Growing the Wealth of the Poor - World Resources Institute

BUILDINGOWNERSHIP,CAPACITY,ANDCONNECTIONC H A P T E R 2S C A L I N G U P E N V I RO N M E N TA L I N C O M E F O R T H E P O O Rinvolves creating the conditions for nature-based enterprises to thrive. The term “enterprise”here spans the range from smallholder farming, fishing, and agroforestry to communitybasedecotourism and even commercial logging. The conditions that foster successfulecosystem enterprises are conditions that promote engagement and investment at theindividual and community level, skill development to manage resources and yield a desirableproduct, and the forging of social and commercial links and networks that help isolated ruralenterprises to connect to markets and continue growing their business and managementcapacities over time.In its three major parts, this chapter probes these three essential conditions for poorfriendlyenterprise: ownership, capacity, and connection. Or, to be more precise: creatinga sense of ownership, developing the local capacity for resource management and entrepreneurship,and building the dynamic networks and connections necessary to sustain ecosystem-basedenterprises. These elements are both sequential and interactive. Ownership provides theinitial impulse for enterprise and precedes individual and collective action, but capacity isnecessary to allow ownership to bear fruit, and connection is needed to increase and sustainthe benefits stream.