Nature's Wealth

Increasing pressure from economic development and population growth has resulted in the degradation of ecosystems around the world and the loss of the essential services that they provide. Understanding the linkages between ecosystem service provisioning and human well-being is crucial for the establishment of effective environmental and economic development policy. Presenting new insights into the relationship between ecosystem services and livelihoods in developing countries, this book takes up the challenge of assessing these links to demonstrate their importance in policy development. It pays special attention to innovative management opportunities that improve local livelihoods and alleviate poverty while enhancing ecosystem protection. Based on eighteen studies in more than twenty developing countries, the authors explore the role of biodiversity-, marine-, forest-, water- and land-related ecosystem services, making this an invaluable contribution to research on the role of ecosystems in supporting the livelihoods of the poor around the world.

Author Biography

Pieter J. H. van Beukering is an Associate Professor in the field of environmental economics at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) of VU University Amsterdam. Most of his research work takes place in Asia, the Caribbean, the Pacific and Africa, with a strong focus on natural resource management, economic valuation and poverty alleviation. Elissaios Papyrakis is a Senior Researcher in environmental economics and climate change at VU University Amsterdam, and a senior lecturer in economics at the University of East Anglia. His work involves both theoretical and empirical analysis in development and environmental economics, with a particular emphasis on the economics of climate change, sustainable development and environmental management. Jetske Bouma is a Senior Researcher at the IVM, VU University Amsterdam. She specializes in community-based natural resource management and the conditions for collective action, and her current work focuses on conservation–development trade-offs and synergies, community co-management and effective policy design. Roy Brouwer is Professor and Head of the Department of Environmental Economics at IVM, VU University Amsterdam and also Professor of Water Economics at the Dutch National Research Programme ‘Living with Water’. He is a recipient of a National Research Flagship Fellowship Award from CSIRO, Australia, for his work on water economics.