Turasha Watershed in Naivasha. PHOTO: E. Obwocha

As economic growth and human population increases the higher the demand for water services, and increased pressure on the ecosystems that provide watershed services (Porras et. al, 2008). This therefore implies that, hydrological watershed services are ‘ideally’ suited to PES markets because there are direct and obvious users of water in a watershed (Robinson & Venema, 2006).

Lake Naivasha is an inland freshwater lake of great economic importance in Kenya but it has been faced with many challenges which include: poor land use practices within the watershed, unregulated and excessive water abstraction for domestic and agricultural/ horticultural use, weak policy enforcement, population increase, water pollution and climate variability.

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Three upcoming workshops: (more…)

By Nyongesa M Josephat (edited by Judith Nzyoka)

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Kenya Country office) in partnership with CARE – Kenya has been implementing the phased Equitable Payment for Watershed Services (EPWS) scheme in within Naivasha where the third payment was done on June 21, 2012.

The project in the Lake Naivasha basin has been in operation in Kenya since 2006 with the implementation phase commencing in 2008. Its goal is to improve the livelihoods of Targeted households in the Malewa Catchment area by introducing Payment for Watershed Service. The PES design involves two Water Resource Users Associations (WRUAs) representing sellers located in the Turasha and Wanjohi sub-catchments of the Malewa River at the western foothills of the Aberdare Mountains in Kenya. (more…)

The one of representative from Pro-poor Rewards for Environmental Service in Africa (PRESA) was given a chance to show the programme’s initiative as part of RIO+20 negotiations focused on how to shift to a sustainable, green economy.

One way of shifting to a green economy is to “ place an economic value on environmental goods and services and encourage a shift towards more sustainable activities by paying or rewarding those who practice good stewardship. In the agricultural sector, this means paying or rewarding farmers who adopt good practices. Payment for Ecosystem Services, or PES, is an innovative market-based approach currently being used around the world to encourage such shifts,” writes Vanessa Meadu of CCAFS.

In a CCAFS blog article, Vanessa writes about Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) as a possible mechanism for encouraging farmers to shift to a green economy with the help of initiatives such as PRESA.

Dr Sara Namirembe explains a point during a PES forum

Dr Sara Namirembe of the World Agroforestry Centre shared about PRESA which brings together people working in several PES projects to share lessons and exchange strategies for successful implementation of PES.

In Vanessa’s article, Sara’s experience of PES is that it is still a major challenge trying to balance fairness and efficiency across different PES programs.

Another common drawback as noted by Sara is that buyers “want proof that they will actually receive what they are paying for”. (more…)

by  Louis Putzel, Scientist, Forests and Governance Programme

REDD+ implementation was supposed to be “big, quick and cheap”. So far, it is not one big thing, but many smaller efforts designed and implemented by many different donors and agencies, a collection of programmes that are slow to design and implement, and likely to be more expensive than at first expected. Is that all bad? (more…)

by Michelle Kovacevic of Center of International Forestry Research

Forests have been largely ignored or ambiguously mentioned in the Rio+20 outcome document, yet again postponing progress on integrating forests into sustainable development objectives, said CIFOR scientists at the conclusion of the Rio+20 summit. (more…)

by E Kahurani

The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) participated in key events held alongside the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. See ICRAF event list here.

At the agriculture and rural development day held under the theme the ‘land sharing or land sparing’ conundrum, Dr. Sara Namirembe of ICRAF was among panelists who discussed the issue and her presentation titled Sustainable development in Africa requires both sparing and sharing in a multifunctional landscapes was based on ASB Partnership’s research on landscape approaches and a case study of Uganda’s Bwindi National Park.

Dr Sara Namirembe explains a point during a Payment for Ecosystem Services forum

Sara also participated in a round table discussion organized by Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Food Programme and Bioversity International. The event sought to highlight successful practical actions that have had an impact at the local level towards food security. (more…)

Ecobank Malawi Limited recently pledged its continued support to projects aimed at combating the effects of climate change.

The pledge was made at Ntchisi, a district in central Malawi, as the bank made the last payment of a 3 year carbon sequestration tree planting project worth $7,500. The project is implemented by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in cooperation with the Sustainability Science Programme at Harvard University.
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The PRESA project began in 2007 from the lessons and experiences of an older, similar project in Asia. That project is called RUPES (Rewarding the Upland Poor for Environmental Services).

Farmers worked together to build terracing and ridging in their coffee farms. PHOTO: Rachman Pasha

Since 2002, RUPES has been working with communities, researchers and policy makers in China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines and Vietnam.

RUPES sees rewards for environmental services as an approach that can alleviate rural poverty while protecting the natural environment.

An example of RUPES’ work has just been featured in the New Agriculturist magazine. The article describes how RUPES helped coffee farmers at the island of Sumatra get conditional land tenure. In exchange, the farmers are expected to practice soil and water conservation measures that ensure that soil sediments do not clog a local hydroelectric dam.

“We are very happy with this scheme because it gave us a legal certainty in managing our land as well as providing us with additional income from the fruit trees,” enthuses Eddy Purwanto, a community group member.

You can read the article by clicking here.

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Leimona, Beria et. al., 2011 – World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). Rewards for environmental services (RES) and are designed to balance effectiveness and efficiency with fairness and pro-poor characteristics. This paper assesses some key issues associated with design and implementation of RES.