About us
Environment for Development (EfD) contributes to solving the world's most pressing environmental and development challenges through policy-relevant research, capacity development, and policy engagement. The network is coordinated from a Global Hub at the University of Gothenburg. EfD is, since January 1, 2019, a special unit at the School of Economics, Business, and Law and the University of Gothenburg. The unit coordinates a global network of 12 environmental economics centers in the Global South.
Vision
Inclusive sustainable development in the Global South, founded on evidence-based management of the environment, natural resources and climate change.
Overarching objectives
EfD contributes to evidence-based domestic and international policies for poverty reduction, gender equality, and environmental and resource management, including climate change adaptation and mitigation in the Global South. It achieves this contribution through integrated and institutionalized capacity development, knowledge-sharing, research, and policy engagement.
Operations and organization
The focus of the unit’s work is to implement EfD’s strategy to carry out, develop, and follow up on EfD’s goals and activities. This is primarily done by:
- support by institutionalization by Environmental Economics centers in the Global South
- financing and implementation of high-quality policy-relevant research
- support for capacity development in Environmental Economics
- promoting an increased use of Environmental Economic tools and research results in poverty reduction and sustainability work.
EfD’s Advisory Board leads the work on developing:
- an overall strategy
- a strategy for sustainable financing, and follows up on EfD’s goal fulfillment.
The board consists of Pam Fredman (chairman), Åsa Löfgren, Chantal Line Carpentier, Marie Stenseke, Edwin Muchapondwa, Wisdom Akpalu, and Kevin Urama.
EfD also has committees with advisory functions:
- The EfD Coordination Committee monitors the development of EfD centers and cooperation with stakeholders, and appoints
- The Committee for Academic Capacity Development, which coordinates EfD’s work with a focus on capacity development.
- A Research Committee that is appointed by the board is responsible for the distribution of research means from EfD’s research fund and appoints the Senior Researchers of the EfD centers.
- The EfD Collaborative Committee supports knowledge transfer and the implementation of EfD’s collaborative programs, which carry through thematic research projects with participants from several centers.
EfD’s Global Hub convenes these committees and implements relevant recommendations.
The EfD network
The network consists of about 230 researchers, working at EfD's centers hosted at leading academic institutions in Central America, Chile, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Vietnam.
EfD also has a close collaboration with academic partners in China, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the USA. A significant part of the research is conducted in cross-country collaborations, together with researchers from Europe and North America.
The network is coordinated by a unit (the EfD Global Hub) located at the School of Business, Economics, and Law and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
EfD’s operations are financed by external donors.