The strong linkage between environment degradation, poverty and economic development is now an established fact. It has been more or less accepted now that it is not always the poor who are the greatest polluters responsible for a degraded environment. Urbanization and industrialization and unsustainable use of natural resources have all contributed to serious environmental problems. Conventional thinking on environment blamed the poor for overexploitation of natural resources, as poverty and environment were considered linked in a 'downward spiral,' in which poor people, forced to overuse the environmental resources for their daily survival, are further impoverished by the degradation of these resources. Population growth and economic change (which often bypasses the poor, or reduces their access to natural resources) were also seen to contribute to this process. It was therefore believed that poverty needs to be eradicated in developing countries before they can turn their attention to environmental protection. The perception of the 'vicious circle' as characterizing the environmental degradation and poverty in countries is vulnerable to criticism on several counts. It is a simplistic, exaggerated and misleading thesis. In the past, when poverty levels were much higher in developing countries, there was not much environmental degradation. Now that poverty levels are declining significantly, it does not seem plausible to attribute environmental degradation to poverty.