The role of Islamic microfinance in poverty alleviation and environmental awareness in Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia: A comparative study
Poverty is one of the greatest problems affecting developing countries. Socio-economic imbalances, created by both natural and artificial resource scarcity, restrict impoverished peopleÅ› access to economic opportunities, limiting their purchasing power and empowerment. Environmental degradation is thus both a cause and effect of resource scarcity, as the poor are forced to seek increasingly environmentally and economically unsustainable methods of income generation, further marginalizing them. Microfinance is known to be one of the best tools to combat poverty, as it allows the poor to emp...