The Poverty Environmental Network at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), together with partners, are organising a two-day science workshop with the aims to:

• Present and critically review recent research findings on the importance of forest and environmental resources to rural livelihoods and poverty alleviation
• Present papers from which a selection will be made for a special issue of a journal
• Identify policy implications to feed into the conference that follows (Counting on the Environment: the Contribution of Forests to Rural Livelihoods)
• Discuss research methods and priorities for future research.

All types of papers are welcomed, but especially those with quantitative studies of the forest–poverty interface; forests and livelihoods; and how local institutions, ecological conditions, market forces and government policies influence this interface.

Funding support for accepted papers

The cost of travel, accommodation and meals will be covered for authors whose papers are accepted; with special consideration for developing country participants. This offer extends to cover transport to London for participation in the one-day conference at the Royal Society.

Researchers are invited to submit a one-page abstract by 1 March 2011. For more information visit www.cifor.cgiar.org/pen/UEA-science-workshop or contact cifor-pen@cgiar.org

The aims of the Climate Science Research Partnership (CSRP) are to improve the understanding and prediction of African climate on monthly, seasonal and decadal timescales and to strengthen climate science capacity in Africa.

A Call for Applications is extended to climate researchers and applied climate scientists/practitioners working in the field of African climate variability and change. Applicants must be resident nationals of an African country and the fellowship must be hosted at an African institute.

Three types of Fellowships are available: Postgraduate Research Fellowships, Post-Doctoral Research Fellowships and Applications Project Fellowships. Full details on how to apply are available at the website: http://hadobs.metoffice.com/csrp/fellowships.html

The deadline is 4 February 2011.

PRESA’s mapping specialist, Miika Mäkelä, went to the Coyah site in Guinea in November 2010 to assess the potential for watershed payments for environmental services (PES).

During the visit, he collected geographical data and visited the Coyah water treatment plant and the Coyah Water Bottling Company. From his subsequent discussions with the local PRESA team and site leader Serge Ngendakumana, there is potential for developing watershed environmental services payments in the site.

PRESA is currently examining mapping data and conducting land use change analysis. Other objectives of the trip included finalising research design, agreeing on a research methodology and training enumerators on data collection tools.
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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.

177 small holder farmers in Malawi continue to benefit from cash rewards for green house gas emission reduction from planting indigenous trees.

Mr Yohane Manda (centre), one of the participating farmers, talks about his involvement in the tree planting project.

The initiative is facilitated by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF – International Centre for Research in Agroforestry) using funds pledged by Ecobank Malawi.

The pilot project, which is in its second year, is being conducted in Joni village in the area of Malenga in Ntchisi District.

According to the World Agroforestry Centre’s senior agriculture economist Olu Ajayi, the 177 farmers were each given 50 seedlings of an indigenous tree species with the promise that those who look after the trees successfully will be rewarded.

For more on this story, please click here.

Previous articles on the same topic:

Ecobank funding farmers in Malawi carbon project

Payments for trees: useful lessons from Malawi

A new coordinator for PRESA began work this November. Dr. Sara Namirembe joins the World Agroforestry Centre and PRESA with over 5 years experience on issues of natural resource management and incentives for environmental services.

Sara Namirembe

Dr. Namirembe, a Ugandan national, has worked in both academic (Makerere University) and NGO sectors. Prior to joining the World Agroforestry Centre, she was with the Katoomba Payments for Ecosystems Services Incubator programme of Forest Trends, and is well acquainted with ongoing payments for environmental services (PES) initiatives in the region.

At the World Agroforestry Centre, Dr. Namirembe will work closely with Dr. Delia Catacutan in the management of PRESA and with Dr. Meine van Noordwijk to ensure a close link with the RUPES-II project in Asia.

Over 200 households in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, were interviewed in a survey by PRESA, to find out whether consumers of water in the city are willing to pay for watershed conservation.

Left to right: Bedru Balana from the Macaulay Institute for Land Use Research reviews a survey questionnaire with Mwangi Gathenya and John Kimani Mwangi, both from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology in Kenya.

The survey, held from 19 – 26 October is part of PRESA activities of linking communities living in the catchment area of Sasumua Dam with water users in Nairobi. Sasumua Dam supplies the city with about 20% of its fresh water needs.

The one-week survey was done in six sub-locations in central and Northwestern parts of the city: Ruthimitu, Loresho, Mountain View, Gatina, Maziwa, and Upper-Parklands. According to the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC), these are some of the areas that receive water from Sasumua Dam.

There were also two focus group discussions held at the World Agroforestry Centre offices. The Centre’s staff living in the targeted areas were invited to participate. The discussions brought up issues of water availability and quality of service from Nairobi’s water company.
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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 world today faces one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century: how to feed 9 billion people by 2050, in the face of climate change, economic and financial crises and growing competition for the use of natural resources.

This challenge is even more crucial given that in the past decade, we have not come close to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.

Along these lines, the Seventeenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development of May 2009 and the Food and Agriculture Organization Summit on Food Security of November 2009 voiced a clear message: the multiple challenges the world is facing in terms of food insecurity, climate change, degradation of ecosystems, and economic recession require an integrated response and an urgent transition of the world economy towards a sustainable, inclusive and resource efficient path.

Agriculture and food security should be at the heart of sustainable development and poverty eradication efforts, as well as those related to lower carbon, climate resilient growth.

The Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, to be held in Netherlands at The Hague, aims to develop a road map with concrete actions linking agriculture-related investments, policies, and measures with the transition to climate smart growth. The conference is scheduled from October 31- November 5, 2010.

Specifically the conference will:

• Identify what needs to happen for agriculture and related land and water management to deliver on increased productivity, reduced emissions, increased sequestration, environmental sustainability, better livelihoods and food security
• Showcase and share knowledge on replicable good practices in climate resilient, low-emissions agriculture, livestock, fisheries, forestry and watershed management and demonstrate the potential for scaling up
• Use innovative approaches to bring together private and public sector finance for investments in climate smart agricultural systems.

To find out more about this conference, please visit the website: http://www.afcconference.com/

The work of the PRESA project could form the basis of a larger programme by partners in Mount Kenya East who aim at conserving the entire Tana River catchment in central Kenya.

Left to right: Peter Ngubu (Water Resources Management Authority - Kenya), Bernadette Neves (IFAD reviewer), Boro Gathuo (Green Water Credits) and Delia Catacutan (World Agroforestry Centre) during a stopover at the Thiba River catchment.

A reviewer from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) was in Kenya late July to find out exactly how payments for watershed services could work in such a programme.

Ms Bernadette Neves held exploratory discussions with the PRESA and Green Water Credits teams in Nairobi. She also met officers of the Mount Kenya East Pilot Programme for Natural Resource Management (MKEPP) in Embu.

During her trip, Ms Neves met Kenya government officials and visited local communities in various parts of the Upper Tana catchment.
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