Wealth, Poverty and Sustainable Development

An analysis of the underlying causes of environment destruction debunks the idea that the poor are the principal cause of environmental degradation in present-day societies. The paper also identifies some of the major areas of economic theory and institutional biases in market economies that generate obstacles to the 'proper' functioning of markets. As a result, even the more advanced prescriptions of modern environmental economics are incapable of explaining the deepening of social and economic polarization and the worsening of the environmental conditions in which poor people must exist. The paper ends with a proposal for overcoming this growing crisis through local participation and action.