Growing the Wealth of the Poor - World Resources Institute

Examples of such economic and social gains from environmentalenterprise have grown in recent years. (See Table 1.2 onpage 18.) It is clear now that helping the poor to increase theirenvironmental income through good resource stewardship,devolution of resource authority, and competent business modelscan contribute to reducing rural poverty. This must be matchedby access to finance and the reform of policies and institutionsthat keep rural groups and their businesses from competing fairlyin rural, national, and international markets.When these conditions are met, environmental enterprisescan become a basis for building more resilient rural communities—resilientin the face of environmental challenges such asclimate change. This resilience extends as well to the economicand social challenges associated with rural life in an era ofglobalization and urban migration. These include the loss oftraditional livelihoods, political marginalization, and the breakdownof customary village institutions.Can this ecosystem-based approach to wealth creation andresilience be scaled up so that it begins to make a difference on aglobal level? In World Resources 2008, we assert that it can.THIS CHAPTERIn this chapter we present a vision for how the rural poor can use theirecosystem assets to create viable and sustainable enterprises, gainempowerment, increase their income and opportunities, and build theirresilience to environmental and social challenges—and do so at asignificant scale. The chapter:■ Presents the thesis that scaling up nature-based income and culturingresilience requires the three elements of ownership, capacity, andconnection, and defines these terms.■ Defines what we mean by ecosystem-based enterprise and how itrelates to community-based natural resource management.■ Presents a rationale for the need to “scale up” and explains thedifferent kinds of scaling.■ Defines the enabling environment of natural resource polices, marketregulations, and state support that is needed to foster successfulnature-based enterprises of the poor.■ Explains the role of local governments vis-à-vis other local resourceinstitutions such as forest user groups, watershed committees, orfishery committees.■ Relates our thesis to community-driven development as funded andpracticed by development organizations today.4■ Defines the three dimensions of resilience—ecological resilience,social resilience, and economic resilience—and how scaling upecosystem-based enterprise helps build the resilience of ruralcommunities and poor families.