The urban below poverty line (BPL) families residing in certain pockets of the city of Imphal are particularly vulnerable and struggle to gain access to services and opportunities to improve their livelihoods. They generally possess low skills and lack the level of education required for the better paid jobs in the formal sector. Working in the informal sector are the only means for their survival. This has led to a rapid growth of the informal sector in the Imphal city.

The linkage between poverty, livelihood, and the environment is always multifaceted and often complex. The degradation of the environment has been plunging millions of people into poverty. The last century witnessed rapid progress in the application of science and technology, which resulted in improvement in livelihood, reduction in poverty, enhanced life expectancy and huge growth in consumption which in turn created pressure on the environment. Thus, the planet's capacity to sustain is eroding with degrading agricultural land, shrinking forests, diminishing supply of clean water and other related issues. Apart from food and water, clean and affordable access to energy is one key issue to a decent livelihood. The tradeoffs that policymakers are facing nowadays are rapid reduction in poverty and improving livelihood without harming the environment. These draw our focus to address environmental issues that matter to the livelihood of the poor which are critical for poverty reduction. Strengthening the link between poverty, livelihood, and the environment can promote sustainable development outcomes. The book is a collection of articles on comprehensive research, case studies, empirical and theoretical papers on these issues. The chapters of the book attempted to analyze the links and identify approaches that can promote positive outcomes. The contributors here tried to highlight a number of key challenges that need to be addressed in the process of policy formulation and government investment programmes. It may serve as an important resource for academics, researchers, professionals, students and policy-makers.

This study analyses the livelihoods of marine fishing communities in the Indian coastal state of Orissa using the sustainable livelihoods approach. It investigates the relationships between livelihoods and coastal poverty and seeks to develop simple qualitative indicators to monitor the changes in these relationships over time. The key trends affecting the livelihoods of the poor in the coastal fishing communities in Orissa range across the whole spectrum of "assets" - i.e. the natural, physical, social, human and financial - and contribute to changes in terms of availability as well as access to the assets for the poorer stakeholders. This paper also examines the impact of seasonality and shocks upon the fisheries-based livelihoods and the importance and influence of various policies, institutions and processes in addressing the fishers' need to cope with their vulnerability context in a meaningful manner. It summarizes the various factors having an impact upon the livelihoods of the fishers and develops them into simple indicators relevant in assessing the changing patterns of poverty in fishing communities of Orissa.

In Forgotten People Gerben Nooteboom describes and analyses the livelihoods and social security of peasants and migrant Madurese. It offers a new way to categorise and analyse livelihood security of marginal people in Indonesia by using the concept of style.

This book analyzes the outstanding development problems confronting Africa today, and the policies necessary for improving Africa's governance, economic performance, and the very possible achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Those who study global poverty and ways to reduce it face a perennial set of questions: Do advances in knowledge, research, and technology make a real difference in the lives of poor people? What effect does research have on the poor? Who benefits? The contributors to Agricultural Research, Livelihoods, and Poverty shed light on these questions through a collection of case studies that explore the types of impact that agricultural research has had on livelihoods and poverty in low-income countries.

Rural families in developing countries make a living by engaging in diverse activities. These range from farming, to rural trade, to migration to distant cities and even abroad. This book explores the implications of rural livelihood diversity for key topics in development studies and for poverty reduction policies. The livelihoods approach is gaining momentum, and this is the first book to set it out in detail.

This book presents a socio-economic and livelihood analysis of agriculturally-dependent communities of Mizoram, the eastern extension of the Himalaya, using the sustainable livelihood approach. Such an approach to poverty reduction is inevitable, particularly, in areas where livelihoods depend largely on biomass-based agriculture and livestock production. Mizoram possesses abundant natural resources – land, water and forest – but those resources are largely unused. The region suffers from chronic poverty and malnutrition, and climate change has further influenced livelihood patterns. This work studies all the aspects of natural potentials and livelihood status in Mizoram. It also discusses the major driving forces that influence livelihood patterns. Based on a detailed analysis of empirical data, several policy measures are suggested to cope with chronic poverty and malnutrition. The book is therefore highly useful for all stakeholders; students, researchers, academicians, policy makers and politicians involved in rural/community development.

This book presents five possible future scenarios for livelihoods, whose positive or negative outcomes depend on how several emerging challenges are dealt with. It concludes with ideas for global, national and local action that hold significant promise for securing resilient livelihoods for all.