Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA)

Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) is a partnership that brings together the Department for International Development (DFID), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) to deliver a planned seven year interdisciplinary research programme, with a total budget of £40.5m.

ESPA is launched under the umbrella of the Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) partnership. 

ESPA aims to:

• Create strong, international multi-disciplinary teams that can tackle the complex problems associated with the sustainable use of ecosystems
• Provide a better understanding of the types, value, and potential of ecosystems and the ways society uses them
• Strengthen the capacity of developing countries to perform research and act on the findings
• Influence national policy and find a way to integrate science into development planning
• Provide decision-makers in developing countries with recommendations on ways to achieve sustainable and fair use of ecosystem services that will help reduce poverty.