In general, high poverty leads to which of the following outcomes?

Study for the Environmental Science (ENVS) Test. Review flashcards, multiple choice questions, and get hints and explanations. Prepare for your exam with confidence!

High poverty often leads to high fertility and greater environmental damage due to several interconnected socio-economic factors. In impoverished areas, families may have more children as a strategy to ensure that some survive to adulthood and can contribute to the household's economic productivity. This phenomenon, known as the “demographic transition,” typically finds that in lower-income settings, higher birth rates persist due to lack of access to education, particularly for women, and limited availability of family planning resources.

Furthermore, high poverty is often associated with increased environmental degradation. Poor communities may depend heavily on local natural resources for their livelihoods, leading to over-exploitation of these resources, deforestation, soil degradation, and pollution. Since these communities may lack the infrastructure and resources to implement sustainable practices or technological advancements, their environmental impact can be quite severe. Hence, the combination of high fertility rates and reliance on the immediate environment contributes significantly to greater environmental damage, making this answer the most accurate in reflecting the complex relationship between poverty, population dynamics, and environmental implications.

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