New funding for Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation research

The Department for International Development (DFID), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) are pleased to announce £40.5 million for the Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) research programme. This partnership combines £27 million of DFID's development research funding together with £13.5 million of UK Research Council funding.

ESPA is launched under the umbrella of the Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) partnership and presents a unique opportunity to build strong links between the natural, social and economic sciences and international development.

ESPA aims to deliver high quality and cutting-edge research that will improve our understanding of ecosystems in terms of the services they provide for poverty reduction and inclusive growth processes. It will provide the evidence and tools to enable decision makers and end users to manage ecosystems sustainably and in a way that contributes to poverty reduction.

The two-year process to design the programme and strengthen research capacity is completed and full details of the ESPA scope and implementation plan have been ratified by all the partners in the ESPA Programme Memorandum.

ESPA will be governed by a Programme Executive Board consisting of the three funders (DFID, NERC and ESRC). ESPA will be supported by an ESPA Directorate that will manage the research portfolio and a cross-portfolio programme covering knowledge sharing, research into use, monitoring and evaluation and capacity building. Expressions of interest to supply the directorate function will be issued shortly.

ESPA will be delivered through a series of competitive calls for a range of research activities, including research into use and capacity building.