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, and 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.

Core Competencies

We work on a number of thematic areas within environment and natural resources, including:

• Governance of Natural Resources;
• Environment;
• Forest sector development and reform;
• Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and issues related to climate change; and
• Biodiversity conservation and protected area management. 

Governance of Natural Resources

Natural resources are not just economic resources, they are also political resources. At local, national and international level, actors compete to control access to, and benefits from, natural resources. How these competitions are resolved, and who benefits from them, lie at the heart of natural resource governance.  

In situations where there is weak governance, poor people have few incentives to manage their resources for the long term and face significant barriers to building a sustainable livelihood for themselves. Insecure and biased property rights regimes can foster social and economic exclusion and generate conflict. A lack of effective management of common property resources can lead to over-exploitation, unregulated competition and resource degradation. Elite capture of resource revenues can prevent the benefits generated by natural resource wealth from reaching poor people. All of these processes undermine poor people’s livelihoods and increase their poverty and marginality.  The livelihoods of poor people are likely to be enhanced in circumstances of ‘good’ governance—where property rights regimes are predictable, secure and fair; effective institutions govern common pool resources; and the benefits of resource rents flow to the bulk of the population and not just to elites. In these circumstances, it is more likely that poor people are able to invest in the sustainable use of their resource base and use these natural assets as a foundation on which they can build a sustainable livelihood.

theIDLgroup believes that effective and equitable governance of natural resources is essential in helping to lift poor people out of poverty and to the integrity and survival of the resource base.

Selected Experience:

• Development of learning resources on NR Governance for DFID Livelihood Advisers;
• DFID Options Paper on the role of Natural Resource in generating and  sustaining conflict;
• Design of Zambia’s programme to improve the enabling environment of agriculture;
• Advising the government of Ghana on its preparatory process for FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) negotiations with the EC.

Environment

Many developing countries derive their wealth from their natural resource base. In many cases wise and sustainable use of natural resources can provide a foundation for economic growth, as well as a safety net for the rural poor during difficult times.  However natural resources are often over-exploited and badly managed in the attempt to generate economic growth. Excessive deforestation can reduce soil quality and increase the risk of flooding and landslides; mining can pollute rivers and ground water and have negative impacts on the health of local people, whilst over-fishing reduces the ability of fish stocks to regenerate. All this can have serious consequences for local people and their livelihoods, as well as negative long-term impacts on the economy.

The need to ensure the integrity of the natural environment is vital for the achievement of many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For example, women and girls who have ready access to fuel and clean water supplies, are likely to have better health and more time available to attend school. Addressing environmental issues is therefore critical, if we are to achieve sustained poverty reduction and meet the MDGs.

theIDLgroup believes that any well-considered development intervention requires three key elements:

1. Integrating environmental policies into wider pro-poor development objectives, policies and institutions;
2. Promoting understanding and appreciation of the contribution that the environment can make to growth; and
3. Linking global environmental issues to the local level where they affect poor people.

Selected Experience:

• Facilitation of an institutional centered Strategic Environmental Analysis (I-SEA) of the Kenya Forest Act;
• Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Country Environment Analysis (CEA) in Ghana; 
• Support to the Government of Vietnam’s national poverty environment programme.

FOREST SECTOR DEVELOPMENT AND REFORM

We believe that conservation, sustainable management and equitable access to forest resources are fundamental to rural economic growth and poverty reduction, and essential for the provision of local and global environmental services (such as a stable climate, clean water and biodiversity). Our work aims to achieve an equitable balance between the needs of governments, local communities, commercial and conservation interests, while ensuring that the value and integrity of forest eco-systems, and the species they support, are maintained.  The forest sector is a complex and contested environment. Forest resources and services are valuable commodities over which different groups compete for access, often against a background of policy, institutional and market failures which favour the more powerful stakeholders. We work to facilitate effective policy, governance and market responses at the local, national and international levels. We aim to help stakeholders manage their multiple objectives to achieve sustainable management of forest resources for conservation, economic growth, and livelihood needs.

Selected Experience:

• Orissa Forest Sector Support Project (India) including, review and development of state forest policy; institutional strengthening of the Forest Department; communications strategy; and a series of community-based pilot projects to improve rural livelihoods;
• Advising the Government of Malawi on private sector involvement in the management of its state-owned forest plantations, with an emphasis on economic growth and poverty reduction;
• A forward looking impact assessment study of Ghana’s Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union (the VPA, signed in August 2008, involves a commitment by Ghana to supply legally licensed wood exports). This work was led by IIED;
• Implementation of a wide reaching reform programme in the Ghana Forest Sector, including support to Parliamentarians, a land and forest policy research facility, and strengthening civil society engagement in forest sector issues;
• Developing Terms of Reference for an Independent Forest Monitor for Finnida;
• Sustainable management planning for Government and community forests in Belize.

