Globalization and the poverty-environment link in Asian agriculture

Abstract

More than thirty years ago, the green revolution helped tropical Asia to forestall widespread poverty and also slowed the rate of agricultural expansion into forested lands. This took place in economies in which barriers to international trade were pervasive. The subsequent globalization of Asian economies has seen many of these barriers lowered or eliminated. This process has changed the terms of the poverty-environment tradeoff, reducing some old threats and introducing new ones.