1. Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA): Headline Findings
Photo credit: Bartosz Hadyniak/istockphoto.com

2. ESPA was an interdisciplinary research programme funded by the UK Government from 2009-18
Photo credit: ESPA Mountain Evo Project

3. ESPA was launched in response to the findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment that ecosystem services – on which we all depend – were declining rapidly
ESPA was the first collaboration between the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and two of the UK’s main research councils, the Natural and Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). This meant the programme funded research which was both interdisciplinary and had development impact.
Photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT

4. ESPA’s goal was to ensure that ecosystems would be conserved and managed more sustainably – in ways that alleviate poverty and enhance wellbeing
ESPA aimed to achieve its ambitious goal by providing good hard evidence to decision-makers of all kinds (communities, governments, non-governmental organisations and the private sector) to support more informed decision-making
Photo credit: Asian Development Bank

5. ESPA’s research approach…
Aimed to achieve development impact
Was highly interdisciplinary
Employed social-ecological systems thinking
Involved partners in global South and North
Used innovative methods for data collection and analysis
Insisted on feedback to stakeholders
An achievement of the programme was to increase the capacity for, and embed this way of working, for many researchers.
Photo credit: Rina Mandimbiniaina/ESPA P4GES project

6. ESPA in numbers
Numbers of papers and citations are correct as of May 2018, but were expected to increase after the end of the programme.
Photo credit: World Bank

7. Headline results of ESPA’s research
The programme undertook a year-long synthesis of findings across all of the funded projects, resulting in an academic book, a summary for policy-makers, and a film (long and short versions) – all available open access online.

8. The environment’s ability to support human life and wellbeing is at risk
Some ecosystems are too degraded to provide critical functions needed for human survival and wellbeing
Other ecosystems are entering ‘danger zones’ where active measures are needed to avert ecological collapse and safeguard human lives
Managing these ecosystems requires a focus on how social and ecological systems interact
Photo credit: Felix Clay/WorldFish

9. Hidden costs of environmental interventions – for the poorest
Expect trade-offs!
Environment-based policies and programmes will inevitably have implications for human wellbeing and may even bear hidden human costs – unless there is due assessment and care
Although we like to talk about ‘win-wins’, ESPA’s research suggested that this can blind us to the almost inevitable trade-offs associated with environment-related decisions, many of which hit the poorest hardest. Two examples illustrate this point:
Land use intensification is undertaken to increase production of food, fibre, biofuels, and can appear positive, e.g. Rwanda’s crop intensification programme reduced aggregate poverty but ESPA research showed that poorer people often lacked the capacity to participate in the programme and lost their land as a result, and that their nutritional security actually declined as they produced and ate a smaller variety of crops.
Another example comes from ESPA’s work on protected areas, a key intervention for biodiversity conservation. Several ESPA projects found that the costs to local people were underestimated and not sufficiently well compensated (if at all).
Photo credit: ESPA / RIR

10. A focus on wellbeing is needed
Different social groups use and value environmental resources differently
A ‘blind spot’ exists around gender
Wellbeing is a dynamic and multidimensional phenomenon incorporating objective, subjective and relational aspects
Wellbeing is a more rounded and respectful term than ‘poverty’
ESPA’s research highlighted how different social groups rely on the environment in different ways. Although we know that many activities in life are highly gendered, there is still a lack of information on how women and men use ecosystem services differently.
Contrary to conventional poverty measures which focus on household income, ESPA’s research highlights the need to consider the multiple dimensions of wellbeing and how these may change over time.
ESPA’s research suggests a shift away from poverty – which emphasises what people lack – to a focus on wellbeing, which is more concerned with what people have, what they can do, and, how they think about what they have and can do. Rather than labelling people as ‘poor’, wellbeing understands that they have (innovative) strategies – often relying heavily on ecosystem services – to enhance their wellbeing.
Photo credit: Mokhamad Edliadi/CIFOR

11. Core principles of good governance can highlight and address trade-offs fairly
Accountability, transparency, participation…
Governance processes that are adaptive to a rapidly changing environment
An environmental justice framework can help reconcile diverse perspectives on environmental management and change
Highlighting distribution of benefits, costs and risks
Recognising how different social groups value the environment
Putting in place procedures to negotiate fair outcomes
ESPA research highlighted the key role of governance in determining how people can access and use their environment.
Good governance principles are well-known but often not achieved in connection with environment-related decisions. We need accountability to affected people, across scales of governance; transparency about intended outcomes and beneficiaries of development and conservation interventions; meaningful participation by all, which may require challenging power relations
We live in a dynamic world of constant change – from rapid urbanisation to climate change – so governance processes need to be adaptive and also recognise that national, regional and global events and pressures have local consequences. ESPA’s research highlighted the lack of effective multi-level governance arrangements which ensure communication between different levels of decision-making.
An environmental justice approach highlights how the costs and benefits of environmental decisions are felt across society, and how different social groups value the environment, and provides a space for negotiating outcomes that are considered fair by all.
Photo credit: ESPA / RIR

12. ESPA’s approach can help to both alleviate poverty and manage ecosystems more sustainably by…
Embracing the real-life complexity of social-ecological systems, including local to global interactions
Encouraging recognition of different people’s rights and values
Understanding how different people access and use the environment to achieve their wellbeing
Explicitly addressing trade-offs in environmental decision- making through open, just and democratic processes

13. www.espa.ac.uk On our website, find:
searchable database of publications;
infographics and documentary films;
training materials for lecturers;
briefings for policy-makers and practitioners;
ESPA ‘summary for policy-makers’ in seven languages.

14. © Research Into Results (RIR) Limited 2018
This document has been produced by the Directorate of the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) Programme. ESPA is a programme funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The ESPA Directorate is hosted by Research Into Results Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary company of the University of Edinburgh, responsible for the delivery of research and project management services in the area of international development. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the ESPA programme, Research into Results, The University of Edinburgh, other partners in the ESPA Directorate, NERC, ESRC or DFID.