Over half of the world’s poor live in rural areas. Although urban poverty is rising, the correlation between poverty and remoteness from urban centres is strong in most countries and is expected to remain so in the foreseeable future. As compared with their urban counterparts, rural people are often isolated from economic opportunities and have less access to basic social services. Resource degradation is an acute problem in rural areas, with some 60% of the world’s poorest people living in ecologically vulnerable areas (Angelsen, 1997). The situation is worst in Africa, with two thirds of the continent being deserts or drylands. Africa also has extensive.
