This article investigates the link between poverty incidence and geographical conditions within rural locations in Kenya. Evidence from poverty maps for Kenya and other developing countries suggests that poverty and income distribution are not homogenous. We use spatial regression techniques to explore the effects of geographic factors on poverty. Slope, soil type, distance/travel time to public resources, elevation, type of land use, and demographic variables prove to be significant in explaining spatial patterns of poverty. However, differential influence of these and other factors at the location level shows that provinces in Kenya are highly heterogeneous; hence different spatial factors are important in explaining welfare levels in different areas within provinces, suggesting that targeted propoor policies are needed. Policy simulations are conducted to explore the impact of various interventions on locationlevel poverty levels. Investments in roads and improvements in soil fertility are shown to potentially reduce poverty rates, with differential impacts in different regions.
to access a wide variety of ecosystem services. The maps in the atlas show locations of specifi c ecosystem services in Kenya and demonstrate how they can be combined with spatial metrics of poverty and wellbeing to analyze where people's lives either depend on, or benefi t greatly from, the use of ecosystem services. The authors believe that users of the atlas will gain new insights on the spatial congruence of poverty and ecosystem services, improve targeting of programs addressing poverty and selected environmental services, and provide integrated datasets and methodologies for multi-scale use. Additionally, the atlas should improve environmental reporting in Kenya and contribute to better integration of environmental issues in national poverty reduction strategies. ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN KENYA (Note: the following section is taken from various segments in Chapter 1, pp. 3-12 in the Atlas.) Kenyans-like all people on Earth-depend on nature to sustain their lives and livelihoods. Not only do they obtain the basic goods needed for survival-such as water, food, and fi ber-they also rely on nature to purify air and water, produce healthy soils, cycle nutrients, and regulate climate. Collectively, these benefi ts derived from nature's systems are known as ecosystem services. They fuel the Kenyan economy and, if wisely used and invested, build the nation's wealth (Atlas, p. 4). The defi nition of ecosystem services used in this work comes from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. The array of ecosystem services enjoyed by humans can be divided into four main categories (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2003): • Provisioning services, which include the production of basic goods such as crops, livestock, water for drinking and irrigation, fodder, timber, biomass fuels, fi bers such as cotton and wool; and wild plants and animals used as sources of foods, hides, building materials, and medicines. Using Geospatial Information to Connect Ecosystem Services and Human Well-Being in Kenya The application of geospatial information in the analysis of ecosystem services would help decisionmakers to develop programs for poverty reduction in Kenya that would improve the targeting of social expenditures and ecosystem interventions so that they reach areas of greatest need.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.