A Livelihoods Approach – Conceptual Issues and Definitions

The increased attention being paid to livelihoods in both research and policy follows from a wide recognition that few rural or urban households, especially poor households in middle-and low-income countries, rely on a single incomegenerating activity (farming or wage employment) to support themselves. Drawing on Chambers and Conway (1992), a livelihood is defined as comprising ‘. . . the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources) and activities required for a means of living’ (Carney, 1998, p4). Coupled to this definition, and based on the recognition of the importance of the natural resource base to rural livelihoods and the vulnerability that so frequently characterizes the position of poor rural households:A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base (Carney, 1998, p4).