Elsevier

Ecological Economics

Volume 187, September 2021, 107103
Ecological Economics

Methodological and Ideological Options
Trade-off decisions in ecosystem management for poverty alleviation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107103Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Trade-offs in ecosystem management for poverty alleviation are ubiquitous.

  • The Balance Sheets Approach offers structure and principles for trade-off analysis.

  • We show the utility of the Balance Sheets Approach in five distinct case studies.

  • Social and governance principles are used to evaluate multi-level trade-offs.

  • Scales, recognition, distribution, participation and power issues signal trade-offs.

Abstract

The academic literature on trade-offs in ecosystem management has paid relatively little attention to justice and poverty reduction objectives. The aim of this paper is to highlight the multiple dimensions of trade-offs in ecosystem services management for poverty alleviation, and to support decision-makers in planning for the almost inevitable trade-offs arising from environmental interventions. The paper brings together different dimensions or lenses through which to analyse trade-offs in ecosystem management for poverty alleviation in a low-income country context. Following a literature review of trade-off decisions, the paper introduces the Balance Sheets Approach to structure trade-off analysis and appraise decisions. We apply the Balance Sheets Approach to analyse five case studies set in very different social-ecological systems where trade-offs were pertinent and undermined poverty alleviation. We show how the combination of ‘positive’ approaches, often used at strategic level, with ‘value’ approaches which analyse multiple values, multi-scale governance, power and capacity, is necessary to analyse complex trade-offs. Based on the case studies we identify four lessons for future trade-off analysis in the context of ecosystem management for poverty alleviation in low-income settings.

Keywords

Trade-offs
Poverty
Ecosystem services
Pluralism
Governance

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