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CHAPTER SEVEN – LOCAL LIVELIHOODS ANDDEPENDENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCESIn the first part of this section we present household characteristics and assets asrepresented in the livelihood framework. From this the livelihood strategies oractivities are presented before the outcomes are put forward. Lastly we discuss howthe local context impacts on the observed livelihood adaptations.7.1 Household access to assetsAssets, as explained by Ellis (2000) are the basic building blocks upon whichhouseholds are able to undertake production, engage in labour markets, andparticipate in exchanges with other households. Social factors and institutionstogether with exogenous shocks or trends mediate the asset status. How such factorsaffect people‟s livelihoods and strategies we will come back to later in this chapter.Assets can also be described as the households stock of capital. Different scholarshave identified and categorised assets differently, but we follow Scoones (1998) andEllis (2000) who categorise assets into human capital, natural capital, physical capital,social capital, and financial capital. We analyse these asset categories by use of twomeasure;, income groups and location. Household income groups are used as awelfare measure, and are done by dividing all households into three income groups;poor, medium, and less poor. It must however be said that by doing this, it becamevery clear that the overall welfare in the study area is very low, under one USD a dayThe different income groups are equally represented with 60 households in each (seeTable 13).171