Natural Assets

by Boyce, James K.; University of Massachusetts at Amherst Natural Assets Project; Shelley, Barry G.

• ISBN13: 9781559635394
• ISBN10: 1559635398
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-05-02
• Publisher: Island Pr

Summary

Low-income communities frequently suffer from a lack of access to, or lack of control over, the natural resources that surround them. In many cases, their local environment has been degraded by years of resource extraction and pollution by distant corporations or government agencies. In such settings, initiatives that build natural assets in the hands of the poor can play an important role in poverty-fighting efforts.Natural Assetsexplores a range of strategies for expanding the quantity and enhancing the quality of natural assets in the hands of low-income individuals and communities. The book: examines the social construction of rights to natural resources and the environment describes efforts to curtail pollution of the air, land, and water and to reclaim resources that have been appropriated and abused by polluters considers sustainable agricultural practices that not only maintain but actually increase the stock of natural capital explores strategies to promote sustainable forest management while reducing rural poverty examines the prospects for building natural assets in urban areasDrawing on evidence from across the United States, the authors demonstrate that safeguarding the environment and improving the well-being of the poor can be mutually reinforcing goals.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	xi
Foreword	xiii
Melvin Oliver
Acknowledgments	xvii
Introduction	1	(4)
PART I. THE WEALTH OF NATURE	5	(50)
From Natural Resources to Natural Assets	7	(22)
James K. Boyce
``A Question of Degree'': The Sanctity of Property in American Economic History	29	(26)
Gerald Friedman
PART II. RECLAIMING ENVIRONMENTAL SINKS	55	(96)
Reclaiming Brownfields: From Corporate Liability to Community Asset	57	(20)
K. A. Dixon
Building Social Capital to Protect Natural Capital: The Quest for Environmental Justice	77	(22)
Manuel Pastor
Defending the Public Domain: Pollution, Subsidies, and Poverty	99	(18)
Paul Templet
Information for Empowerment: The EPA's Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators Project	117	(18)
Nicolaas W. Bouwes
Steven M. Hassur
Marc D. Shapiro
The Sky Trust: The Battle for Atmospheric Scarcity Rent	135	(16)
Peter Barnes
Marc Breslow
PART III. CULTIVATING NATURAL CAPITAL	151	(56)
White Earth: Recovering a Homeland	153	(16)
Winona LaDuke
The Watershed Commonwealth of the Upper Rio Grande	169	(18)
Devon G. Pena
The Lighthouse and the Potato: Internalizing the Value of Crop Genetic Diversity	187	(20)
Stephen B. Brush
PART IV. OUT OF THE WOODS	207	(54)
Values, Markets, and Rights: Rebuilding Forest Ecosystem Assets Constance Best	209	(18)
Land and Livelihoods in the Northern Forest	227	(16)
Deborah Brighton
Community-Based Stewardship: Reinvesting in Public Forests and Forest Communities	243	(18)
Cecilia Danks
PART V. GREENING THE CITIES	261	(52)
Can Natural Assets Help Address Urban Poverty?	263	(14)
Greg Watson
The Chelsea River: Democratizing Access to Nature in a World of Cities	277	(22)
H. Patricia Hynes
Poverty and the Environment: The Urban Agriculture Connection	299	(14)
Raquel Pinderhughes
About the Contributors	313	(6)
Index	319