Preparing ground for publicly funded ecosystem restoration
Aug 23, 2010 by gkimega
Agricultural and industrial activities are polluting Lake Victoria with vast amounts of soil and chemicals. Since fishing is a major business in the lake, interventions that mitigate soil erosion and pollution in river basins are necessary to secure the future of the fishing industry and thus, the livelihoods of millions of people.
A deep gulley caused by erosion in the Nyando basin, Kenya.
The PRESA project is focusing on the Nyando and Yala river basins whose catchments are the cause of the problems mentioned above.
By using reward or transfer schemes for environmental services, PRESA partners intend to connect groups that depend on the lake with groups whose activities influence the lake’s health.
Activities
PRESA is currently building the case for a publicly funded reward for environmental services scheme for ecosystem restoration. This is based on a quick appraisal of rewards for environmental service mechanisms. Publicly-funded payments and markets for improved watershed management or ecosystem restoration would mean that farmers will potentially be rewarded for good land management and would therefore get an alternative income stream.
The PRESA project has provided scientific evidence to support decision making at the lake basin level; an assessment was undertaken in Nyando and Yala River basins to identify the sources of sediments as well as link those areas to land use changes and sediment yield. Ecosystem degradation was found to have a relationship with famine.
Environmental hotspots were identified, and will be the focus for government and stakeholder decisions on investments in ecosystem restoration.
Preliminary discussions on the establishment of a consortium were started with the Lake Victoria Basin Commission, Lake Victoria Institute for Research and Development (VIRED), Maseno University, Moi University, World Neighbours, government agencies, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, parliamentarians and community based organizations.
The purpose of the consortium is to collaborate with like-minded institutions to make the case for a publicly funded reward for environmental services scheme.
Opportunities and remaining challenges
The review of rewards for environmental service initiatives has provided lessons and experiences that will inform design and implementation.
Partners
- Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI)
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Stakeholders
- Communities at the lower and upper Nyando and Yala Basins
- Local authorities
- Water Resources Management Authority (WRMA)
- Provincial Administration
- Kenya Forestry Service
- National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme (NALEP)
Good to see that work being done in the Nyando catchment is continuing. I myself was involved in work carried out by ICRAF during my master thesis in 2007. The thesis focused on local level institutional arrangements to integrate smallholder farmers in carbon markets.