“It may be surprising that a universal basic income would also help the environment, but that is exactly what a new study found. A government program to help poor, rural Indonesians through direct cash payments had the unexpected effect of reducing deforestation by 30 percent in participating villages, according to a new study, as Newsweek reported.”
“The program that Indonesia started, Keluarga Harapan program, or “Family Hope” program, which provides direct cash transfers to low-income households to bring them above the poverty line, had no intention of helping the country’s forests, which have been slashed down at a remarkable rate.
Instead, the program gave families money if they met certain conditions, like attending regular doctor visits, keeping kids in school, and participating in health and nutrition training. While conditional cash transfers are used in several countries around the world to alleviate poverty, they are not viewed as an environmentally friendly action, according to Science News.”
View the whole story here: https://www.ecowatch.com/indonesia-deforestation-poverty-income-2646183332.html