Governance for ecosystem services and poverty alleviation (GESPA)

治理关系到自然资源的状况和谁能从中受益。如果治理安排是无效和不公平的，或者产生不可持续和不公平的结果，那么可持续管理和减轻贫困的潜力是有限的。治理涉及决定谁可以从可再生自然资源中提取产品，他们可以从何处和何时提取多少产品，从而影响生态系统健康、生态系统服务的可持续性和减轻贫困的潜力。鉴于这种决策的极端重要性，资源使用者的参与和代表是关键问题。ESPA方案具有独特的地位，可以就治理结构和进程（正式和非正式）如何影响生态系统和生态系统服务的状况，以及谁和在多大程度上受益于这些服务，提供经验教训和见解。因此，该项目的目的是综合这些经验教训，并得出对研究人员、决策者和实践者具有广泛国际相关性的关键发现。承担这一综合任务的团队是独一无二的。该小组成员作为研究人员参与了11个ESPA项目，将林业、沿海生态系统、自然科学、社会学和发展研究方面的专门知识和经验带到生态系统服务和减轻贫穷的管理研究中。这项研究将利用ESPA项目在一系列生态系统背景下通过两个主要工作领域进行的广泛研究。研究的第一阶段是供应驱动阶段，将全面审查所有ESPA研究中与可再生自然资源管理有关的发现。将寻求项目的产出（工作文件、讲习班报告、会议发言和文章），以确定治理的重点，确定使用了哪些框架（如果有的话），并核对具体治理的结果。这种映射的结果将告知项目的选择，从它们如何接近治理和/或从它们的发现中可以学到很多东西。在适当和可能的情况下，将从项目调查员处寻求原始数据集，包括访谈记录。从这一系列数据中，团队将整理并按主题对以下信息进行分组：—如何理解和处理治理。-如何调查和评估治理的结构、过程和结果。-如何考虑治理的更广泛的政治经济学，以及从治理背景中学到了什么。-在理解和研究可再生自然资源治理方面的挑战。研究的第二阶段是需求驱动阶段，将涉及开发和应用一个系统框架，用于分析ESPA的结果和其他相关研究，以确定实现联合国可持续发展目标（SDGs）的核心经验教训。会议将特别关注可持续发展目标1、10、14和15，这些目标呼吁消除贫困、减少不平等，并将生态系统和生物多样性战略纳入发展进程。该框架的制定将参考对环境评价方案和相关研究的相关分析框架的审查，以及由参与环境评价方案项目的英国和其他国家的选定研究人员和从业人员参加的协商讲习班。对已发表的关于选定自然资源管理和减少贫穷的研究进行重点系统分析，将补充综合环境评价方案的调查结果，两者都将纳入关于如何实现自然资源管理以促进可持续性和减轻贫穷的简报。

Governance matters for the condition of natural resources and for who benefits. If the governance arrangements are ineffective and unfair, or produce unsustainable and unfair outcomes, then the potential for sustainable management and poverty alleviation is limited. Governance involves decision-making over who can extract products from renewable natural resources, how much and what they can take, from where and when, with implications for ecosystem health, sustainability of ecosystem services and the potential for alleviation of poverty. Given the critical importance of such decision-making, the inclusion, participation and representation of resource users are key concerns. The ESPA programme is in a unique position to generate lessons and insights into how governance structures and processes (formal and informal) influence the condition of ecosystems and ecosystem services, and who, and to what extent, benefits from those services. The aims of this project, therefore, are to synthesise these lessons and to draw out key findings of broad international relevance to researchers, policy-makers and practitioners. The team formed to undertake this synthesis is uniquely placed to do so. The team members have been involved as researchers in 11 ESPA projects, bringing expertise and experience in forestry, coastal ecosystems, natural science, sociology and development studies to the study of the governance for ecosystem services and poverty alleviation.This research will draw on the extensive research undertaken by ESPA projects in a range of ecosystem contexts through two main areas of work. The first, supply-driven phase of the research will provide a comprehensive review of all ESPA research for their findings related to the governance of renewable natural resources. Outputs from the projects (working papers, workshop reports, conference presentations and articles) will be sought to ascertain the focus on governance, determine which, if any, frameworks have been used and collate governance-specific results. The outcomes of this mapping will inform the selection of projects from which there is much to learn in terms of how they approached governance and/or from their findings. Where appropriate and possible, original datasets, including interview transcripts, will be sought from the project investigators. From this range of data, the team will collate and thematically cluster information on:- How governance has been understood and addressed.- How the structures, processes and outcomes of governance have been investigated and assessed.- How the wider political economy of governance has been considered and what has been learnt about the governance context.- The challenges in understanding and researching the governance of renewable natural resources.The second, demand-driven phase of the research will involve the development and application of a systematic framework for analysing ESPA findings and other related research to identify core lessons for attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, it will focus on SDGs 1, 10, 14 and 15 and their call for the eradication of poverty, the reduction of inequality, and the integration of ecosystem and biodiversity strategies into development processes. The development of the framework will be informed by a review of relevant analytical frameworks in ESPA and related research, together with a consultative workshop involving select researchers and practitioners from the UK and other countries who have participated in ESPA projects. A focused systematic analysis of published research on the governance of selected natural resources and poverty reduction will complement the synthesis of ESPA findings and both will feed into a briefing on how to deliver on governance of natural resources for sustainability and poverty alleviation.