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 degradation results in or exacerbates poverty. Poverty is a significant, persistent problem in the developing world. An estimated 1.1 billion people live on less than a dollar a day, and their number is not expected to decline in the near future. South Asia is home to half of the world's poor, but Sub-Saharan Africa is becoming the new locus of poverty.
Hunger is a major consequence of poverty.
Over 700 million people do not have access to enough food for healthy, productive lives, and more than 180 million children are significantly underweight. About 15 million hectares of forests are cut down each year, much of it for conversion to agricultural use by farmers. Overgrazing, deforestation, and overexploitation for fuelwood account for about 70 percent of global soil degradation since 1945. To a large extent, these problems result from or are exacerbated by inadequate property rights, poverty, population pressure, inappropriate government policies, lack of access to markets and credit, and inappropriate technology for agricultural intensification. Faulty agricultural practices, which account for another 28 percent of soil degradation, may also be partly attributable to poverty.