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Keetie Roelen
(The Open University)
Mark Adams
(University of Edinburgh)
Suman Seth
(University of Leeds)
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Format:
Panel
Stream:
Anthropocene thinking
Location:
Palmer G.03
Sessions:
Thursday 29 June, -, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Rethinking poverty in the Anthropocene [SG Multidimensional Poverty and Poverty Dynamics].
Panel P26 at conference DSA2023: Crisis in the Anthropocene: rethinking connection and agency for development.
Understanding and addressing poverty are often approached from a technocratic and narrow perspective. This raises important questions about how framings of poverty – and policies to tackle it – can be reimagined to better account for interconnections with other humans and life’s non-human dynamics.
Long Abstract:
Understanding and addressing poverty are often approached from a technocratic and narrow perspective. In doing so, it overlooks the intricate web of human, spiritual and environmental factors, connections, and agency that are fundamental to quality of life. In this Anthropocene era, this raises important questions about how framings of poverty – and policies to tackle it – can be reimagined to better account for our interconnections with other humans and life’s non-human dynamics. For example, are consumption- or basic needs-based poverty metrics compatible with economic discourses that seek an alternative to growth-based models, such as circular economics or degrowth? How does anti-poverty policy need to be adapted to adequately respond to increasing insecurity and fluctuation in people’s lives?
We invite proposals on:
• Alternative theorisations of poverty that might be more appropriate and relevant in the Anthropocene. For example, could concepts framed around notions of ‘wellbeing’ or ‘Buen Vivir’ offer a viable alternative?
• Empirical interrogations of interlinkages between poverty and the non-human world. This could range from work on the interplay between poverty and natural crises to the role of indigenous wisdom in working with nature rather than against it.
• Studies of and proposals for anti-poverty interventions that meaningfully engage with human and non-human connections. For example, can certain forms of social protection meaningfully support people in poverty to adapt to environmental shocks and changes? Can a wellbeing focus strengthen the link between conservation and development as we seek to preserve ecosystems and strengthen human quality of life?
Effective anti-poverty interventions require working "in" polycrisis (through sensitivity to contexts of intersecting challenges) and "on" polycrisis simultaneously to avoid impoverishment. This paper examines anti-poverty responses to polycrisis from DRM, the HDP nexus, and social protection.
Paper long abstract:
COVID-19 was one of multiple crises, though responses were often focused on singular hazards. Many anti-poverty responses during the pandemic worked “in” polycrisis, by being sensitive to the context of intersecting challenges. However, they often fell short of working “on” polycrisis simultaneously to manage contemporaneous crises in ways that could more effectively help avoid impoverishment.
This paper draws attention to anti-poverty interventions amidst polycrisis from policy/programming entry points of disaster risk management, the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, and social protection. During the pandemic, examples of manging the conflict-climate nexus sought to identify multiple hazards through early warnings and releasing contingency funds. Risk assessments and trigger designs in DRR were sometimes modified to account for the pandemic. There were also examples of social protection approaches used to respond to COVID-19 and disasters, though their low value and short duration made them largely inadequate in response to the multi-wave manifestations of the pandemic and the layering of crises over time. In this context, various household and community-level responses emerged to working “on” polycrisis.
From this analysis, the study makes recommendations for developing more effective anti-poverty interventions. It argues that equitably responding to polycrisis requires a range of investments including into cross-sectoral coordination pre-crises, shifting analysis and planning from single hazards to systemic risk, and ensuring that financing is sufficiently flexible to avoid one crisis crowding out funding for another. It is often a combination of these risk-informed responses and a commitment to equity that increase the effectiveness of working “in” and “on” polycrisis.
Our paper analyses the overlap between multidimensional child poverty and climate risk. Combining household surveys and global climate model data, we find regions with higher levels of child poverty to also be more exposed to climate risks, especially droughts and crop failures.
Paper long abstract:
We overlap child poverty and climate risks worldwide on a subnational level combining a wide range of data sources. We estimate that 773.5 million children are both living in poverty and are affected by at least one extreme climate risk per year. Adding information on conflicts, we further find that 182.9 million children are even facing a triple burden, affected simultaneously by poverty, climate risk, and armed conflicts.
