There is growing interest in payments and rewards for environmental services in ensuring that watersheds continue performing their crucial, life-supporting functions.

A meeting at Sasumua where PRESA met the Sasumua Water Resource User Association and the Water Resources Management Authority.

Nowhere is this interest more apparent than at the Sasumua catchment area in Kenya, which alone is responsible for 20% of the fresh water supplied to the capital city, Nairobi. Water from the catchment collects at the Sasumua reservoir, from where it is piped almost 100 kilometres to Nairobi in the south.

At least half of the Sasumua catchment area is under cultivation, hosting a high population growing at 3.5% annually. The average farm size is 2.86 acres. Polluted runoff from small towns and farms results in high rates of sedimentation, high bacterial count and high water treatment costs. The major pollutants are biological and soil materials from agricultural fields, bacteria from human and animal waste, and metallic content from roads and garages.
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Both the academic and the policy debate associate REDD primarily with “positive incentives” in the form of compensatory mechanisms. The simple idea is that farmers will stop slashing forests if they were offered incentives conditional on conservation targets (“carrots”).

The more complex reality, however, is that direct compensation payments can only work where rights to land are clearly defined and effectively controlled. Even in leading REDD candidate countries, such as Brazil, insecure tenure and irregularities prevail in much of the forest land under pressure. Moreover most REDD candidate countries have readily applicable environmental legislation that could reduce the lion’s share of deforestation if effectively enforced.

Command-and-Control (C&C) instruments (“sticks”) are often dismissed as inherently ineffective, but recent experiences in Brazil have shown that regulatory mechanisms combined with political will can make an astonishing difference at fairly low additional implementation costs.

Annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has experienced an unusually sharp drop since it peaked at over 27,000 square kilometers in 2004 – among other reasons, doubtless due to more effective law enforcement. Implementing REDD+ through C&C, would leave the major share of total emission abatement costs – opportunity costs – with land users. This can be convenient from the perspective of public budget planners, especially if C&C comes with fine revenues. Hence, why would REDD recipient countries opt for expensive carrots with limited scope for application if they have handy and less budget intensive C&C measures right at their disposal?

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Payments for environmental services target communities whose economic activities have a direct impact on environmental resources and aims at providing them with incentives for protecting the ecosystem.
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Bags of charcoal awaiting distribution to the city. PHOTO: Miika Mäkelä

Demand for charcoal in Tanzania is growing, as charcoal is a cheap energy source for most households. However, as charcoal is produced by burning trees, increasing demand could frustrate efforts at curbing deforestation in the country.

Tanzania is interested in conserving its tree cover through programmes in reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+). It is therefore important to address the heavy usage of charcoal. Indeed, demand for charcoal in Tanzania is projected to increase alongside rapid urbanization and population growth.

In an online article, Salla Rantala, a researcher with experience on Tanzania, argues that the adoption of REDD+ policies may not be successful without providing alternative energy sources, or a means of producing charcoal through sustainable methods.

To read the article, please click here.

At a conference in Jinja, Uganda, held in October 2010, the Network for Environmental Services in Africa (NESA) was formed to share experiences from payments for environmental service (PES) projects in Africa.

A section of conference participants are seen in this group photo.

Members include researchers, environmentalists and representatives of relevant government institutions.

NESA is currently hosted at the Victoria Institute for Research on Environment and Development (VIRED), which is located in Kisumu, Kenya.

The Jinja conference, which ran from 20th to 22nd October 2010, attracted 78 participants from across Africa and the rest of the world. It was aimed at addressing the challenges faced in embracing payments for environmental services in Africa.

Proceedings of the conference will be compiled into a book to be disseminated in 2011.

PRESA recently held a workshop in the Republic of Guinea that brought together Fouta Djallon stakeholders for a discussion on policy issues, tools and research results.

Representatives of the Government of Guinea, UNDP and the private sector during the workshop's opening session.

The one-day workshop held in the Guinean capital, Conakry, had 25 participants from international development organizations, the private sector, the Centre for Study and Research in Environment (CÉRE), Guinea Water Company and the World Agroforestry Centre.

The aim of the workshop was to provide an overview of tools for managing payments for environmental services (PES) schemes and a detailed analysis of current international discussion on PES. The event analysed willingness to pay by beneficiaries of ecosystem services and the readiness of communities to maintain ecosystem services under their stewardship. There was also a follow-up on the resolutions of the first event held in 2009.
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The Fouta Djallon highlands in the Republic of Guinea are the source of West Africa’s most important rivers: the Senegal, Gambia, Niger and Mano rivers.

A meeting with a Fouta Djallon community. (PHOTO: S. Ngendakumana)

These rivers provide drinking water, irrigation and hydroelectric power to millions of people in Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. They are critical for sustaining livelihood systems which are now affected by ecosystem degradation.

Policymakers across Fouta Djallon countries are interested in adopting reward schemes for environmental services. For instance, Sierra Leonean forestry authorities have highlighted the need to develop rewards-based initiatives as a strategy to better manage the country’s classified forests.

PRESA partners intend to build upon these regional initiatives to lay a social foundation for the design, piloting and scaling up of transfer schemes for environmental services.
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Individuals and institutions working in payments for environmental services are invited to submit papers to the International Conference on Payments for Ecosystem Services in the Eastern and Central Africa Sub-Region.

Ugandan fishermen near the point where the River Nile leaves Lake Victoria at Jinja. PHOTO/ Dan A'Vard/Flickr

The conference, which runs from 20th to 22nd October 2010 in Jinja (Uganda), aims at addressing the challenges faced in embracing payments for environmental services in Africa.

Conference discussions will focus on watershed management, carbon sequestration, and the institutional and policy issues necessary for implementing sustainable Payment for Environmental Services (PES) schemes.

Keynote speakers will discuss current and emerging environmental issues related to the East and Central African landscapes. They will also talk about the opportunities presented by PES schemes to local communities and for environmental conservation.
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Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are one of a number of policy options available to support the provision of ecosystem services. Based on the characteristics of ecosystem services, a recent study has developed a framework for deciding when payments are a suitable tool for delivering ecosystem services.

Ecosystems provide services essential for human well-being and survival. PHOTO/ M. Makela

Ecosystems provide services essential for human well-being and survival. For example, forests help regulate the climate, control soil erosion and provide a pleasant environment.

People can choose to leave the natural capital of the ecosystems intact, such as forests or wetlands, to provide these services. They can choose to exploit the ecosystem for raw material as inputs in economic processes or to use the land differently.

In this study, five types of policy tools for providing ecosystem services on private property were identified: prescription (regulations), penalties (taxation), property rights (such as alteration of property rights to protect ecosystems), public information (used to change landowner behaviour) and payments for ecosystem services (PES), which compensate landowners who supply ecosystem services on their property.
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Serge Ngendakumana of ICRAF (standing at left) making a presentation on pro poor reward mechanisms for ecosystem services in Africa. Serge is the PRESA site co-ordinator at the Fouta Djallon highlands.

The Fouta Djallon highlands are a core site of PRESA. Critical environmental services offered by the Fouta Djallon ecosystem are water quality and quantity for more than eight countries, biodiversity conservation and trees for carbon sequestration.

For the past two years, ICRAF has been involved with other key stakeholders in advocating policy related issues in the sub region. Working with the ICRAF office in Guinea, PRESA organized a multi-stakeholder meeting to analyse payments for environmental service issues and develop a road map for future developments in the areas of ecosystems.
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