Editing Poverty (section)

==Ethics==
===Human rights===
It is sometimes argued that poverty is a violation of [[human rights]]. The [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] state that “Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to [[social security]].”<ref>{{Cite web |title=(Re)claiming the Right to Social Security |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/19/reclaiming-right-social-security |website = Human Rights Watch|date=19 December 2023|access-date=27 April 2024}}</ref>

===Environmentalism===
{{See also|Environmentalism of the poor|Environmental justice|Green grabbing|Climate change and poverty}}
[[File:Polar Bears Fight Climate Poverty 2.jpg|thumb|upright|Demonstration against climate poverty in 2007.]]

The poor tend to suffer most from environmental degradation caused by reckless [[exploitation of natural resources]] by the rich.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anantha Duraiappah (1996). ''Poverty and Environmental Degradation: a Literature Review and Analysis'' CREED Working Paper Series No 8 International Institute for Environment and Development, London. Retrieved on June 27, 2016 |url=http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/8127IIED.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113164806/http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/8127IIED.pdf |archive-date=13 January 2016 |access-date=27 June 2016}}</ref> For example, it is estimated that 92% of accumulated greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to countries from the Global North while 8% of emissions are attributed to countries from the Global South.<ref name="Hickel 2020">{{cite news |last1=Hickel |first1=Jason |date=September 1, 2020 |title=Quantifying national responsibility for climate breakdown: an equality-based attribution approach for carbon dioxide emissions in excess of the planetary boundary |url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30196-0/fulltext |access-date=January 4, 2021 |archive-date=December 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203001815/https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30196-0/fulltext |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite book |last1=Hickel |first1=Jason |url=https://www.jasonhickel.org/less-is-more |title=Less is more: how degrowth will save the world |date=2020 |publisher=Penguin Random House |isbn=978-1785152498 |access-date=2021-01-04 |archive-date=2020-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230101429/https://www.jasonhickel.org/less-is-more |url-status=live }}</ref> However, [[developing countries]] suffer 99% of the casualties attributable to climate change.<ref name="Human Development Report">{{cite journal|title=Human Development Report 2007/2008: The 21st Century Climate Challenge.|journal=United Nations Development Programme|date=January 2008|url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr_20072008_en_complete.pdf|access-date=October 23, 2010|archive-date=April 29, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429033726/http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_20072008_EN_Complete.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> This unfair distribution of environmental burdens and benefits has generated the global [[environmental justice]] and [[climate justice]] movement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Martinez-Alier |first1=Joan |last2=Temper |first2=Leah |last3=Del Bene |first3=Daniela |last4=Scheidel |first4=Arnim |date=2016-05-03 |title=Is there a global environmental justice movement? |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2016.1141198 |journal=The Journal of Peasant Studies |language=en |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=731–755 |doi=10.1080/03066150.2016.1141198 |s2cid=156535916 |issn=0306-6150}}</ref>

The [[Our Common Future|Brundtland Report]] concluded that poverty causes [[environmental degradation]], while other theories like [[environmentalism of the poor]] conclude that the global poor may be the most important force for sustainability.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martínez Alier |first=Juan |title=The environmentalism of the poor: a study of ecological conflicts and valuation |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-567328-9 |location=New Delhi |oclc=61669200}}</ref> A 2013 [[World Bank]] report estimated that climate change was likely to hinder future attempts to reduce poverty with a 2016 UN report claiming that by 2030, an additional 122 million more people could be driven to extreme poverty because of climate change.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/oct/17/climate-change-could-drive-122m-more-people-into-extreme-poverty-by-2030-un-united-nations-report|title=Climate change could drive 122m more people into extreme poverty by 2030|work=The Guardian|access-date=18 October 2016|date=17 October 2016|archive-date=18 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018003039/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/oct/17/climate-change-could-drive-122m-more-people-into-extreme-poverty-by-2030-un-united-nations-report|url-status=live}}</ref> The possible impacts of a temperature rise of 2&nbsp;°C include: regular food shortages in Sub-Saharan Africa; a deficiency in water availability, with droughts predicted to happen much faster and last longer;<ref>{{Cite web|date=4 November 2019|title=Thirsty future ahead as climate change explodes plant growth|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/10/plants-consume-more-water-climate-change-thirsty-future/|access-date=30 November 2020|website=Science|language=en|archive-date=1 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101043113/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/10/plants-consume-more-water-climate-change-thirsty-future/}}</ref> degradation and loss of reefs in South East Asia, resulting in reduced fish stocks; and coastal communities and cities more vulnerable to increasingly violent storms.<ref>[http://cdkn.org/2013/06/report-warmer-world-will-keep-millions-of-people-trapped-in-poverty/?loclang=en_gb REPORT: Warmer world will keep millions of people trapped in poverty.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029194528/http://cdkn.org/2013/06/report-warmer-world-will-keep-millions-of-people-trapped-in-poverty/?loclang=en_gb |date=29 October 2013 }} [[Climate & Development Knowledge Network]]. Retrieved 31 July 2013.</ref> 

