Poverty (main)
From The Encyclopedia of Earth
Poverty
========
-
Featured Article 
Spiral Pine Needle CookstoveSpiral Pine Needle Cookstove Challenge In Uttrakand, India, wood fuel is a scarce commodity, as it is illegal to cut branches from the government-owned pine trees. The... More »
- Featured Article
Poverty and National ParksMany poor people live around national parks in developing countries. Does that mean that these parks are contributing to their poverty? Living on the Edge of... More »
- Featured Article
Measuring Science Investments?Main Image: The Science and Technology for America's Reinvestment: Measuring the Effects of Research on Innovation, Competitiveness, and Science program, commonly called STAR... More »
- Featured Article
Compatibility: Biofuels and Existing...But Are They Compatible? New biofuels must be compatible with America's existing transportation infrastructure. The ultimate goal of ORNL's BioEnergy Science... More »
- Featured Article
Invasive Plant AbundanceHome and Away: Are Invasive Plant Species Really That Special? Invasive plants are a major environmental problem--but how abundant are they? Invasive plant species... More »
- Featured Article
Drought in Eastern AfricaMore Frequent Drought Likely in Eastern Africa The increased frequency of drought observed in eastern Africa over the last 20 years is likely to continue as long as... More »
- Featured Article
Bicilavadora: Green Washing MachineBicilavadora Challenge In Peru, many women earn their living by washing clothes by hand, which limits the amount of laundry they can do each day. How does it... More »
Recently Updated
Inclusive Wealth Report 2012 Last Updated on 2013-10-29 21:21:58 The International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP)* announced at the Rio+20 Summit on June 17, 2012. the launch of the Inclusive Wealth Report 2012 (IWR 2012). The report measures the wealth of nations. Download PDF | Read more about the report The report presents a new economic index, which looks beyond the traditional short term economic and development yardsticks of gross domestic product (GDP) and the Human Development Index (HDI). The Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI) assesses changes in a country’s productive base, including produced, human, and natural capital over time. By taking a more holistic approach, the IWI shows governments the true state of their nation’s wealth and the sustainability of its growth. Twenty countries were assessed in the IWR 2012 over a period of 19 years (1990-2008). Together they represent more than half of... More » Poverty and National Parks Last Updated on 2011-08-22 00:00:00 Many poor people live around national parks in developing countries. Does that mean that these parks are contributing to their poverty? Living on the Edge of Poverty and National Parks Decade-long study questions conventional wisdom about the relationship between national parks and poverty If so many poor people live around national parks in developing countries, does that mean that these parks are contributing to their poverty? Yes, according to the conventional wisdom, but no, according to a 10-year study of people living around Kibale National Park in Uganda published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Often people have lamented that the poorest of the poor live on the edge of the parks, and the assumption is that it's the parks that are keeping people poor," said Lisa Naughton, a professor of geography at the... More » Measuring Science Investments Last Updated on 2011-02-11 00:00:00 ?Main Image: The Science and Technology for America's Reinvestment: Measuring the Effects of Research on Innovation, Competitiveness, and Science program, commonly called STAR METRICS, attempts to gauge the quality and impact of funded research. STAR METRICS is being developed by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation with the backing of the White House Office of Science Technology and Policy. The Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency are also on board. Think piece describes new approach to documenting results of scientific research Measuring the results of scientific research has seen little federal focus until now. A 2010 administrative memorandum calls on U.S. federal agencies and executive departments to develop tools to "better assess the impact of [...] science and technology investments." Translation:... More » Compatibility: Biofuels and Existing Transportation Infrastructure Last Updated on 2011-02-09 00:00:00 But Are They Compatible? New biofuels must be compatible with America's existing transportation infrastructure. The ultimate goal of ORNL's BioEnergy Science Center is, naturally, to produce biofuel—but not just any biofuel. To achieve the center's goal of helping to reverse the nation's dependence on oil imports, a successful biofuel will need to be a stepping stone that fits neatly into America's current fuel infrastructure as part of a path to a transportation system that rests far less heavily on petroleum products. The research performed by Distinguished Scientist Bruce Bunting and his colleagues at ORNL's Fuels, Engines and Emissions Research Center (FEERC) focuses on ensuring that new biofuels meet both requirements. The research, funded in large measure by the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable... More » Invasive Plant Abundance Last Updated on 2011-02-01 00:00:00 Home and Away: Are Invasive Plant Species Really That Special? Invasive plants are a major environmental problem--but how abundant are they? Invasive plant species are a serious environmental, economic and social problem worldwide. Their abundance can lead to lost native biodiversity and such ecosystem functions as nutrient cycling. Despite substantial research, however, little is known about why some species dominate new habitats over native plants that technically should have the advantage. A common but rarely tested assumption, say biologists,is that these plants behave in a special way, making them more abundant when introduced into communities versus native plants that are already there. If true, it would mean that biosecurity screening procedures need to address how species will behave once introduced to nonnative communities--very... More » 
