Sécurité alimentaire, approvisionnements en énergie et impacts potentiels des changements climatiques (inondations et sécheresses) ont hissé les barrages aux plus hauts échelons de l’agenda du développement. Faire en sorte que les populations touchées par les barrages en soient les bénéficiaires directs promeut l’acceptation publique, réduit les risques assumés par les promoteurs et la possibilité de conflit à long terme entre les populations déplacées et les villages qui les accueillent.

Benefits to people from water ecosystems like rivers, swamps, floodplains and groundwater systems are central to human well-being. But ecosystems are in trouble and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have each shown that freshwater ecosystem services are particularly vulnerable. 

Africa is in the midst of an urban transition, and getting this transition right is critical.

Other Worlds are Possible describes how the costs and benefits of global economic growth have been unfairly distributed, with those on lowest incomes getting the fewest benefits and paying the highest costs.

Small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) in Mozambique account for 95.8% of the formally registered enterprises in the forest sector and more than 99.9% of the enterprise numbers if the predominant informal enterprises are included. Total forest sector employment exceeds 600,000 people, 80% of which is based in SMFEs. Despite their significance to the economy and potential for sustainability and poverty reduction, SMFEs are poorly catered for by national policies and programmes.

This paper describes the development of poverty lines in India, from the 19th century to the present, and assesses their limitations as an indication of poverty. It demonstrates that use of the official poverty line results in considerable underestimation of the extent of urban poverty, and oversimplifies the nature of poverty by disregarding or disguising the reality of the lived experiences of poor people. It then considers the relevance and accuracy of the official poverty line as applied in Pune, a large city with around 3 million inhabitants.

Private standards are set by the food producing industry and retailers, mainly to assure food safety and good agricultural practice. However their proliferation is a major concern in developing countries where these standards are regarded as too expensive for smallholders to comply with. So what really are the benefits and costs of private standards for small-scale producers?

This paper engages with the global debate about the meaningfulness, validity and reliability of the poverty-line approach by examining the Egyptian poverty lines in relation to the reality of the lives of the urban poor in Greater Cairo.

Migration has long played a key role in shaping the size and distribution of the population of Pakistan. Since the partition of the British Indian Empire in 1947 and up to recent and on-going conflicts within the region, Pakistan has been the destination for large numbers of cross-border migrants and refugees.

The annual value of small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) in Ethiopia amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars – dominated in rough order of value by fuelwood, herbal remedies, wild coffee, honey and beeswax and timber furniture. The majority of these enterprises are informal and remain largely unregulated and untaxed by any government authority.

How much does Zambia benefit from its rich forests, wildlife, soils and water – and what more could it do to ensure the protection and wise use of these ‘environmental assets’? Where environment and poverty problems are becoming increasingly severe, such questions need to be answered urgently.

Impulsées par de nouvelles idées sur les mérites des régimes décentralisés de gouvernance collective des ressources et par les expériences créatives menées sur le terrain comme CAMPFIRE au Zimbabwe, ces approches communautaires ont évolué dans une variété de contextes écologiques, politiques et sociaux aux quatre coins de l’Afrique.