Trade-off decisions in ecosystem management for poverty alleviation
Trade-off decisions in ecosystem management for poverty alleviation
The academic literature on trade-offs in ecosystem management has paid relatively little attention to justice and poverty reduction objectives. The aim of this paper is to highlight the multiple dimensions of trade-offs in ecosystem services management for poverty alleviation, and to support decision-makers in planning for the almost inevitable trade-offs arising from environmental interventions. The paper brings together different dimensions or lenses through which to analyse trade-offs in ecosystem management for poverty alleviation in a low-income country context. Following a literature review of trade-off decisions, the paper introduces the Balance Sheets Approach to structure trade-off analysis and appraise decisions. We apply the Balance Sheets Approach to analyse five case studies set in very different social-ecological systems where trade-offs were pertinent and undermined poverty alleviation. We show how the combination of ‘positive’ approaches, often used at strategic level, with ‘value’ approaches which analyse multiple values, multi-scale governance, power and capacity, is necessary to analyse complex trade-offs. Based on the case studies we identify four lessons for future trade-off analysis in the context of ecosystem management for poverty alleviation in low-income settings.
ecosystem services, governance, pluralism, poverty, trade-offs
Schaafsma, Marije
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Eigenbrod, Felix
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Gasparatos, Alexandros
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Gross-Camp, Nicole
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Hutton, Craig
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Nunan, Fiona
b64120bb-ad55-4568-9c05-6d72a547ebb0
Schreckenberg, Kate
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Turner, R.K.
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September 2021
Schaafsma, Marije
937ac629-0fa2-4a11-bdf7-c3688405467d
Eigenbrod, Felix
43efc6ae-b129-45a2-8a34-e489b5f05827
Gasparatos, Alexandros
7449f5ac-f209-4fa1-808e-dae7c550de9d
Gross-Camp, Nicole
d460ade3-f31a-49d1-933e-688a6d1d993a
Hutton, Craig
9102617b-caf7-4538-9414-c29e72f5fe2e
Nunan, Fiona
b64120bb-ad55-4568-9c05-6d72a547ebb0
Schreckenberg, Kate
307aecda-fa85-410b-a7ab-4a091afa25a4
Turner, R.K.
c2f20b3c-b9f6-40ed-9c8d-c1c242994efe
Schaafsma, Marije, Eigenbrod, Felix, Gasparatos, Alexandros, Gross-Camp, Nicole, Hutton, Craig, Nunan, Fiona, Schreckenberg, Kate and Turner, R.K.
(2021)
Trade-off decisions in ecosystem management for poverty alleviation.
Ecological Economics, 187 (107103), [107103].
(doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107103).
Abstract
The academic literature on trade-offs in ecosystem management has paid relatively little attention to justice and poverty reduction objectives. The aim of this paper is to highlight the multiple dimensions of trade-offs in ecosystem services management for poverty alleviation, and to support decision-makers in planning for the almost inevitable trade-offs arising from environmental interventions. The paper brings together different dimensions or lenses through which to analyse trade-offs in ecosystem management for poverty alleviation in a low-income country context. Following a literature review of trade-off decisions, the paper introduces the Balance Sheets Approach to structure trade-off analysis and appraise decisions. We apply the Balance Sheets Approach to analyse five case studies set in very different social-ecological systems where trade-offs were pertinent and undermined poverty alleviation. We show how the combination of ‘positive’ approaches, often used at strategic level, with ‘value’ approaches which analyse multiple values, multi-scale governance, power and capacity, is necessary to analyse complex trade-offs. Based on the case studies we identify four lessons for future trade-off analysis in the context of ecosystem management for poverty alleviation in low-income settings.
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Accepted/In Press date: 12 May 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 25 May 2021
Published date: September 2021
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
MS was funded by the project ‘A framework for individual and shared preferences for ecosystem services trade-offs’ (grant number: FELL-2014-104 ) of the United Kingdom's Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme. The ESPA programme was funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) , the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) , and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) .
Funding Information:
FE was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant number 680176 ; SCALEFORES).
Funding Information:
AG acknowledges the support of the ESPA project ‘Unraveling biofuel impacts on ecosystem services, human wellbeing and poverty alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa’ (grant number: NE/L001373/1 ) and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) for the Belmont Forum project FICESSA .
Funding Information:
FN acknowledges funding from the ESPA project ‘Swahili Seas’ (grant number: NE/I003401/1 ), ‘Coastal Ecosystem Services in East Africa’ (CESEA) (grant number: NE/L001535/1 ) and ‘ Analysing the multi-level governance of renewable natural resources ’ (grant number: ESPA/ROF/2016-17/02 ).
Funding Information:
CH acknowledges funding from the ESPA project ‘Assessing Health, Livelihoods, Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation in Populous Deltas’ (grant number: NE-J002755-1 ).
Funding Information:
NGC was supported by the European Research Council (Grant No. GA 206994 REDIRECT).
Funding Information:
KS acknowledges funding from the ESPA project ‘Attaining Sustainable Services from Ecosystems using Trade-off Scenarios’ (grant number: NE-J002267-1 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors
Keywords:
ecosystem services, governance, pluralism, poverty, trade-offs
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 449491
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/449491
ISSN: 0921-8009
PURE UUID: 14e8f499-ad5d-4e62-9426-c9c55bc451e9
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Date deposited: 03 Jun 2021 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:36
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Contributors
Author:
Alexandros Gasparatos
Author:
Nicole Gross-Camp
Author:
Fiona Nunan
Author:
Kate Schreckenberg
Author:
R.K. Turner
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