The Challenges...

There is growing global recognition of the importance of protecting ecosystems, not just for the variety of life they contain, but also for the contribution they make to improving or maintaining human well-being.

Despite emerging recognition of the enormous benefits people get from wild nature - ranging from food and fibres, to climate stability and clean water - decision-makers continue to behave as if ecosystems have little or no value.

Efforts to reverse losses of wild habitats and wildlife populations by integrating so-called ecosystem services into mainstream decision-making face real challenges: a lack of data at relevant scales; the fact that many beneficiaries (such as downstream water users) live far from the places where services are produced; and the tendency of the market to reward short-term, private gains and so encourage the conversion rather than conservation of remaining natural capital.

Thanks to The Leverhulme Trust, we've embarked on a five-year programme to explore novel solutions to these problems. This work is conducted in collaboration with the Natural Capital Project and the KITE project.

Sunset In The Mountains

Our field research focuses on the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania...

There are few places in the world that are as important as the Eastern Arc Mountains in terms of numbers of unique and endangered species, as well as providing direct human welfare benefits locally, nationally and globally. This is one of the richest areas for biological diversity on the entire planet. Together, 13 blocks of forest contain around 100 vertebrate species and at least 800 plant species found nowhere else.

But the mountains are vital for people too. Collectively, they provide water for farming, hydroelectric power, and almost 3 million domestic water users in Dar es Salaam; fuel, food, medicine, and timber for nearby villagers; and carbon storage and sequestration for the global community.

To date, arguments based on biodiversity alone have failed to halt the conversion of the Eastern Arc to farmland: less than 30% of the original forest cover now remains. We will investigate whether including ecosystem service values can bolster the case for conservation of these important mountains.

Latest Progress...

So far the VtA team has carried out a number of field campaigns and workshops in the EAMs.

We have have developed spatially explicit future scenarios for the EAMs through participatory workshops and expert modeling exercises.

We have some 2,000 carbon plots established, and over 1,000 household surveys for understanding poverty, NTFP and timber use, from both primary fieldwork and partner collaborations.

We have developed and (helped to develop) governance and management effectiveness maps across the area; begun market surveys of NTFP and timber products; are developing models of forest and woodland degradation.

By the end of 2009 we will have first-cut spatially explicit models for carbon storage, water regulation, NTFP and timber production, ecotourism and will be working towards generating the highest resolution maps of endemic species distributions across the region.

A Baobab Tree