Growing the Wealth of the Poor - World Resources Institute

BOX 1.1 MANAGING ECOSYSTEMS TO FIGHT POVERTY:THE MESSAGES OF WORLD RESOURCES 2005I N W O R L D R E S O U R C E S 2 0 0 5 W E A R G U E D T H ATpoverty and the environment are inextricably linked and thatthe world’s rural poor could enhance their livelihoods by capturinggreater value from ecosystems. The reality is that threequarters of the world’s poor people—those living on less than$1 a day—live in rural areas and depend on natural resourcesto earn a living.Our thesis was that income from sustainably managed ecosystemscan act as a stepping stone in the economic empowermentof the poor. But this can only happen when poor households areable to reap the benefits of their good ecosystem stewardship.Good governance, including secure tenure, can create the selfinterestthat leads to an improved natural resource base, be it inagriculture, forestry, or fishing.Unfortunately, an array of governance failures usually stands in theway: lack of secure access to ecosystems, political marginalization,and exclusion from the decisions that affect how ecosystemsare managed. Unlocking the economic potential of ecosystems toreduce rural poverty means tackling these obstacles.Major Findings of World Resources 20051. Environmental income is crucial to the livelihoods of therural poor. Natural resources anchor the householdeconomies of the rural poor. In the last decade, the connectionbetween environment and the livelihoods of the poor hasbeen well elucidated. Nature-based income, or environmentalincome, often contributes from one half to two thirds ofthe total income stream of poor rural families. Small-scalefarming and the collection of wild foods, materials, andmedicines are the main sources of environmental income.Case studies show that better management of the ecosystemsthat produce these goods and services can significantlyincrease household incomes of the poor.2. Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM)can be pro-poor. CBNRM has tremendous potential toincrease environmental income of poor households.However, realizing this potential requires a change in governance—achange in the access to and control of naturalresources by the poor. Better governance can mean thedifference between using nature for simple survival or forwealth accumulation.3. A poverty-environment-governance approach is flexible,adaptable, and replicable. When people have a vested interestin the natural resources they use, this self-interest canmanifest in improved environmental stewardship andimproved quality of life. Tenure reform that assures the poorsecure resource rights is the first priority in making governancework for the poor. Access and use rights toresources—the basis of resource tenure—are fundamental totapping the wealth of ecosystems. This includes the right tohave access to common pool resources, which are an importantsource of environmental income but are typically underthe control of the state.4. Government at all levels plays a critical role. Everything fromresource rights to access to larger markets depends in oneway or another on government action and government policy.Getting this policy right so that it facilitates rather thanimpedes the natural-resource-based livelihoods of the poor iscritical.5. There are significant obstacles to the success of thisapproach. They include the capture of benefits by the eliteand powerful, often through corruption; lack of participationby all groups in the community, especially the most disadvantaged;and inequitable distribution of the benefits ofnatural resource management. Tackling poverty ultimatelymeans political change that enables land reform, financereform, tax reform, and policy reform in a number ofresource sectors. Yet initial steps on the path out of povertycan be taken successfully without the need for every reformto be in place.Maximizing sustainable environmental income is not, takenalone, a full solution to poverty. But it is a legitimate and importantentry route to more stable incomes and greaterparticipation in the market economy of nations. It can supportother job creation strategies and economic expansion programs.Emphasizing good ecosystem management will also directlysupport attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).Because of the dependence of the poor on environmentalincome, the MDGs can never be fully met without utilizing thepower of ecosystems to support wealth creation. The converse isalso true. Failure to deal with the declining state of ecosystemswill increase poverty. Should the ecosystems that the poor relyon most heavily for subsistence and income continue to declineat their present rate or should the poor fail to capture the incomederived from these ecosystems, more people will fall intopoverty, and the prospect of meeting the MDGs will recede.Source: World Resources 2005: The Wealth of the Poor—Managing Ecosystems to FightPoverty. Download the full report or the executive summary online: http://www.wri.org/publication/world-resources-2005-wealth-poor-managing-ecosystems-fight-poverty#.9