Safeguarding local equity as global values of ecosystem services rise

该项目的总体目标是促进生态系统服务对全球减贫的贡献。在国际上，许多倡导者和政府建议建立环境服务付费制度(PES)，特别是补偿因砍伐森林和森林退化而减少的排放量(REDD)的制度。人们的假设是，如果环境提供的那些“免费”服务(例如木材、清洁稳定的供水、封存碳)得到适当的评价和付费，环境将得到保护，贫困将减少。这一假设尚未得到证实，人们对生态系统服务与贫困之间的联系也知之甚少，这是一个严重的问题，特别是考虑到一旦全面实施REDD方案，预计每年将有数十亿美元流入发展中国家。其他部门的经验使人担心，这些计划可能不会统一惠及穷人，甚至可能使最贫穷的人更穷(例如，将他们排除在土地或传统土地用途之外)，破坏现有的利益分享制度，扩大差距。社会公平的这种变化是决定生态系统服务价值上升对受影响社区减贫产生积极还是消极影响的一个关键因素。该项目汇集了来自大学(南安普顿大学、牛津大学、罗格斯大学和澳大利亚国立大学)、政策智囊团(海外发展研究所)、区域研究和培训中心(RECOFTC和CATIE)和一个区域非政府组织(乌干达可持续发展联盟)的跨学科合作小组，以制定一个概念框架，分析生态系统服务与可持续减贫之间的联系，特别是研究生态系统服务所产生的惠益如何在不同的利益攸关方之间分配、这些过程背后的因素及其潜在影响。这一框架将有助于以造福穷人的方式公平管理生态系统这一重大挑战。特别是，它将帮助REDD和PES方案的决策者将对公平的负面影响降至最低，并最大限度地增加对减贫的积极影响。为了实现其目标，该项目将：(1)对生态系统服务的不同层面和不同类型的公平作出严格的定义；(2)制定一个概念框架，说明生态系统服务的全球价值的变化如何导致地方一级的公平的变化，以及影响这些结果的关键因素，参考6-8份特别委托的背景文件的证据，这些文件分析了关于生态系统服务价值高或上升对公平的影响的现有知识(例如，在林业、采矿和水)；(3)在3个或4个案例研究(亚洲、非洲和拉丁美洲各至少1个)中测试该框架；以及(4)根据案例研究结果审查概念框架。交流和传播将是贯穿整个项目的持续活动，首先是创建一个项目网站。将通过讲习班、简报文件和流行的宣传材料确保与地方、国家和区域利益攸关方的接触。该项目还将制作一个视频，这是一种针对政策制定者和项目开发人员的创新方式，以及一个相关的工具包。学术受众将通过期刊文章和会议演讲接触到。将通过项目伙伴提供便利的广泛网络，以电子方式传播面向国际受众的政策简报和最终的期刊文章。

The overall aim of this project is to promote the contribution of ecosystem services to alleviating poverty worldwide. Internationally, many advocates and governments have proposed the establishment of systems of Payments for Environmental Services (PES), notably a system for compensating people for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). The assumption has been made that if those 'free' services that the environment provides (e.g., timber, a clean and steady water supply, sequestering carbon) are properly valued and paid for, the environment will be protected and poverty will be reduced. The fact that this assumption has not been validated and the connections between ecosystem services and poverty are poorly understood is a serious problem, especially given that billions of dollars per year are predicted to flow to developing countries once REDD programmes are fully implemented. Experience from other sectors raises concerns that these schemes may not benefit poor people uniformly and may even make the poorest worse off (e.g. by excluding them from land or traditional land uses), undermine existing benefit-sharing systems and increase disparities. Such changes in social equity are a key factor in determining whether rising values of ecosystem services have a positive or negative impact on poverty alleviation in affected communities. This project brings together an interdisciplinary team of collaborators from universities (Southampton, Oxford, Rutgers and the Australian National University), a policy think-tank (Overseas Development Institute), regional research and training centres (RECOFTC and CATIE) and a regional NGO (Ugandan Coalition for Sustainable Development) to develop a conceptual framework that analyses the links between ecosystem services and sustainable poverty reduction, examining in particular how benefits derived from ecosystem services are distributed among different stakeholders, the factors underlying these processes and their potential impacts. This framework will contribute to the critical challenge of the equitable management of ecosystems in a manner that benefits poor people. In particular, it will help decision-makers in REDD and PES programmes minimise negative impacts on equity and maximise positive impacts on poverty alleviation. In order to accomplish its objectives, the project will (i) develop a rigorous definition of the different dimensions and types of equity in the context of ecosystem services; (ii) develop a conceptual framework that describes how changes in the global value of ecosystem services lead to changes in equity at the local level, and the key factors that influence these outcomes, drawing on evidence from 6-8 specially commissioned background papers analysing existing knowledge on the equity impacts of high or rising value of ecosystem services (e.g., in forestry, mining and water); (iii) test the framework in three or four case studies (at least one each in Asia, Africa and Latin America); and (iv) review the conceptual framework in the light of the case study findings. Communication and dissemination will be ongoing activities throughout the project, beginning with the creation of a project website. Engagement with local, national and regional stakeholders will be assured through workshops, briefing papers and popular communication materials. The project will also produce a video, an innovative way of targeting policy-makers and project developers, together with an associated toolkit. The academic audience will be reached through journal articles and conference presentations. Electronic dissemination of policy briefs, targeted at an international audience, and eventual journal articles will be disseminated through the extensive networks facilitated by the project partners.