Introduction

If poverty and environmental problems persist, it is, in large part because poor people and environmental concerns remain marginalized by – and from – sources of power. Poor people are unable to access resources, services and political processes; in effect, they are excluded from the institutions and benefits of wider society. Public environmental goods are appropriated to serve the interests of more powerful private individuals and companies, who keep environmental interest groups on the political margins. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, what we perceive as ‘man's power over nature’ turns out, invariably, to be the power of some people over others, with nature as its instrument.