About 900 million people live in extreme poverty, struggling to live on the equivalent of less than $1.25 a day. About one of every three, or 2.6 billion, of the world’s people struggles to live on less than $2.25 a day. Desperate for short-term survival, these individuals do not have the luxury of worrying about long-term environmental quality or sustainability. Collectively, they can degrade forests, topsoil, and grasslands, and deplete fisheries and wildlife populations in order to stay alive