The expansion of agricultural land to meet growing demand for food means that a lot of the water we consume flows from farms rather than from natural forest.

Supporting communities that live in watershed areas is therefore critical to ensuring the continued flow of fresh water to cities, farms and industry. Kenya’s water policy is however silent on how users of water can pay or otherwise compensate watershed communities for land use practices that reduce soil erosion while improving the flow of water.

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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.

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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The Kagera River is one of the largest rivers flowing into Lake Victoria, the largest fresh water body in Africa. The natural resources of the Kagera river basin face increasing pressure as a result of population growth, intensification of agriculture and livestock activities and unsustainable land management practices.

A farm in the Kagera River basin. PHOTO: FAO

The Kagera river basin covers an area of 59,700 square kilometres, distributed between Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. The basin supports some 16.5 million people, the majority in rural areas and depending directly on farming, herding and fishing activities. Most of the inhabitants are very poor and unable to invest in improved resources management.

Refugee movements in recent decades have further increased pressures on resources in the basin, raising actual and potential conflicts between interest groups and across countries.
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Scene from the Ukaguru Mountains, where the Mamiwa Forest Reserve is located. PHOTO: Eastern Arc Mountains Conservation Endowment Fund

Livelihoods of millions in Dar es Salaam, Coast and Morogoro regions are threatened by illegal tree felling in Mamiwa Forest Reserve, which authorities admit they cannot stop.

The illegal mowing down of trees at the reserve, which is a block in the Eastern Arc Mountains, is pioneered by a well coordinated syndicate involving traders, local government leaders and unfaithful villagers, according to investigations conducted by The Guardian newspaper.

Although the logging is done at the reserve, its impact is felt across many areas in Morogoro and the nearby regions of Dar es Salaam and Coast.

“This is a strategic water catchment for many rivers, supplying the precious liquid to many parts in the three regions. So, illegal logging at the reserves does not only affect water supply and climate of Morogoro Region, but many people in other regions as well,” Benedict Mberwa, a forest officer and Anglican Church pastor at Morogoro Diocese told a team of environmentalists and journalists who visited the reserve at Rubeho Ward, Kilosa District last week.

Click here to continue with this story.

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Located in the western part of Kenya, the Nyando River flows from the Rift Valley highlands, supplying irrigation water to vast rice fields along the way before emptying into Lake Victoria.

At right, Walter Adongo from the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) contributes to discussions. On the left is Pamella Were from the Moi University.

Severe problems of environmental degradation and poverty can be found throughout the Nyando basin. Soil erosion causes heavy sedimentation in the river, as yawning gulleys eat up farms and separate villages. Flooding destroys homes and farmland whenever it rains, rendering thousands of people destitute. Meanwhile, intense agricultural activity is causing excessive flow of nutrients into the Nyando River, and subsequently, into Lake Victoria.

Dialogue on solving environmental problems across the Nyando basin has been made difficult in recent years by ethnic tension between the inhabitants of the highlands and those of the lowlands.

PRESA sees payments and rewards for environmental services (PES) as a viable means of addressing environmental degradation at the Nyando River basin. However, the Nyando basin is unique in that, while the prospective sellers of environmental services are identified as the local communities, the buyers are not easy to distinguish.
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By Nyongesa Josephat

504 Kenyan farmers have received 799,724 Kenya Shillings (US$ 8,886) this year from industrialists and conservation groups around Lake Naivasha, for land use practices that ensure adequate flow of clean water into the lake through the Malewa River.

Water Resources Director, Mr John Nyaoro (left) receives a cheque from LANAWRUA chairman Mr. Richard Fox (right) before handing it over to the Upper Turasha WRUA members (seen behind). PHOTO: WWF-Naivasha staff

The payments are the second for an environmental services scheme at the upper catchment area of the Malewa River. The first payment in May 2010 was of US$10,000 from the Lake Naivasha Water Resource Users Association (LANAWRUA) to 470 farmers in the catchment.

LANAWRUA, which represents 23 member commercial farms around Lake Naivasha, is composed of the Lake Naivasha Growers Group (LNGG) and the Lake Naivasha Riparian Association (LNRA).

At this year’s event, LANAWRUA presented two cheques to the Upper Turasha-Kinja and the Wanjohi Water Resource User Associations (WRUAs). The two WRUAs represent the 504 farmers.

Wanjohi WRUA received 438, 815 Kenya Shillings (US$4,903) while Upper Turasha WRUA received 360,909 Kenya Shillings (US$4,033). The upstream WRUAs are located in the Wanjohi  and Turasha sub-catchments of the Malewa River, which flows into Lake Naivasha from the western foothills of the Aberdare Mountains.

Lake Naivasha is crucial for Kenya’s horticulture and flower production, for geothermal power generation and for tourism around the lake and Nakuru town.
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Who said carbon cannot pay for water? PRESA facilitated the expansion of Ecotrust’s work on Trees for Global benefits to enable farmers growing trees in the River Mobuku watershed in Uganda to access carbon payments. Mobuku River watershed lies at the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains.

A woodlot of 'Prunus Africana' trees in the Ecotrust Uganda project area. PHOTO: Ecotrust Uganda

Before a carbon project is implemented, a lot of work goes into linking communities with potential carbon buyers. This article is a summary of activities by Ecotrust Uganda and PRESA, in getting farmers into carbon offsetting.

Farmer mobilisation

Several strategies were employed including home visits by Ecotrust field staff and meetings with local leaders in the areas targeted for the carbon project. Community-based officers from Ecotrust disseminated information about the project to local leaders and farmers and invited them for training meetings.

Farmer sensitisation

There were two induction meetings for farmers from the Ruboni Community Development Organisation in Bugoye sub-country and Mobuku Integrated Farmers’ Association in Maliba sub-county. Farmers from the two organizations were sensitized on the procedures of getting involved in carbon offsets. These meetings are critical because project requirements are explained to all those interested in joining the carbon project.
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Nature Harness Initiatives (NAHI) is a Ugandan civil society organisation, working with PRESA to enhance ecosystem conservation while improving people’s income.

NAHI hopes to reverse wetland degradation by facilitating collaborative management plans, and developing one or more PES (payment for ecosystem services) schemes to generate financial resources to help pay for wetland management activities.

PES in Uganda is a relatively new practice, and NAHI has much to learn about how the concepts and principles can be applied.

NAHI and PRESA are conducting research that will lead to workable rewards for environmental service agreements in two landscapes: the Rushebeya-Kanyabaha wetland and the Wambabya riverine forests. Both lie in western Uganda, within the Albertine Rift associate site of the PRESA project.
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The last two months have been a busy time for PRESA at our site in Sasumua (central Kenya), as we discuss with stakeholders, including the local community, on how a payments for environmental services scheme should work.

At right, the Chairman of the Sasumua Water Resources User Association (WRUA), Isaac Muraguri, talks about the WRUA's history during a meeting with PRESA on 16 February, 2011. On the left of the picture is another WRUA member, Samson Njuguna.

A series of meetings and site visits have been held to talk about farmers’ interests, government policy and private sector concerns. This has helped PRESA understand the issues that are important to each stakeholder.

The main realization from these discussions is that farmers and water sector regulators generally have a positive view on establishing a payments scheme for watershed services at Sasumua. On the other hand, the main buyer of watershed services, which in this case is the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company, has reservations though it remains committed to catchment conservation.
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