Poverty and Equity

Often, the world’s poor do not have the influence or the incentive to make decisions that will sustain ecosystems. By promoting stakeholder engagement in decision making, equitable access to ecosystem goods and services, and sound policies on the distribution of natural resource costs and benefits, WRI aims to reduce poverty and encourage effective ecosystem stewardship. Our solutions:

• Integrate poverty, environment, and equity—promote government allocation and distribution policies for revenues from ecosystem goods and services
  
• Promote decentralized natural resources management—promote representative local government as a tool to improve environmental justice, reduce poverty, and raise the efficiency and equity of decision-making
  
• Map poverty and ecosystem services—help developing countries better understand the interactions between ecosystem services, people, and poverty
  
• Mainstream ecosystem services into public sector decisions—help public sector decision makers link ecosystem services with development goals to foster more effective policies, plans, and projects
  
• Mainstream ecosystem services in the financial sector—work with leading international development banks to incorporate ecosystem services into their core strategies
  
• Assess forestry revenue distribution—examine how revenue from forest exploitation is distributed