Nature's Benefits in Kenya: An Atlas of Ecosystems and Human Well-Being

admin — Tue, 01 May 2007 00:00:00 -0400

This report provides a new approach to examining the links between ecosystem services (the benefits derived from nature) and the poor.

Through a series of maps and analyses, the authors focus on the environmental resources most Kenyans rely on such as soil, water, forest, rangeland, livestock, and wildlife. The atlas overlays georeferenced statistical information on population and household expenditures with spatial data on ecosystems and their services (water availability, wood supply, wildlife populations, and the like) to yield a picture of how land, people, and prosperity are related in Kenya.

While the maps and analyses presented here will not provide easy answers to questions concerning the causes of poverty in Kenya and how ecosystems can best be managed to increase economic growth and improve livelihoods, they are a first step toward stimulating more informed dialogue and provoking questions for which answers may be found.

The final section of the atlas provides general findings about the use of the introduced maps for sociogeographic analysis. It concludes with four recommendations that are expected to advance a more comprehensive accounting of ecosystem services and to improve the understanding of poverty-environment relationships in Kenya.

Where are the poor? Experiences with the development and use of poverty maps

admin — Thu, 01 Aug 2002 00:00:00 -0400

Country case study notes and interviewees. This report is based on detailed case study notes from 14 countries.

Poverty mapping – the spatial representation and analysis of indicators of human well-being and poverty – is becoming an increasingly important instrument for investigating and discussing social, economic, and environmental problems. Decision-makers need information tools such as poverty maps to help them identify areas where development lags and where investments in infrastructure and services could have the greatest impact. Once largely the domain of economists and social scientists, poverty maps are now being used by policymakers and many non-governmental entities, including civil society groups, academic institutions, and private businesses. However, the new and diverse applications of poverty mapping emerging over the past five years have not been well documented.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) in collaboration with UNEP/GRID-Arendal has conducted a study examining the uses and impacts of poverty maps. Drawing on case studies from 14 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the report reviews how poverty maps were used and some of the factors constraining their use in a wide variety of geographic and institutional settings. From such experiences come lessons that can guide future poverty mapping initiatives in other countries. Recommendations aimed at national and international actors sketch a plan for sustaining poverty mapping in the countries studied and expanding its frontiers to all developed and developing countries.

WRI Publications Feed: Poverty and Ecosystem Services in East Africa

Nature's Benefits in Kenya: An Atlas of Ecosystems and Human Well-Being

Where are the poor? Experiences with the development and use of poverty maps