This study investigates the relationship between rural poverty, property rights, and environmental resource management in a semi-arid region of Kenya using survey data. It asserts that reduced environmental degradation will increase agricultural productivity, which translates into lower levels of poverty as incomes and consumption expenditures rise; and that the quality of the environment and thus productivity and poverty are unaffected by property right regimes.

(Paper Prepared for the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics Research Workshop, Durban, South Africa, May 28-30 2002.)

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