Connecting Poverty and Ecosystems

Ecosystems provide more than the resources needed for material welfare and livelihoods. In addition to supporting all life and regulating natural systems, they specifically provide health and cultural benefits to people. Moreover, their loss is a significant barrier to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals related to reduction of poverty, hunger and disease. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), released in 2005, reported, though, that 15 of the 23 ecosystem services assessed were being degraded or used unsustainably.

In light of these findings, these seven country scoping studies set out to provide a preliminary overview of ecosystem services in each country and the corresponding constituents and determinants of well-being related to the availability of these services. These studies were prepared by the International Institute for Sustainable Development for the United Nations Environment Programme. Countries examined in this series are Kenya (PDF - 869 kb), Mali (PDF - 814 kb), Mauritania (PDF - 853 kb), Mozambique (PDF - 1.2 mb), Rwanda (PDF - 1.1 mb), Tanzania (PDF - 915 kb) and Uganda (PDF - 1.2 mb).

The objective of the series is not to provide a detailed assessment of the poverty-environment linkages, but to identify the regions within the countries where critical ecosystem services for human well-being are stressed, signalling the need for immediate attention. This information is expected to inform and guide the selection of potential areas where a more detailed local-scale integrated assessment of the links between ecosystem services and human well-being can be carried out.

These reports do not cover previous policy interventions, as the local-scale integrated assessment would gather such information and report on the impacts these polices have had in the past. Lessons learned can then be used together with new knowledge gathered on the links between ecosystem services and human well-being to design more finely-tuned intervention strategies that would seek to promote the reduction of poverty and improve well-being while protecting and enhancing vital ecosystem services.