Using a subset of 64 low- and middle-income countries for which we have comparable estimates of multidimensional child poverty, we investigate more in detail the links between child poverty and six different type of climate risks (wildfires, tropical cyclones, floods, heatwaves, droughts, crop failures). We find that subnational regions with higher levels of child poverty are also more likely to be affected by climate risks in general, as well as by droughts and crop failures in particular. However, we find important differences in such patterns between world regions as well as within countries, suggesting that policy or programmatic responses to build resilience do need to be tailored to the regional risk profile.
[The proposed paper is still work in progress. We are working on a broader theoretical framework to investigate the linkages between child poverty and climate risks. We further plan to include changes in climate risks as well, utilising global climate models.]
We compute the first global study estimating the poverty and inequality effects of a carbon tax and different revenue recycling mechanisms. We show that poverty can be significantly decreased, but social protection programs in lower income countries and international transfers are key.
Paper long abstract:
The global policy debate on just transitions is concerned with how to achieve a socially just and acceptable transition toward a climate-neutral and climate-resilient global economy. Public acceptability of climate policies is key to their implementation, but it depends to a large extent on the perceived fairness of such policies. Recycling revenues from carbon taxes directly back to vulnerable households is likely to gain the approval of a large number of people, especially in low-income countries where the high proportion of the population involved in the informal economy means that lowering income tax does not benefit the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society. But the targeting of these direct transfers needs careful consideration.
Here, we assess the impact on poverty and inequality of a global carbon tax and national redistribution of revenues to vulnerable households. We look at different options for such redistribution, including a lump sum payment, the use of current social assistance programmes, and an expansion of social assistance following COVID-19. We find that a carbon tax of US$50/tCO2 without revenue redistribution could increase global extreme poverty, but the redistribution of revenue from such a carbon tax could substantially reduce poverty by more than 100 million people, and reduce inequality, depending on the scenario. This shows that the way in which revenue from a carbon tax is redistributed greatly affects its impact, underlining the importance of policy design and targeting mechanisms. We also show the importance of international transfers alongside national redistribution.
Poverty measures are computed using the assumption that every person presents similar patterns of consumption or deprivation, however, people with disabilities have specific characteristics that increase their risk of poverty but are most of the time not captured by poverty measures.
Paper long abstract:
According to the world health organisation (WHO, 2022), 16% of the world's population lives with a type of disability, and around 80% of persons with disabilities live in low and middle-income countries. Although the increase in recognition of the additional needs that persons with disabilities have the extra costs associated with disabilities and their higher risk of income and multidimensional poverty, most countries have produced and implemented poverty measures that do not acknowledge the additional needs of persons with disabilities. Therefore, poverty measures (income and multidimensional) are not capturing an essential group of persons with disabilities and their families, who are probably living in poverty and are ignored by poverty strategies. This paper explores how poverty measures have included (or not) the needs of persons with disabilities. We will emphasise multidimensional poverty measures, recognising that normative decisions taken in the process of designing the measure can facilitate the inclusion of the needs of persons with disabilities. We analyse 20 national Multidimensional Poverty Measures of Latin America, Africa and Asia countries and explore how indicators capture (or do not) the needs of persons with disabilities. The results show that most governments have ignored the unique needs of persons with disabilities, have not included aspects related to accessibility or equal opportunities, and some normative decisions assume that persons with disabilities are non-deprived.
This paper reconsiders the use of ontological approaches from anthropology. Examining the interplay between financial worldviews and ubuntu/umunthu, we aim to enhance understanding and address poverty in Malawi.
Paper long abstract:
This study explores the intersection of ontological worlding and financial worlding as essential aspects for understanding poverty and vulnerability in Malawi. Drawing inspiration from Escobar's pluriverse and the shift towards political ontology, the research aims to develop a framework that considers diverse ontologies and aspirations. The concept of ubuntu/umunthu, emphasizing interconnectedness and community, plays a central role. The study examines the WISALA Financial Inclusion Program, which empowers widows through microfinance interventions. Through interviews and narratives, the goals and aspirations of program participants are analyzed. The findings highlight the participants' pursuit of economic independence, aspirations for their children's educational achievement, and the importance of social inclusion. These narratives emphasize the significance of social cohesion and umunthu in the participants' lives. By integrating the principles of umunthu and financial inclusion programs like WISALA, a comprehensive framework can be developed to address poverty and vulnerability in Malawi. This study underscores the need to consider diverse ontologies and aspirations when designing effective measures for poverty alleviation, integrating cultural, economic, and social dimensions into the framework. The integration of ontological and financial worldviews provides a lens through which to examine the relationship between financial empowerment and overall well-being in the Malawian context.
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