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.

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Policy makers, private sector stakeholders, and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from Guinea, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are in Nairobi, Kenya, for two training workshops by PRESA and its partners.

The first workshop, which will be on Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and Reducing Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation (REDD+), runs from 8 to 9 August 2011. Participants include policy makers, private sector stakeholders and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from Cameroon, Guinea, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.  The content will focus on providing participants with:
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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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Do Rewards for Environmental Services (RES) projects actually benefit the poor? What does it take to secure participation? How do you deal with uncertainty regarding the future of carbon markets?

It is issues such as these that Caitlin Patterson and Dr Henry Neufeldt have been investigating through a survey and a series of follow-up interviews examining RES projects worldwide. The two are based at the World Agroforestry Centre headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The aim of their survey is to devise lessons that can be learnt and shared among project developers.
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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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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.

Strengthening local institutions is key to ensuring the involvement of smallholder farmers in payments for environmental service (PES) deals. PRESA worked with Nature Harness Initiatives (NAHI) in Uganda to prepare local stakeholders for participation in carbon PES along River Wambabya in the Albertine Rift, and watershed PES at the Rushebeya-Kanyabaha wetland.

A wetland in Uganda. PHOTO: NAHI

The work involved cataloguing the potential sellers, intermediaries and private-sector buyers of environmental services in the two landscapes. Awareness creation was conducted among potential sellers at community level. These included existing groups and networks of land owners, forest owners, people engaged in forest and wetland-based enterprises, parish wetland management committees and other users of forest and wetland resources.

The potential buyers included Kisiizi Hospital Power Company (at Rushebeya-Kanyabaha) and British American Tobacco and McLeod Russel Uganda( at Wambabya). Dialogue on PES was initiated among the potential buyers and government institutions. At the Wambabya riverine forest system, the two private sector companies have contributed greatly to ecosystem conservation in their areas of operation.
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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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More and more land in Africa is being cultivated, reducing the area covered by forests, the existing biodiversity, and affecting the water supplies of nearby cities. Could farmers produce the same environmental services as forests if given adequate motivation?

Rewarding communities for environmental services can provide powerful incentives and efficient mechanisms for conservation, while also offering new sources of income to support rural livelihoods. Rewards can come in different forms.

Examples are direct deals between water and hydropower utilities and communities living in catchment areas, and payments for carbon sequestration. The latter involves global systems of trade in terms of carbon credits.

Other rewards create opportunities for economic benefits for farmers. They include the use of certificates and labels in order to access a better market, community-based eco-tourism, conditional tenure rights in areas where land and resource ownership is communal, or specific rights to harvest and sell tree products from public land.
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