8 Sustainable Development A Normative View Ecological security is now recognized as an important aspect of the governance of the planet, alongside peace and the reduction of poverty. The three objectives are closely interwoven.
Poverty is both a cause and an effect of environmental destruction.
In their struggle to survive, the rural poor are forced to live from hand to mouth. Population growth, ill-conceived development strategies, increasing debt, declining terms of trade, and natural disasters provoke the overuse of productive soils, forests, and waters. Thus, reducing poverty is a direct way to ensure environmentally sound development. The reverse loop is illustrated by the plight of the urban poor in Mexico City. Their poverty is made worse by the degraded environmental and health conditions prevailing in this city on the brink of ecological disaster.