5 Many philosophers have argued that nature has little or no [21] can give it.
However, we have failed to place sufficient value on key biological resources.
For example, though forests are richest in the tropics, these regions contain
many of the poorest countries today. Often, the poverty of the local people is
blamed for environmental destruction. However, the weakness of property
rights in those countries is a more important, but overlooked, factor. Poor
eople often do not care about forests, except as a means to gain immediate
benefit. To address this, governments in such poor countries need to establish
poor people's rights to the biological riches around them, letting them own and
manage these natural areas. [22] surely recognize the benefits of maintaining
their forests.
