1. Poverty and conservation: supporting the integration of poverty and equity in the IUCN programme
Improving the integration of poverty reduction and conservation is a high priority for IUCN. Economists have a key role to play in improving knowledge on the relationship between conservation and poverty reduction, and developing tools to assess the incentives for conservation.

2. Underlying causes of biodiversity loss: assessing the impacts of economic policies and trends on natural resource use
The IUCN Programme is rooted in an analysis of the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and “unsustainable” natural resource use. Four main underlying drivers are considered: 1) Human Population Dynamics, 2) Consumption Patterns, 3) Market Failures and Policy Distortions, and 4) Wealth, Poverty and Inequity. 

3. Ecosystem valuation and indicators: assessing environmental values and the tradeoffs between social equity, economic efficiency and environmental quality
Economic valuation of biodiversity and other renewable resources is a key tool for justifying and improving environmental management. Reliable and up-to-date information on the economic importance of ecosystem values is needed to ensure that development policies and investments take account of the full costs and benefits of alternative uses of resources, including their environmental impacts as well as their dependence on ecosystem services.

4. Conservation incentives and finance: finding new ways to ‘internalize’ environmental costs and benefits in economic production, consumption, trade and financial flows
There is growing interest in how to develop economic incentives that generate funds for protected areas and/or encourage private resource users to provide ecosystem services (e.g. carbon sequestration, watershed protection, habitat conservation). At the same time there are concerns that market-based initiatives, even if successful in ecological terms, may result in conservation for the rich (who can afford to pay) at the expense of the poor.

5. International economic policy: strengthening engagement by and with the conservation community
Increasing integration of the global economy (“globalization”) has significant impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems. Globalization is guided, in turn, by an increasingly complex set of bilateral and multilateral frameworks governing international flows of goods and services (including biological resources), as well as flows of “bads” (e.g. CO2, invasive species), public and private capital, and labour. IUCN has a long-standing interest in the linkages between international trade, investment and biodiversity, as well as broader issues of globalization and sustainable development.

6. Engaging the private sector: balancing biodiversity and business development at national, sub-national and ecosystem level
Closer and more effective engagement with the private sector is a priority for IUCN. At the same time, the issue is controversial due to concerns about “greenwash” and risk to IUCN’s reputation.

7. Strengthening IUCN capacity: Building links to networks of excellence in environmental and natural resource economics
The integration of economics in IUCN is a long-standing concern. During 2005, the SAEE together with the Senior Advisors for Social Equity and Gender, completed a detailed needs assessment and strategic planning exercise, with a view to strengthening capacity on social, economic and gender issues over the period 2005-08. T
he Biodiversity Economics website was re-designed and re-launched, with support from WWF. Case studies on market-based approaches to biodiversity conservation were commissioned and reviewed. Technical documents and announcements were disseminated to internal and external networks, focusing on environmental valuation, incentives for ecosystem services, poverty-biodiversity linkages, and private sector engagement.