[[Green imperialism]] is the term used to refer to influencing poorer nations in the name of environmentalism. [[Green colonialism]] is grabbing of land in the name of environmentalism. [[Fortress conservation]] is the conservation model based on the belief that biodiversity protection is best achieved by creating protected areas in isolation from humans and this has led to the eviction of indigenous people.

===Spirituality===
{{See also|Simple living|Mendicant|Evangelical counsels}}
[[File:50番繁多寺前で托鉢する遍路P1010122.jpg|thumb|right|A Japanese Buddhist pilgrim on [[Takuhatsu|alms round]] (during [[Shikoku Pilgrimage]] in Shikoku, Japan)]]

Among some individuals, poverty is considered a necessary or desirable condition, which must be embraced to reach certain spiritual, moral, or intellectual states. Poverty is often understood to be an essential element of [[nekkhamma|renunciation]] in religions such as [[Buddhism]], [[Hinduism]] (only for monks, not for lay persons) and [[Jainism]], whilst in [[Christian views on poverty and wealth|Christianity]], in particular Roman Catholicism, it is one of the [[evangelical counsels]]. Some Christian communities, such as the [[The Simple Way|Simple Way]], the [[Bruderhof Communities|Bruderhof]], and the [[Amish]] value voluntary poverty;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.premierchristianity.com/Past-Issues/2019/August-2019/Meet-the-Bruderhof-Our-exclusive-peek-inside-a-modern-Christian-utopia|title=Meet the Bruderhof: Our exclusive peek inside a modern Christian utopia|last=Premier|date=18 July 2019|website=Premier Christianity|language=en-GB|access-date=26 October 2019|archive-date=27 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927121322/https://www.premierchristianity.com/Past-Issues/2019/August-2019/Meet-the-Bruderhof-Our-exclusive-peek-inside-a-modern-Christian-utopia}}</ref> some even take a vow of poverty, similar to that of the traditional Catholic orders, in order to live a more complete life of discipleship.<ref name="Oved 2017">{{cite book | last=Oved | first=Iaácov | title=The witness of the brothers: a history of the Bruderhof | publisher=Routledge | publication-place=London | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-351-47253-1 | oclc=994005958 }}</ref> Another example is [[mendicancy]], where one chooses to rely chiefly or exclusively on [[alms]] to survive. The main aim of giving up things of the materialistic world is to withdraw oneself from sensual pleasures (as they are considered illusionary and only temporary in some religions—such as the concept of [[dunya]] in [[Islam]]).

[[Pope Paul VI]] referred to "the spirit of poverty" as a fundamental characteristic of a Christian life,<ref>Pope Paul VI (1964), [https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_06081964_ecclesiam.html Ecclesiam Suam], paragraph 54, accessed on 28 August 2024</ref> while Pope [[Benedict XVI]] distinguished between "poverty ''chosen''" (the poverty of spirit proposed by Jesus), and "poverty ''to be fought''" (unjust and imposed poverty).<ref name=Benedict>{{cite news|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20090101_world-day-peace_en.html|title=World Peace Day Address 2009|publisher=The Vatican|date=1 January 2009|access-date=21 June 2011|archive-date=28 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628185005/http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20090101_world-day-peace_en.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Voluntary poverty can also be the result of [[solidarity]] with the poor.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://wydawnictwoumk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/CJFA/article/view/CJFA.2014.001/3213 |title=Catholic social teaching and social solidarity in the context of social security|journal=Copernican Journal of Finance & Accounting |date=7 April 2014 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=9–18 |doi=10.12775/CJFA.2014.001 |access-date=19 December 2014 |archive-date=16 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416181657/http://wydawnictwoumk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/CJFA/article/view/CJFA.2014.001/3213 |url-status=live |last1=Adamiak |first1=Stanisław |last2=Walczak |first2=Damian |doi-access=free }}</ref> Benedict XVI considered that such solidarity is a necessary condition to fight effectively to eradicate the non-voluntary poverty.<ref name=Benedict/>