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| Better forestry, less poverty. A practitioner's guide |
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| This guide suggests ways to design and implement forest-based interventions that
have the greatest potential to reduce poverty. Areas for action include timber
production in both natural and planted forests, non-wood forest products,
woodfuel, bushmeat, agroforestry and payment for environmental services. The document highlights the
importance of using participatory approaches and of tailoring activities to
local circumstances. Emphasis is on making changes that will improve the
livelihoods of people living in or near forests, and on helping users to gain a
better understanding of the forms of rural poverty and of how decisions made at
the local level affect segments of poor rural communities in different ways -
women, children and the elderly being the most vulnerable. |
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| Poverty, Health and Ecosystems: Experience from Asia |
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| The majortiy of Asia's poor live in rural areas where ecosystems they depend on - water bodies, grasslands, soils and forests - are facing strains from unsustainable exploitation or conversion to other uses. Some 620 million Asians are still living in severe poverty, which even projecting the most optimistic growth rates, will decline only to 150 million to 300 million living on $1 a day by 2015. However, as the book points out, a staggering 1.2 billion to 1.5 billion people will still be getting by on only $2 a day. This new book highlights, in 16 case studies, the challenges faced by these poor and often resource dependent households across Asia. |
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| Download the Publication News Release |
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| Poverty, Equity and Rights in Conservation, Technical Papers and Case Studies |
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| By linking IUCN and IUED, the work undertaken in this project sought to build a bridge between critical academic analysis in the development field with policy and practice in the conservation domain. It explored the links between conceptual and theoretical developments and the practical realities faced by governments and the wider conservation community in terms of reconciling development needs and sustainable management of natural resources. The main outputs of this collaborative initiative were an analytical paper on pro-poor and equitable conservation and a collection of three empirical and theoretical case studies on how to link equity, poverty and conservation. |
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| Fuel for life: household energy and health |
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| Energy use is essential to meet our most basic needs: cooking, boiling water,
lighting and heating. It is also a prerequisite for good health - a reality that
has been largely ignored by the world community. Left behind by development,
more than 3 billion people still burn wood, dung, coal and other traditional
fuels inside their homes. The resulting indoor air pollution is responsible for
more than 1.5 million deaths a year. "Fuel for life: household energy and health" is a new publication released by the World Health Organization which summarizes the health impacts of household energy and gives an overview of past and future trends in solid fuel use. |
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| Read more on the publication and how to order it |
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| MANAGING ENVIRONMENTAL WEALTH FOR POVERTY REDUCTION |
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| A new report, authored by the late Professor David Pearce, examines the economic case for investing in the environment, as a contribution to poverty reduction. It argues that the environment is not a luxury good, which poor countries can do without, but an essential part of strategies to reduce poverty and foster sustainable growth. The report was prepared on behalf of the Poverty and Environment Partnership (PEP) and presented on 14 September 2005 at the UN World Summit in New York (see details of the event at: http://www.undp.org/pei/). This report is particularly timely in the context of recent international agreements to cancel debts and increase assistance to developing countries by up to US$50 billion a year by 2010. New money will make it easier to address a wide range of development challenges. Nevertheless, aid funding is likely to remain scarce, both relative to the needs and legitimate rights of billions of deprived people, and with respect to the many proposed actions to reduce poverty. The report attempts to identify what environmental interventions contribute most efficiently to poverty reduction, in terms of net benefits to the poor. It develops a framework for analyzing the contribution of natural resources to human well-being, and sets out an ambitious agenda for public investment and policy reform. |
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| Summary Download the full report Obituary of Professor David Pearce |
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| POVERTY AND CONSERVATION: LANDSCAPES, PEOPLE AND POWER |
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| The IUCN Forest Conservation Programme recently launched a new book “Poverty and Conservation: Landscapes, People and Power” which highlights the need to address economic and social objectives in conservation work. The book argues that conservation can do more to address poverty without compromising its fundamental objective of maintaining the earth’s biological diversity. There are many cases where community action, motivated by livelihood needs, has led to improved conservation outcomes. People clearly benefit from the availability of natural resources. Local action may not lead to perfect conservation outcomes, but the results are often better than any existing alternatives. It is often the failure of government policies and actions that leads to environmental degradation in the first place.The book concludes that environmental conservation can and must contribute more actively to poverty reduction, and development agencies should pay more attention to the role of natural resources in livelihoods. |
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| Summary Download the Book Forest Programme 3-IC Project: Mainstreaming Poverty Reduction in IUCN's Programme |
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| CAN PROTECTED AREAS CONTRIBUTE TO POVERTY REDUCTION? OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITATIONS |
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| Poverty has become the central concern for development agencies, and because many of the areas that are most important for conserving biodiversity are occupied by poor people, or have poor people living around them, the complex relationship between poverty and protected areas can no longer be ignored. This book presents a balanced perspective on how protected areas relate to poverty, both positively and negatively. On the one hand, protected areas deliver many benefits to the people living around them, ranging from tourism to pollination. On the other hand, protected areas may prevent some forms of resource use, and harbour animals that may damage crops in adjacent lands. But by carefully addressing these potential conflicts in an open and inclusive manner, protected area authorities can forge a productive partnership with the rural poor. The issues certainly will require further discussion, but this book provides a useful beginning that is built on a broad consensus of leading organisations working in conservation and development. |
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| Table of ContentsOrdering Information World Commission on Protected Areas |
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| DEPEND ON NATURE - ECOSYSTEM SERVICES SUPPORTING HUMAN LIVELIHOODS |
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While environmental conservation alone will not achieve the internationally-agreed development
goals, including those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, it can and does make a major contribution. Over the past decades, we have learnt a great deal about the linkages between biodiversity, ecosystem services and human wellbeing. We have sufficient examples to show that the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity can contribute to poverty reduction, human health, equity and security. Conversely, we have clear evidence that environmental mismanagement undermines livelihoods, human security and sustainable development. To deliver internationally-agreed development goals, we need to address three key challenges: improving governance of natural resources, increasing investment in sustainable management of those resources, and employing relevant technologies, specifically landscape-scale management. Launched at the World Conservation Union (IUCN) side event at the UN Headquarters in New York on 29 June 2005, 'Depend on Nature' is an action plan to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals through environmental management. |
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| Full news release Download the Publication Ecosystem Management |
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| A NEW AGENDA FOR FOREST CONSERVATION AND POVERTY REDUCTION: MAKING MARKETS WORK FOR LOW-INCOME PRODUCERS |
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| The future of the world’s forests and the future of millions of the world’s poorest people are inextricably linked. More than a billion mostly poor people now live within the world’s 19 forest biodiversity “hotspots” and over 90% of those who live on less than a dollar a day depend fully or in part on forest products for their livelihoods. The dominant forestry models are increasingly inappropriate in the face of this reality. A fundamental re-assessment of the role of forests in rural development, and the role of local people in forest conservation, is urgently needed. “A New Agenda for Forest Conservation and Poverty Alleviation: Making Markets Work for Low-Income Producers,” by Sara Scherr and Andy White of Forest Trends and David Kaimowitz of CIFOR, published in association with IUCN, lays out a set of strategies to promote forest market development in ways that positively contribute to local livelihoods and community development in low- and middle-income countries. |
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| Information leafletOrder here (free of charge) Forest TrendsCIFOR |
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