After 2 years of laying a solid scientific foundation to inform the design of rewards for environmental services, PRESA plans to foster the implementation of prototype reward mechanisms this year.

“Communities around PRESA sites should begin receiving actual rewards for environmental services,” says Thomas Yatich, the acting PRESA coordinator.

The goal is to develop and test reward mechanisms with 100 farmers in at least three PRESA sites. The mechanisms will differ across selected sites because of site peculiarities. For example, some sites offer watershed services, while others have already developed a foundation for carbon payments.

This means that implementing reward mechanisms is the main objective for 2010. A table of scheduled activities for all seven sites, has already been published on the PRESA website.

In 2010, PRESA will continue to promote the sharing of lessons and experiences between sites, while supporting partner organizations working for the realization of practical environmental service agreements. Though actual reward mechanisms will initially be implemented in at least three PRESA sites this year, all sites will develop a business portfolio to be used in coming years.

PRESA will set up the project’s monitoring and evaluation system. This will be designed and informed by outcome mapping and will include a web-based reporting system. The system, currently in the design stage, will help monitor and evaluate the processes of establishing and implementing operational rewards for environmental service mechanisms in those PRESA sites where agreements are in place.

Indicators will be identified and used to monitor the knowledge and attitudes of key players and the participation of different groups of beneficiaries and stewards, particularly the poor. There will be need to check on the compliance and enforcement of new restrictions on land use. Other important attributes that need to be monitored include the intensity of use of new methods, individual and organizational capacity and the distribution of transaction costs.

Still on 2010 activities, PRESA and RUPES II core teams will finalize the suit of tools compiled to date, while sharing and building the capacity of site level teams to test and apply them. Finalization of the tools and best practices for scoping, negotiation support and prototype mechanisms will involve drawing upon experience from RUPES and partner projects, then disseminating for testing and application in all the PRESA sites.

PRESA and RUPES II core teams will continue taking the lead on finalizing the various tools with input from PRESA site teams, organizations like the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Forest Trends, and Katoomba Group together with networks and organizations that form the PRESA community of practice.

For more on our 2010 activities, please visit this web page: http://presa.worldagroforestry.org/activities/