Two new publications on payments for environmental services (PES) in Africa are now online.  Below are details and links to the publications:
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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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Spatial analysis is an important tool for gathering information about plant diversity in specific geographic areas around the world.

Monitoring the status of plant species and patterns of distribution enables us to set priority areas for conservation, identifying which species are most at risk and where we have gaps in collections. This vital information helps us tackle global challenges such as food security and climate change.

As part of its capacity building programme, Bioversity International has published a training manual for practitioners who work with biodiversity data and want to develop spatial analysis skills using free Geographic Information System (GIS) tools. The manual is available for download as part of Bioversity’s training materials series.

Read more about this manual here >>.

Humans are more dependent upon ecosystem services and biodiversity than ever before, according to researchers.

Nature provides ecosystem services that benefit economic development. PHOTO: V. Meadu

A new study has demonstrated that human well-being derived from three major ecosystem services has been increasing, particularly in countries considered to be biodiversity hotspots. The ecosystem services are water provision, biodiversity and carbon storage.

This study aimed to answer the question, ‘are humans still so dependent on ecosystems?’ The researchers analysed three indicators of human well-being provided by ecosystems:

(i.) production of wood;

(ii.) production of hydroelectricity, which depends on river flow; and

(iii.) investment in tourism, which depends on the cultural and aesthetic value of an area.
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The PRESA project is halfway through its life as of August 2010. We have received many inquiries on what PRESA is doing at its sites.

Since inception, PRESA has conducted baseline analysis, socio-economic surveys and assessments of potential environmental services. The surveys were done with the help of site partners and student researchers. This article is a summary of the key findings of that work.
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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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The products of PRESA research activity are now publicly available on this website.

The page titled, “Research outputs,” contains the results of surveys and assessments carried out at various PRESA sites. The research can provide useful lessons to other organizations interested in setting up payments for environmental service schemes within Africa.

The availability of research work on the PRESA website is aimed at building a community of practice in payments for environmental services.

To view PRESA research work, go to the top menu on this webpage, then follow the path: Rewards for ES >> Research Questions >> Research outputs

Click on the logo to access the template contracts

Is your organization ready to begin drafting contracts for ecosystem services between a community and a potential buyer?

PRESA and partners have produced template contracts to help organizations create legal agreements between buyers and sellers of environmental services. The guides can easily be downloaded from the Katoomba Group website and will soon be available on CD.

The guides are a series of templates for payments for environmental services (PES) contracts. There are drafting notes for watershed services, biodiversity services and carbon sequestration and storage. There is also a short guide for building equity into PES contracts.

All these are aimed at PES entrepreneurs, PES project managers and local lawyers who may not have much experience in making contracts but have already ascertained the presence of valuable environmental services, sufficient property rights and willing buyers and sellers. “The contents of the CD will help you move a PES concept to an early draft PES agreement which can then be amended to comply with local law,” says lead author Mark Ellis-Jones of CARE International.
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Boundary agents straddle the multiple and varied boundaries between stakeholders, facilitating linkages between knowledge and action. PHOTO/V. Meadu

There is a wealth of scientific knowledge regarding environmental services that needs to be linked with the knowledge and actions of policy makers and resource users.

Under real life circumstances, knowledge does not flow as easily as it should and policy makers make crucial decisions affecting vast populations without the benefit of accurate data. It is therefore important to bring the right knowledge to the right people for purposes of informed policy making.

A new policy brief published by PRESA demonstrates the usefulness of boundary organizations in bridging the gap between knowledge and action. Boundary organizations provide both training and “safe spaces” where politically or scientifically sensitive matters are pursued.

Successful boundary work is often attributed to boundary agents who straddle the multiple and varied boundaries between stakeholders: translating, communicating and facilitating linkages between knowledge and action.

The policy brief is titled, “Key activities and guiding principles for linking science and policy for PRESA.” You can download and read it through the link below (527KB):

A full description of each of PRESA’s seven sites has now been published in flyer format.

Each flyer describes the unique environmental challenges facing each particular site, the work being done by our local partners, and the potential for a rewards for environmental services scheme.

Each site description has images and maps to illustrate the environmental challenges and ongoing activities at each particular site. Most of the images were taken during field visits by the Nairobi co-ordination office. Others were sent by our site partners. The maps were produced by the PRESA Geographical Information Systems (GIS) team in Nairobi.

It is expected that the site descriptions will improve the dissemination of information about rewards for environmental services. As more people get to understand the importance of involving communities in environmental conservation, there is likely to arise greater support among public and private agencies for involvement in reward for environmental service ventures.

The site descriptions are available in print from our Nairobi coordination office and in PDF format from our website. Click below to download a site description:

• Guinea – Fouta Djallon activities
• Uganda – Albertine Rift activities
• Kenya – Nyando and Yala basin activity
• Kenya – Sasumua site activities
• Kenya – Upper Tana River basin activities
• Tanzania – Uluguru site activities
• Tanzania – Usambara site activities