Payments for Ecosystems Services (PES), including Strategies to Address Climate Change

It is well known that sustainable forest management (SFM) is difficult to achieve in tropical countries in the face of harsh economic and political economy constraints – due to a range of market, policy and governance failures, trees are more valuable felled than standing. One of the most promising avenues to promote SFM is through payments for ecosystem services (PES), since this tackles the ‘market failure’ problem for forests – i.e. the lack of or weak markets for the environmental services of forests, related primarily to carbon, water and biodiversity benefits.  At the same time there are major challenges to the design and implementation of successful PES projects, especially for forest-based communities.  These include high transaction costs; for water PES ‘deals’, showing the links between forest management and improved water quantity or quality; getting people to pay for ecosystem services like water; and the immense technical and political challenges surrounding the introduction of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (download a briefing paper on REDD by Dr. Michael Richards here) as a strategy for tackling climate change, as recommended by the 2006 Stern Review. Forest Trends, an NGO based in Washington DC, is a global leader in PES; since 2007 we have been collaborating closely with Forest Trends on a series of PES activities (see below) which especially aim to generate ‘win-win’ PES outcomes for forest-based communities.

Selected Experience:

• On-going support for development of the ‘Katoomba Ecosystem Services Incubator’ for provision of appropriate technical and financial support to community PES projects, especially in Central America and Uganda (for Forest Trends);
• Development of methodological guidance for community PES project developers to undertake good practice social and environmental impact assessment (for Forest Trends);
• Development of an action plan for implementing PES in Malawi based on an analysis of economic and financial incentives for SFM and conservation (FRR European Commission Framework Contract consultancy);
• Coordination of country case studies in Uganda and Peru identifying a ‘Portfolio Approach’ to forest financing and incentives, presented at UNFF meeting ‘Financing for Sustainable Forest Management. An International Dialogue,’ Suriname, 8-12 September 2008 (for Forest Trends);
• Paper on PES potential in Africa presented at the Forest Investment Forum for Central and West Africa, Accra 28-30 August 2007 (for the International Tropical Timber Organisation)
• Overseas Development Institute Forestry Briefing Paper 16: ‘Potential and Challenges of Payments for Ecosystem Services from Tropical Forests’
• Analysis of REDD and other ‘carbon finance’ options as part of a review of forest carbon finance for the Commonwealth Secretariat, London and presented at the Commonwealth Consultative Group on Environment (Commonwealth Environment Ministers), Monaco, 20 February 2008 (see the paper by Dr. Michael Richards "REDD: the last chance for tropical forests?")
• Facilitation of dialogue on the design of REDD Readiness activities in Tanzania, incorporated into the East and Southern African Katoomba Group Meeting, 16-20 September, 2008 (for Forest Trends)
• Scoping paper on ‘Climate Change Adaptation and Forest Communities’ for World Bank PROFOR (for Forest Trends).

Biodiversity Conservation and Protected Area Management

We believe that in order to address issues of poverty and rural development, there is a clear need to conserve the environment upon which rural populations ultimately depend. theIDLgroup is working to realize linkages between the needs of local people, commercial interests, and host Governments, and the need to maintain diversity of ecosystems and wildlife.   We are actively working to support implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its development through international fora. We assist in resource transfers to biodiversity-rich countries and the equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resources. We aim to find a balance between strict protection of natural resources and meeting the needs of rural populations and Governments for those products through integrated landscape management. We strongly support the development of co-management approaches, but we also assist protected area authorities to maintain the integrity of natural areas, both terrestrial and marine. We emphasise capacity building of local institutions and staff to provide cost-effective and sustainable solutions to natural resource sharing.

Selected Experience:

• Developing landscape ecology approaches in Vietnam and Latvia;
• Pioneering protected area management policy and practice in Vietnam;
• Community Based Ecotourism in India to aid conservation of protected areas;
• Protected area business planning in Ghana;
• Biodiversity criteria for sustainable forestry in Indonesia and Guyana;
• Conservation project design and evaluation in Vietnam, Laos, China and Sierra Leone;
• Development of ecological monitoring systems in Vietnam, China and Malaysia;
• Wetlands conservation and management in Malaysia and China;
• Marine Protected Area management in Vietnam;
• Protected areas and biodiversity conservation management in Vietnam;
• Developing a national strategy for biodiversity conservation for the northern savannah in Ghana.