OUR APPROACH

Over a billion people worldwide depend partly or wholly on forests for their livelihoods; a billion or more lack access to clean water; and over 700 million people live in ecologically fragile environments. At theIDLgroup we believe that the equitable and sustainable management of natural resources is essential for pro-poor growth and safeguarding environmental public goods. A key challenge is how to make ‘green’ policies, for example those related to the climate change agenda, work for poor people.

The way we work

At the micro-level we use participatory research methods and field-based livelihood assessments to improve existing policies and inform development of new ones. At the meso-level we develop approaches and frameworks that create functional relationships between governance and the environment. Finally, at the macro-level we support the efforts of national governments and international agencies to develop pro-poor environmental policies and programmes. We have over 15 years experience in the natural resource sector, particularly in forestry, biodiversity conservation, land, wetlands, marine coastal environments and agriculture.

Our work in Environment and Natural Resources falls into five main areas:

For more information on the Portfolio's work please see our Publications Page.