Making the environment count in national planning and
decision-making
The Project for Ecosystem Services (ProEcoServ) is a global initiative that aims to better integrate ecosystem assessment and economic valuation of ecosystem services into poverty reduction and national sustainable development planning. Trinidad and Tobago is one of five countries (along with Chile, Vietnam, South Africa and Lesotho) where ProEcoServ is being rolled out between 2010 and 2014.
The project will develop the capacity of decision makers, users and beneficiaries of ecosystem services to identify development choices that contribute to human well-being through strengthened biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.
ProEcoServ has three linked components:
• Support tools for policy making: Creation and application of locally appropriate tools and models to support development planning and policy making at all scales.
• Assistance for policy implementation: Supporting policy makers to implement appropriate ecosystem and ecosystem service management approaches at national and transboundary levels.
• Bridge between science and policy: Strengthening the link between science and policy making nationally and contributing to better understanding globally of science-policy linkages in the biodiversity arena.