its assumptions are questioned, and we suggest that EKC has inherent flaws and limited application, and that the mainstream viewpoint tends to exaggerate the relationship between poverty and environmental degradation. Since the EKC is based on local-level empirical research, the applicability is limited. We also research the relationship between poverty and land degradation based on definitions of poverty; the relationship between wealth, population growth and land degradation; poor people's right to speech; and evidence from China. Research shows that the EKC concept has many limitations. In fact, even after the curve's peak, in the absence of effective interventions, damage to the environment and land degradation will not automatically make a turn for the better. Economic poverty is merely one of many factors which cause land degradation, while a lack of rights, institutions, cultural awareness, and technology may also be responsible for land degradation. Wealth also exacerbates land degradation through economic development, and thus should bear more of the social responsibility for protection of the environment and land resources. The right to speech of the poor is seriously lacking, and an irrational land system, international trade, and division of labor, as well as relevant domestic laws and policies, lead some to imagine a feedback cycle between poverty and land degradation. Poverty is not the leading cause of China's land degradation, with factors such as natural conditions, institutional arrangements, and flaws in land ownership arrangements as well as market and policy failures having more explanatory power. Economic development reaching the EKC inflection point is a necessary but not sufficient condition for improved management of environmental and land resources. Protection of these resources has to rely on state laws and policies for effective regulation, coupled with economic, administrative, technical and other methods. Due to the lack of more detailed data, this paper only presents preliminary thinking on the relationship between economic growth and land degradation in China, which is extremely complex, and provides a foundation for the next stage of analysis. This study combines two major problems of poverty and environment that China is facing, and discusses multiple dimensions of the issues. As China confronts its resource limitations, it is very important for the Chinese government to adopt the appropriate actions for implementation of sustainable development.