IUCN NL is a member and coordinator of Natureandpoverty.net: a network for exchanging knowledge on nature conservation, sustainable use of resources, poverty alleviation, social-justice struggles and organizational capacity building. It is established to improve the activities of Natureandpoverty.net members in areas like advocacy, field projects, research, or education.

Many people throughout the world cannot maintain a sustainable livelihood because of poverty and injustice, which limit their access to and control over resources, dignified labour, basic social services, vital knowledge and participation in decision-making. A small section of the world population consumes a disproportionately large part of the natural resources available world-wide. At the same time, nature deserves protection because of its intrinsic value, its cultural meaning to many societies, and the many ecological services it delivers to humankind, both globally and on a local scale. Attacking the structural causes of poverty and injustice needs to be combined with halting ecological destruction, leading to socially just natural resources management.

Network for sustainable and just management
Collective learning about sound policies and practices for sustainable and just natural resources management is what the Natureandpoverty.net is about. Members of IUCN NL and a number of befriended Netherlands-based international organizations with complementary expertise, have signed on to the initiative, which started in 2007.

17 devoted partners
The 17 Netherlands-based organizations and their networks collaborating under Natureandpoverty.net bring together a vast experience in nature conservation, sustainable use of resources, poverty alleviation, social-justice struggles and organizational capacity building. By exchanging knowledge, the effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of our interventions can improve, be it in field-based projects, advocacy work, education and capacity building, funding, research or policy-making. Along with IUCN NL the initiative includes Both Ends, Friends of the Earth Netherlands and International, SNV (West & Central Africa, Asia amongst others), Milieukontakt, Wetlands International, HIVOS, BirdLife Netherlands, WWF Netherlands, Avalon, Tropenbos, Foundation for Nature & Environment (Stichting Natuur en Milieu), NCIV, Face Foundation, CML Leiden, the Free University of Amsterdam, IVN and the Dutch Ministry for Environment and Water (DMW).

Beyond the South-North divide
The priority setting will have its base in the civil-society organizations in developing countries that these 17 organizations united in Natureandpoverty.net are working with. Learning for sustainability goes beyond the South-North divide, not only because relevant knowledge can be found everywhere, but also because of the impacts of Northern economic behaviour, policies and donorship on economic justice and biodiversity conservation in the South. Natureandpoverty.net will reach out proactively and seek partnerships with similar initiatives and stakeholders working on issues related to poverty and nature conservation. Natureandpoverty.net is a result of the former project natureandpoverty* (www.natureandpoverty.org) (2004-2006) between IUCN NL, Friends of the Earth Netherlands and World Wide Fund for Nature Netherlands

What does IUCN NL do?
IUCN NL will play a role as a global co-ordinating facility in this network, but it shares the responsibilities for Natureandpoverty.net activities with its befriended organizations. Natureandpoverty.net intends to create mechanisms for channelling knowledge flows and it will initiate collective learning trajectories. Natureandpoverty.net proactively engages in discussions and exchanges with other existing initiatives and seeks to identify possibilities for complementarities and collaboration.
First global priority themes for learning, piloted in 2008/2009, are:

1. impacts of biofuels on land use and livelihoods,
2. learning from multi-stakeholder commodity initiatives,
3. local ownership of conservation agendas, and
4. biodiversity and livelihood impacts of climatechange.
   
   

Plans for regional learning trajectories focus on these and other themes, such asconflict transformation, community involvement in protected area management and mining advocacy.

• IUCN ARO publication Forest Partnerships
• Biofuels Info Service; hundreds of documents on biofuels