Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation in Urbanising Contexts

The world’s urban population is expected to rise from 3.9 to 6.4 billion people between 2014 and 2050, with 90% of this increase in Asia and Africa (UN, 2014). While the impacts of urbanisation on ecosystems and the dependence of urban populations on ecosystem services are acknowledged (Gómez-Baggethun et al., 2013), the complex nature of the interactions involved and the diverse implications for human wellbeing are poorly understood, risking missed opportunities for managing urban ecosystems more sustainably. As direct and visible dependence on ecosystems for livelihoods declines, so urban development policies have tended to neglect ecosystem management, and communication strategies to raise awareness among urban publics become challenging. This dissociation of urban development from ecosystems makes it difficult for urban communities to understand and manage urbanisation sustainably, at the same time as they remain highly dependent on their ecological hinterlands (Seto et al., 2013)