a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Payment-for-ecosystem-service Family structure Sustainable livelihood Wage-labor supply This research introduces family composition into the sustainable livelihoods framework for policy analysis. We apply this approach to a case study on the Grain for Green Program in western China. Using recent survey data from Zhouzhi County, we show that the impact of the poli...

There is a growing recognition that the present demographic patterns in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana, do not augur well for the achievement of sustainable development. Ghana is characterized by a youthful population, rapid population growth, uneven population distribution, high fertility, and rural-urban migration which has brought human numbers into collision with resources to sustain ...

Sustainability is a key challenge for humanity in the 21st century. Ecosystem services-the benefits that people derive from nature and natural capital-is a concept often used to help explain human reliance on nature and frame the decisions we make in terms of the ongoing value of nature to human wellbeing. Yet ecosystem service science has not always lived up to the promise of its potential. De...

Founded in 1948, The World Conservation Union brings together States, government agencies and a diverse range of non-governmental organizations in a unique world partnership: over 1000 members in all, spread across some 140 countries. As a Union, IUCN seeks to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any ...

Irrigation in developing countries tends to be stereotyped as equity reducing, in competition with other uses for scarce water resources, and often resulting in negative impacts for women and other disadvantaged groups. Agricultural intensification through the practice of irrigation as a strategy for poverty reduction is examined. There are four inter-related mechanisms through which irrigated ...

At the Berlin MACE (Modern Agriculture in Central and Eastern Europe) Conference in January 2007, I offered some general thoughts on the crafting of institutional arrangements to further the economic transformations now underway in Central and Eastern Europe. In that paper I observed that many countries are now in the “third wave” of institutional change [Bromley, 2007]. The first wave began du...

So-called ‘livelihoods approaches’ work with people, supporting them to build upon their own strengths and realise their potential, while at the same time acknowledging the effects of policies and institutions, external shocks and trends. The aim is to do away with pre-conceptions about what exactly rural people are seeking and how they are most likely to achieve their goals, and to develop an ...