2011 PRESA project activities
Background
The PRESA programme (Pro-poor Rewards for Environmental Services in Africa) fosters the development of fair and effective agreements between modifiers of ecosystems services and beneficiaries of these services in the highlands of East and West Africa. It uses different tools, approaches, and methodologies to promote the development of agreements to contribute to poverty reduction and ecosystem conservation. PRESA also engages policy makers to ensure an enabling environment as well as the private sector to and sustainability of the reward mechanisms.
Overall PRESA seeks to:
i) foster the development, implementation and assessment of workable environmental service agreements in three core and four associate landscapes in the highlands of East and West Africa,
ii) catalyze policy support and private sector participation in environmental service agreements in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Guinea, and
iii) provide proactive and responsive support to the dissemination and application of assessment tools, negotiation methodologies, prototype mechanisms and monitoring tools among a PRESA community of practice, including other IFAD projects, regional and national Katoomba networks, NGOs and national organizations active in the innovation of new approaches to pro-poor rewards for environmental services in the highlands of East and West Africa as well as promoting cross-regional lesson learning with the IFAD supported ICRAF-led project on Rewarding the Upland Poor for the Environmental Services they provide (RUPES).
PRESA project components are linked to the 3 objectives and include:
i) landscape-level engagement (L),
ii) private sector and policy engagement (P), and
iii) community of practice (C).
Project activities undertaken during the year under review are linked to these 3 components as reported in the next section.
PRESA project is being implemented in associate and core sites. PRESA core landscapes include:
C1: Mount Kenya East/upper Tana River catchment in central Kenya;
C2: Ulugurus Mountains in the Eastern Arc of Tanzania
C3: Fouta Djallon upper catchment area in Guinea
The associate landscapes include:
A1: Usambaras Mountains (East and Western Usambaras in Tanzania;
A2: Upper Aberdares catchments in Central Kenya that provide water to Nairobi City;
A3: Nyando and Yala basins in Western Kenya; and
A4: Western highlands (Bushenyi District) of Uganda.
Planned Activities for 2011
L. Foster development, implementation and assessment of workable environmental service agreements in three core and associate landscapes in the highlands of east and west Africa
L1. Delineation of sites will be finalized in the Ulugurus and Usambaras. In Fouta Djallon, the potential for engaging mining companies in investing in biodiversity offsets will be explored. A policy brief will be developed to inform the upcoming national policy reviewing mining contracts.
Baseline projections of ecosystem services will be developed for all PRESA core sites. These will be describing the potential impact of the current landuse trends on the key ecosystem service over the next ten years or more for each core site. Baseline studies for Sasumua were already done where the sediment and runoff risks under the current landuse trends were estimated.
A monitoring strategy will be developed for each site to show what will be monitored, the methodologies for monitoring and evaluation and the existing institutions that may undertake monitoring.
Spatial databases will be continually updated with new information from on-going studies and shared as appropriate with partner organisations, researchers and students. PRESA currently has a total of 12 geo-databases. Each PRESA site has its own geo-database (A1-A4 and C1-C3) and each PRESA country has its own (X2-X5). In addition there is an Africa-wide geo-database (X1). These databases are constructed to be modular, following a common structure, and are highly portable. They are currently not downloadable from the PRESA website but will be delivered via FTP or CDROM on request. PRESA has an online map library at: www.box.net/presamaps for users not requiring GIS data.
A training manual on use of a GPS and GIS will be developed and uploaded on the website.
L2. In some sites existing landuse technologies have been identified. For example in Kapingazi, some terracing, grass strips, fanya juu and fanya chini soil conservation are being implemented. In Sasumua, grass strips, Fanya juu and Fanya Chini are practiced while in the Ulugurus where slopes very steep soil conservation measures being implemented include grass strips, stone strips and tree planting. The next stage in technology targeting is using predictive models on the potential impact of these and any new ones on the ecosystem service compared to the baseline scenario. Technologies will be reviewed further based on criteria such as quality and quantity of biophysical service, social, financial and economic feasibility: effort per unit of service generated, opportunity costs, required duration to deliver service, potential for upscaling: land tenure/availability, size etc. Progress has already been made in Sasumua and Kapingazi for water and in the Albertine Rift for aforestation and forest conservation. In Sasumua, a Hydrology model was used to predict what might happen to run off, water yield and sediment flow under alternative landuse scenarios. For AR, technical specifications for trees were made to predict what might happen to carbon sequestration if certain tree species are planted under different configurations. A landuse technology review tool will be developed.
