Where are the poor: Experiences with the development and use of Poverty Maps

"...Poverty mapping-the spatial representation and analysis of indicators of human well-being and poverty-is becoming an increasingly important instrument for investigating and discussing social, economic, and environmental problems. Decision-makers need information tools such as poverty maps to help them identify areas where development lags and where investments in infrastructure and services could have the greatest impact. Once largely the domain of economists and social scientists, poverty maps are now being used by policymakers and many non-governmental entities, including civil society groups, academic institutions, and private businesses. However, the new and diverse applications of poverty mapping emerging over the past five years have not been well documented.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) in collaboration with UNEP/GRID-Arendal has conducted a study examining the uses and impacts of poverty maps. Our interest in this topic grows out of extensive experience in mapping biophysical indicators, including those related to coral reefs, water resources, frontier forests, and dry lands. We have found indicator maps to be a powerful tool for stimulating and advancing policy dialogue. In particular, poverty mapping provides a means for integrating biophysical information with socioeconomic indicators to provide a more systematic and analytical picture of human wellbeing and equity. Environmental factors represent one dimension of the complex physical, biological, and socioeconomic system that influences human welfare and poverty.

Poverty mapping-including methods for producing maps as well as ways of using them to influence policy and expenditures -is an evolving discipline.

Specific objectives of this study are to:

Document the uses and impacts of poverty mapping; increase understanding of how national and subnational decision-making can benefit from incorporation of poverty maps; encourage innovative applications of poverty mapping in new areas such as environmental management; foster expansion of the community of poverty mapping users and stakeholders, including non-governmental and civil society organizations, universities, the media, and the private sector; support more widespread use of mapping in developing countries, including development of human and technical capacity to create and interpret poverty maps; and encourage greater coordination and collaboration between map producers and users.

The intended audience for this report is decision-makers in international and national development agencies with a poverty reduction mandate, along with the growing network of practitioners using various techniques to produce poverty maps. In addition, we hope it will be useful for broader audience-including universities, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector-interested in learning more about experiences with and potential new applications of poverty mapping..."