Wellbeing: For whom and how?

This brief calls for a strong focus on the quality of life for disadvantaged people, recognising the multiple dimensions of wellbeing

From:
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Published
6 April 2018
Document Type:
Briefing
Theme:
Climate and Environment and Social Change
First published:
31 March 2018
Authors:
Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA)

Abstract

Environment-related policies and programmes are often assumed to generate 鈥榳in-wins鈥� for communities and the environment. In reality, they can work against people who are already disadvantaged.

After 9 years of research,spanning 125 projects in over 50 countries, the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme is calling for a stronger focus on the quality of life for disadvantaged people, based on approaches that recognise the multiple dimensions of their wellbeing.

Main messages include:

  1. Research suggests that 鈥榳in-win鈥� assumptions about links between ecosystem services and human prosperity should be treated with caution: what looks like a 鈥榳in-win鈥� may involve hidden trade-offs that harm disadvantaged people.

  2. Those who are most disadvantaged are also the most dependent on their natural environment and, at the same time, most likely to be marginalised by policy interventions that ignore links between the environment and their wellbeing.

  3. Wellbeing is a multidimensional phenomenon that goes beyond income to include subjective cultural values, relationships and access to resources, as well as varying personal aspirations.

  4. The benefits of ecosystem services are often distributed unfairly because of formal and informal governance processes 鈥� that work against the interests of disadvantaged people, fuelling structural or historical marginalisation related to, for example, gender and indigenous cultures.

  5. Environment-related development interventions that emphasise justice, equity and governance from the outset could enhance nature鈥檚 positive contributions to people鈥檚 wellbeing.

  6. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is encouraged to build on its existing work on nature鈥檚 contributions to people (NCP) and quality of life

  7. This aligns well with the broader development aims of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), contributing to their ambition to 鈥榣eave no one behind鈥�.

Citation

Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) 2018) Wellbeing: For whom and how?

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Published 6 April 2018
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