The relationship between poverty and environment it analyzed showing how, on the one hand, different forms of poverty induce environmental degradation and on the other, how environmental deterioration produces and/or enhances poverty. Also, how prevalent patterns of development tend to impoverish natural systems and sometimes cause their irreversible destruction. A distinction is made between development assistance which has effects on the roots of poverty and humanitarian actions which only offer relief from its symptoms. Finally some comments are made on how to face the challenge of interrupting the vicious circle of poverty and environmental degradation and achieving sustainable development.