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New £40m research investment to make ecosystem services work for the poor in the face of climate change

4 December 2009

The £40m Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme is launched today.

This pioneering research programme is a unique opportunity to strengthen the knowledge and understanding we need to develop resilient ecosystems and will also provide the evidence and tools for decision makers to manage ecosystems sustainably and in ways that will help to reduce poverty.

ESPA is funded by the UK Department for International Development, the Economic & Social Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council. It is accredited under the Living With Environmental Change partnership programme.

Ecosystem services underpin human well being, especially that of the poor, providing a range of services such as food, clean air and water, and protection from flooding. But 60% of the world's ecosystems have been severely degraded and major changes in climate or the economy could have dire consequences. For example, freshwater scarcity now affects one billion people, and as forests are destroyed so are their water conservation functions - resulting in reduced river flows. Ecosystem decline will continue to have very negative consequences for the poor and yet we still don't know how to manage them properly.

Gareth Thomas, International Development Minister, said, "Billions of the world's poorest people rely on ecosystems for survival, yet destructive activities such as deforestation or over-fishing are ruining the livelihoods of millions, pushing them further into poverty. This project will provide accurate, detailed information that governments in the developing world can use to make decisions that safeguard the ecosystems that sustain their countries."

Professor Alan Thorpe, Chair of Research Councils UK, said, "The Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation programme brings development policy and science communities together, and provides a unique opportunity to build strong links between the natural, social and economic sciences and international development. This interdisciplinary approach, combined with the delivery of high quality science, is vital for tackling the complex set of problems connecting ecosystem services and poverty reduction. By providing the science that can help us understand how and why ecosystems are becoming degraded and with what impacts, ESPA will find the solutions to reverse this."

The ESPA interdisciplinary approach will also provide ways to assess the full value of ecosystem services weighing up both costs and benefits; and will determine what political and institutional changes need to be put in place for sustainable ecosystem management to maximise benefits for the poor.

Further information

Ruth Welters
Communications Specialist
Living With Environmental Change
Tel: 01603 593906
Tel: 07780 993084

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Jeanine Woolley
Communications Manager
Economic & Social Research Council
Tel: 01793 413119

James Fulker
Press Officer
Department for International Development
Tel: 020 7023 0533

Notes

1. The Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation programme is a partnership between the Department for International Development (providing a total of £27m), the Natural Environment Research Council (providing £10m), the Economic & Social Research Council (£3·5m). The total investment is £40·5m which is managed as part of the Living With Environmental Change programme.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs is supporting ESPA in an advisory capacity.

ESPA will work mainly in four regions of the world that experience significant challenges in managing their ecosystem services in the context of poverty reduction. These are South Asia, China, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Amazon basin and its Andean catchments, and ESPA will seek to encourage cross-regional and cross-country collaboration.

The programme will be delivered through a number of projects, selected through rigorous competitive call processes. There will be a range of projects, including large inter-disciplinary consortia programmes and smaller specific and targeted pieces of work. ESPA will also provide catalyst grants to enable developing country partners to develop high quality proposals and partnerships. The first call for proposals is being made today.

2. The Living With Environmental Change programme is an unprecedented partnership of 20 UK organisations that fund, carry out and use environmental research, including the research councils, government departments, devolved administrations and delivery agencies. For more details of the partner organisations and accredited activities see the LWEC website.

3. DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the UK Government's fight against world poverty. DFID's investment in the ESPA programme is funded under its £1 billion commitment to research 2008-2013. DFID believes that without new knowledge, scientific innovation, rigorous evidence, and new ideas we have no chance of success in making poverty history. Find out more on the DFID website and the Research for Development website.

4. The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is the UK's main agency for funding and managing world-class research, training and knowledge exchange in the environmental sciences. It co-ordinates some of the world's most exciting research projects, tackling major issues such as climate change, environmental influences on human health, the genetic make-up of life on earth, and much more. NERC science is delivered under seven themes, namely climate system; biodiversity; sustainable use of natural resources; Earth system science; natural hazards; environment, pollution & human health; and technologies.

5. The Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC's planned total expenditure in 2009-10 is £204m. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes.

Press release: 31/09

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