L3. Willingness to pay and willingness to accept studies will be completed in the Ulugurus and Fouta Djallon. Outcomes will be analysed to identify prototype reward mechanisms to be tested with farmers in 2012.
Private sector engagement is still ongoing via round table discussions. There is need to clearly distinguish RES as an investment option as opposed to tax. In the Upper Aberdares, partnership will be sought with local advocacy NGO(s) to take the negotiations further to reach WSREP and the Water Board.
L41-3. Discussions are on-going with Katoomba Group and UNDP to collaboratively convene one regional workshop including private sector stakeholders and government and community stakeholders and NGOs from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Guinea. Private sector participants will include direct beneficiaries of ES from PRESA sites as well as potential buyers who may not necessarily be benefiting directly from the service.The workshop will involve training in PES and REDD+ opportunities and potential risks, under these key topics:
- State of carbon and water markets
- Opportunities for agricultural carbon and watershed projects
- REDD+ opportunities assessment
- Social impact assessment
This will be followed by discussions identifying and discussing constraining/enhancing situations for PES. It is expected that this regional event will create a foundation for future site by site engagements of policy and private sector stakeholders in PRESA sites.
L.43. Existing institutional structures for achieving scale, regulating/coordinating potential services agreements will be identified especially from review of site characterization information. In the Nyando-Yala basin, PRESA will support the establishment of the consortium which will serve as a platform for future negotiations, broadening the community of PES practitioners. The consortium will then work independently as a boundary organization for PES promotion.
L44. Across all sites landscape characterization reports will be reviewed supplemented with field work to identify existing community networks for achieving scale, regulating/coordinating potential services agreements
L45. Technical advisory notes will be developed on
a) Negotiations – how to develop a case for RES.
b) As support to the sub-catchment management plan in the Upper Aberdares (Sasumua), PRESA will work with WRUAs to design a technical package containing information on baseline projections, landuse scenarios and conjoint analysis and how to incorporate PES/RES approaches in catchment/landscape management plans.
These will be uploaded on the PRESA website and announced in the newsletters. Printouts will also be generated and disseminated to field partners.
P. Catalyse policy support and private sector participation in environmental service agreements in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Guinea
P1. At least one country-level assessment of PES/RES readiness study will be conducted to supplement a similar ongoing review within Kenya. In Tanzania and/or Uganda, the studies will build on the REDD Opportunities Scoping Exercise (ROSE) studies that were conducted by Katoomba Group. The national reviews will be supplemented by reviews of site level bylaws and institutions. Policy brief(s) and other documentation will be generated from these studies. There is potential to collaborate with Katoomba Group and UNDP in the implementation of these activities and discussions have already been initiated.
P2. Presentations of topical PRESA findings will be made in at least 3 regional/international fora. These may include outcomes from the water study in Sasumua, the policy legal and institutional analysis and the review of PES tools.
C. Provide pro-active and responsive support to the dissemination and application of assessment tools, negotiation methodologies, prototype mechanisms and monitoring tools among a PRESA community of practice
C1. Technical advisory notes, GIS and GPS manuals will be uploaded on the PRESA website and announced in the newsletter.
Subject to availability of funds, a Nyando-Yala atlas will be developed by synthesising all the information that has accumulated from different partners over the years into accessible format for future users.
C2. At least 3 articles for journal publication will be generated from the work in Sasumua, Kapingazi and Uganda
C3. The website will be updated regularly
C4. Summaries of all workshops convened by PRESA will be published and disseminated via the website and newsletters.
C5. The potential for strengthening linkages with or even merging the PRESA newsletter with that for the Katoomba Group will be explored. This has the potential for widening the thematic coverage and also reaching a broader community.
C6. The IAC meeting will be held in the fourth week of March 2011 possibly in Tanzania.
Detailed site level workplan
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