The foundation's overall goal for the Great Lakes region is to prevent or reduce biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to sustain ecosystem benefits for human well-being. MacArthur focuses on funding projects in the Lake Victoria, Upper Nile, Tanganyika, Malawi/Nyasa, and Turkana/Omo Basins. Grant making is informed by extensive consultations with a range of stakeholders. MacArthur believes that understanding ecosystem benefits is necessary, but insufficient to spur effective conservation responses at the appropriate scales. To close the gap that exists between concern and effective action, sufficient incentives must be created for societies to slow current trends of ecosystem degradation and service loss and eventually reverse them. MacArthur tests their theory and assumptions by supporting region-wide initiatives that:
- Describe the importance of ecosystems to sustainable economic growth persuasively to key decision makers
- Illustrate ways to generate positive incentives for environmental stewardship
- Strengthen resource use rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples who manage many of the ecosystems that provide benefits to others in society
- Contribute to testing and evaluating policies that distribute the costs and benefits of ecosystem management efficiently and more equitably among the users and providers of ecosystem services.
- Monitor the status / trends in the health of ecosystems and pressures on them with scientific rigor and share this information with a broad audience