Connecting Poverty and Ecosystem Services: Focus on Rwanda
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, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
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