Public Policy and Economics
Natural Resources and the Rural Poor Project
Overview - The African Great Lakes Region and Central Mozambique
More than one billion people, some twenty percent of the world population, survive on less than one dollar a day. Many of these families live in rural areas where natural resources—soil, water, and timber, among others—provide a tenuous but vital lifeline.
In many developing countries, the lack of financial or other buffers exaggerates the effects of system “shocks”. These shocks can be political (e.g. wars or poor governance), environmental (e.g. droughts or floods), or health-related (e.g. HIV or malaria).
Such shocks can have severe consequences for families struggling with poverty. Rural households may migrate, flee, or search for alternative means by which to satisfy their basic subsistence needs. Under conditions of extreme scarcity, temporary access to natural resources from either common property or protected areas can make the difference between survival and starvation.
The Woods Hole Research Center was part of a multidisciplinary effort to assess the role of natural resources in mitigating system shocks in extremely poor households. As part of this endeavor, we examined resource protection plans for parks and protected areas to assess strategies to maximize the benefits of resource utilization for all stakeholders. We focused on two regions of the Rift Valley of Southeastern Africa—Central Mozambique and the border area of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—where poverty is ubiquitous and where natural resources play a vital role in household subsistence and decision strategies.
