Woods Hole Research Center

By uniting researchers from a broad array of fields, we advanced thinking on the problems and solutions of extreme poverty based on the complex reality in which they exist. Furthermore, the project provided a practical link between science and policy, as the results are being and will continue to be disseminated in popular and scientific outlets. With our ongoing partnerships with in-country agencies and projects, we will be able to continue to influence both government and international agency audiences. Our education component gave young environmentalists from U.S. universities (in particular the undergraduate Environmental Studies program at Dartmouth College and graduate students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) an introduction to the linkages between natural resources and poverty. We also encouraged participation of students from local African universities in field activities and data analysis. The knowledge generated by this project will be fundamental in the design of policies that bring an end to the suffering of extreme poverty.

Researchers at the WHRC collaborated with scientists, economists, medical doctors, historians, government offices, non-governmental organizations and resource managers from the United States, Mozambique, and Uganda on this project. Matching part funding for the Mozambique component of the project was generously provided by the National Science Foundation (Award #0624168), the Gregory C. Carr Foundation, and the Department for the Coordination of Environmental Action (Province of Sofala, Mozambique). Collaborators for our work in Mozambique include:

• Glenn Bush, Woods Hole Research Center
• Simon Nampindo, Wildlife Conservation Society
• Carr Foundation (Beira, Mozambique)
• Cruzeiro do Sul (Maputo, Mozambique)
• Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire; USA)
• Dept. for the Coordination of Environmental Action-DPCAA (Sofala Province, Mozambique)
• District Administration of Cheringoma (Cheringoma, Mozambique)
• District Administration of Gorongosa (Gorongosa, Mozambique)
• District Administration of Muanza (Muanza, Mozambique)
• District Administration of Nhamatanda (Nhamatanda, Mozambique)
• Gorongosa National Park Research Station (Gorongosa, Mozambique)
• Harvard University Medical School (Boston, Massachusetts; USA)
• Judiciary Center-CFJJ (Beira and Maputo, Mozambique)
• Pedagogic University (Beira, Mozambique)
• Rural Organization for Mutual Help-ORAM (Beira, Mozambique)
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

One role of science is to guide policy makers in the design of natural resource use strategies that mitigate the effects of disasters on local people and accentuate the potential benefits of natural resources. The project developed an operational means by which to link non-market household activities with resource value and thus provide some objective quantifiable measures around which to plan and monitor the impacts of policy and management interventions. The limitations of economic valuation of resources cannot be discounted, and so we also developed a range of scenarios that allow us to establish threshold values that represent a non-traditional valuation of natural resources.