ESPA is an international research programme designed to provide evidence of how ecosystem services can reduce poverty and enhance well-being for the poorest people in developing countries around the world. ESPA’s research is funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, Economic and Social Research Council, and Natural Environment Research Council, and accredited by the Living with Environmental Change Programme. ESPA projects will work in one or more of the regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, China and Amazonia. They will address a number of research themes covering water, health and disease, forests and land use change, biodiversity, coasts and political economy.
Projects will be collaborative and require the full and equitable participation of developing country scientists to address a set of critical research questions and evidence challenges. ESPA’s research will adopt an interdisciplinary systems-based approach and will work at a range of spatial and temporal scales to provide a step-change in our understanding of the links between ecosystems, the services they provide and the values that can be derived from them by the poor.
ESPA’s researchers will work closely with policy makers, non-governmental organisations, the private sector and community groups in developing countries to ensure that ESPA’s excellent research is turned into impact that results in significant improvements to the lives of poor people.
The ESPA Directorate will support projects to deliver excellent research in ways that will change lives. The Directorate’s Global Forum will support a number of events aimed at building capacity and strengthening the community of ESPA researchers. The Directorate will also provide scientific leadership for the programme by identifying gaps in knowledge, and bringing together results from individual projects and the wider literature to ensure that the programme provides the best possible evidence and advice to potential users of ESPA’s research. There will be further support for projects to maximise impact through improved communication, evaluation and turning research into use.
The programme will develop the vision using a set of activities outlined in our various strategies:
During 2012, the programme will develop strategies for:
