Theoretical literature and empirical evidence often contend that poverty results in environmental degradation, particularly in the depletion of natural resource endowments. The authors of this book differ, arguing that this linkage is not simple arithmetic, but one that is mediated by the institutional innovations for the management of common property resources, voluntary sector interventions can stem the tide of resource degradation. The authors use econometric techniques to analyse this very complex interlinkage between people and encironment.