Skip to content

Evidence review

Poverty alleviation and nature-based solutions

This evidence review from the Climate and Ocean Adaptation and Sustainable Transition (COAST) programme links poverty alleviation and NbS across small-scale fisheries, aquaculture and critical marine habitat interventions.

30/03/2026

This evidence review aims to provide robust and relevant evidence related to the question:

What are the links between poverty alleviation and nature-based solutions, including sustainable aquaculture, small scale fisheries and marine habitat protection, sustainable management and restoration?

It provides a critical appraisal of evidence, or the lack thereof, to guide future research around three sub-questions:

  1. What is the evidence on the links between sustainable aquaculture/small-scale fisheries/marine habitat protection, sustainable management and restoration and poverty alleviation? How is poverty alleviated through such nature-based solutions?
  2. What is the evidence on the factors and strategies that contribute to simultaneously promoting sustainable aquaculture/ small-scale fisheries/ marine habitat marine habitat protection, sustainable management and restoration, gender equality and social inclusion, and poverty alleviation?
  3. What is the evidence for how a participatory, innovation-based process of designing, testing and adapting novel and/or alternative technologies for sustainable aquaculture/ smallscale fisheries/ marine habitat protection, sustainable management and restoration can help to achieve poverty alleviation?

Download the evidence review

Download the summary