Economic Assessment of Poverty and Environment Linkages in Mozambique
Context
The Government of Mozambique is implementing the Poverty Environment Initiative (PEI) under the jointly programme developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The first phase of the PEI (2005- 2007) focused on exploring the links between poverty and environment, capacity building and training to integrate environment in national development plans.
The current phase - the second phase of the PEI - was formulated with a general focus on improving poverty and environmental mainstreaming into the policies, planning and budgeting processes at national, sectoral and district levels to support the implementation of Action Plan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty II and the Environmental Strategy for Sustainable Development. The project is being jointly implemented by the Ministry for the Coordination of Environmental Affairs, and the Ministry of Planning and Development.
With the aim of strengthening the national analysis capacities of the links between poverty and environment, PEI Phase II is supporting a background study that will lead to a more thorough understanding of the role that sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems can play in poverty reduction in Mozambique. To answer this objective, the current program launched in Mozambique requires an environmental economic study and specific case studies which are able to demonstrate the importance of a sustainable use and management of the environment and the natural resources.
The Project implemented by sba on October 2010 and will end in Spring 2012.
Objectives
The study plans to answer to the four main objectives:
- To identify the linkages between environment and social and economic development and assess to what extent sustainable management of natural resources can contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction in Mozambique
- To assess the economic costs and benefits of sustainable and unsustainable natural resource use in Mozambique
- To illustrate how management of environment and natural resources influences sector performance and how that in turn links with the poverty reduction objectives and social and economic development
- To design and communicate compelling evidence and recommendations to encourage key decision-makers and planners to take issues of environmental sustainability into account in policy development and budgeting
Beneficiaries
The main beneficiaries are:
- Decision-makers in Mozambique: the results of the studies and case studies will shed light on new dimensions and provides information for taking decision
- The population and more particularly the poorest population of Mozambique: usually, environmental damages and unsustainable practices have larger impact on the poorest part of society
- • The local experts and other resource persons that will participate in the project: their competencies in environmental economics and related tools will be developed by the proposed trainings
Project implementation
Inception Phase
The inception mission was devoted to ensure that the methodological framework and work plan are appropriated and fully understood by the national experts. In this respect, the team of international consultant from sba and local experts did finalise the methodological framework and adapted it to the context of Mozambique. The data availability was also examined in order to ensure the feasibility of the study.General Study
The general study will propose a matrix that assesses the links between environment and social and economic development at the national level. The consequences of these linkages on poverty and poverty reduction will be examined. The general study will provide evidences on the contribution of natural resources to livelihoods and the way sustainable management may favour the population most directly dependent on the resources.Case Studies
Case studies will be proposed in order to show specific information on the way the Government of Mozambique may act and invest for environmental preservation, poverty reduction and economic growth in Mozambique. The specific case studies will provide an in-depth assessment of the contribution of the environment to three sectors in particular, namely health, agriculture & forestry and fisheries.Expected results
The project will provide the following overall results:
- Strategy for grasping together the objectives of poverty reduction and sustainable resources management in Mozambique
- Series of arguments, empirical evidences and concrete examples to prove the legitimacy, necessity and efficiency of the proposed strategy
- Concrete case studies to implement the strategy
- Developed competences in Mozambique for understanding, and explaining the research and methodological tool used in order to formulate the strategy
Diploma of advanced studies en stratégie environnementale et enjeux économiques
