Ecosystems and Well-being

Sustainable and equitable development in the post - 2015 period requires urgent action to eradicate poverty through global partnerships and investments. Global efforts to address poverty led by the United Nations through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), from 2000-2015, fell short of their targets in many poor regions. This is partly due to the failure to simultaneously address economic and environmental problems in poor regions across the world. The key to equitable and sustainable development in economically poor regions is to improve the well-being of poor in addition to the livelihood. This can be achieved by integrating poverty alleviation with livelihood generating activities as published in the article - Linking ecosystem services with the constituents of human well-being for poverty alleviation in eastern Himalayas. Ecological Economics 107: 65-75 ( http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092180091400250X# ).     This work is dedicated to

Many corporates dream of leading change to bring prosperity to rural people. One such organisation is working with rural stakeholders to bring that change. Change is towards better outcomes for society, economy and the environment.   Growing trees for timber or pulp are not uncommon worldwide. However, such a project taken up on marginal farmland with the help of local farming communities, backed up by endless work of forestry scientists and social marketing team with the support a conglomerate has brought positive changes to the barren landscapes in Bhadrachalam and surrounding districts in Andhra Pradesh, India. This project has spread across many neighbouring states and marginal and resource poor farmers are reaping the benefit due to the growing demand of sustainably grown paper. How does it works? Resource poor farmers often leave their farmland barren as they cannot either afford to grow food crops or the land is unfertile. Trees can grow anywhere with minimum interven