Sustainable Poverty Alleviation from Coastal Ecosystem Services
About SPACES
The Sustainable Poverty Alleviation from Coastal Ecosystem Services (SPACES) project is a large collaborative initiative funded by the UK Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) program with some support from SwedBio. The project has (1) uncovered scientific knowledge on the complex relationship between ecosystem services, poverty, and human wellbeing, (2) built capacity among researchers at all levels, (3) developed and applied novel methodologies and processes, and (4) engaged with tens of stakeholders in both countries. Read more about SPACES here.
The project has studied four communities in both Mozambique and Kenya.
Currently, SPACES is focusing on impact activities supported by an Impact Activity Fund from ESPA.
SPACES is a collaboration between Stockholm Resilience Centre, Exeter University, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Kenya Forestry Institute (KEFRI), Eduardo Mondlane University, and a number of other institutions in Kenya, Mozambique, UK and North America. In Kenya SPACES will collaborate with KCDP, Kenya Fisheries Department, UNDP, UNEP, local beach management units (BMUs) and community forestry associations (CFAs) and local and regional government.
New publication drawing on SPACES data shows East African reefs particularly susceptible to coral bleaching
SPACES team members, Tim McClanahan and Nyawira Muthiga have used SPACES coral reef survey data in an analysis of the factors affecting coral’s susceptibility to coral bleaching in the face of warmer climates. The analysis based on surveys from E. Africa to Fiji during the 2016 El Nino event...
How DO coastal ecosystems support human wellbeing? New SPACES publication on the many mechanisms
A new paper based on SPACES research reports the diverse ways people reported that ecosystem services support different aspects of wellbeing. The paper discusses these using the capability approach and theory of human needs. The the diverse mechanisms to contribute to wellbeing can be categorised as money, use or...
SPACES publication: Men and women use, experience and value coastal ecosystem services differently
In this latest publication, Matt Fortnam and coauthors from the SPACES team compiled evidence from across the SPACES datasets to illustrate how people’s engagement with ecosystem services are fundamentally gendered… https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800918301836 See this Stockholm Resilience Centre news item for a summary of the paper: https://stockholmresilience.org/research/research-news/2019-03-17-ecosystem-services-for-men-ecosystem-services-for-women.html and in the blog...
New Publication: Assessing Basic Human Needs to prevent serious harm
The methodology used to explore whether people meet their basic human needs is presented and discussed in this new paper. The paper proposes this as a way to monitor the impact of conservation actions on people to prevent serious harm. Chaigneau, T., Coulthard, S., Brown, K., Daw, T.M. and...
New Publication: Kenyan and Mozambican coral reef ‘carbonate budgets’ contribute to international picture of corals under sea-level rise.
SPACES coral reef surveys have contributed to an international picture of how reefs might be able to grow to keep up with sea-level rise, recently published in Nature. The growth of coral reefs is strongly influenced by the amount and types of coral living on the reef surface, but...
New SPACES publication on the importance of stories in facilitating transformative workshops
This paper, authored by PhD candidate Diego Galafassi in collaboration with SPACES team members drew on reflections from the SPACES multistakeholder workshops. It has recently been published in Ecology and Society. See the news item about the paper on the Stockholm Resilience Centre website Full citation: Galafassi, D., T....
New MOOC on ‘Transforming development’ launched by Stockholm Resilience Centre and partners, featuring SPACES outputs
On APRIL 30th, 2018, the course “Transforming Development: The Science and Practice of Resilience Thinking” Begins! The SPACES project will be featured during Module 5 of the course (launched on 28th May) “The Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University and the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition at Stellenbosch University, in partnership with the SDG...
Uncovering the amazing behind the scenes achievements by Tzunza community to build on SPACES knowledge and dialogues.
Chris Cheupe, April 2018 SPACES spent lots of effort in order to disseminate information with the hope of improving the wellbeing of the people in the study communities. Impact activities which aim at bringing change at the community have been done using both top down (high level workshops) and...
A Look Back at SPACES in 2017
In 2017, SPACES focused on communicating research to different stakeholders. As four years of research funding from ESPA (the UK Ecosystem Services from Poverty Alleviation programme) concluded, 30 team members from Kenya, Mozambique, UK and Sweden gathered in Stockholm to work on analyse findings and strategise on impact. With...
SPACES Data Explorer
In May 2017, SPACES researchers received additional impact funding from ESPA to share the project’s knowledge assets. The funding was used to develop SPACES Data Explorer. The idea springs from suggestions that the stakeholders gave in pilot interviews, about sharing findings with graphs and making it more user friendly....
