Credits

Editors: Vanessa Meadu and Godfrey Kimega

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The latest from our resource library

Assessing landholder preferences: the case of Kapingazi River basin, Mt. Kenya East [2MB, PDF]
The two key objectives of this study were to understand landholder/user preferences, and to estimate landholder/farmer willingness to accept rewards for the provision of watershed services.

Case study: Rewards for watershed services in New York
New York City chose to implement a watershed protection program to preserve and restore natural filtration services in order to avoid spending billions of dollars on a water filtration plant.

Determining when payments are an effective policy approach to ecosystem service provision
This study proposes a framework for deciding when payments are a suitable policy option for delivering ecosystem services, based on the characteristics of the services provided.

Can rewards for environmental services benefit the poor? Lessons from Asia
An assessment of key issues associated with the design and implementation of Rewards for Environmental Services (RES). The paper explores two propositions related to conditions required for RES to effectively contribute to poverty alleviation, and to preferred forms of pro-poor mechanisms.

Subscribe to Science for Environment Policy
This service by the European Union provides short weekly reports that place new scientific research in a policy context, facilitating direct links between environmental policy and research. Also available are resources on payments for environmental services (PES).

Welcome to the June 2010 PRESA E-News

Dear PRESA partner,

Welcome to the June 2010 edition of the PRESA e-news. This is a quarterly e-mail newsletter sent to people and organizations interested in the progress of reward for environmental service ventures in Africa.

In this edition, we highlight PRESA’s programme of activities for 2010. The focus is on getting communities to benefit from actual rewards for environmental services. We hope to work with site partners in bringing this objective closer to reality.

This e-news contains details and links to two relevant reports. The first is a study that developed a framework for deciding when payments are a suitable tool for delivering ecosystem services. The second is a compilation of environmental assessment reports from our Sasumua site in Central Kenya.

You will also find information on several events scheduled for coming months related to rewards for environmental services.

The PRESA coordination office is saying goodbye to Vanessa Meadu, who has been working on PRESA communications since 2008. Vanessa is leaving ICRAF this month, with plans to advance her career in the United Kingdom. We wish her well at her new home.

We hope you enjoy this edition of the PRESA e-news. Please feel free to send any feedback on these articles.

Do have a pleasant reading!

PRESA Communications

PRESA plans to implement environmental reward mechanisms in 2010

After 2 years of laying a solid scientific foundation to inform the design of rewards for environmental services, PRESA plans to foster the implementation of prototype reward mechanisms this year.

"Communities around PRESA sites should begin receiving actual rewards for environmental services," says Thomas Yatich, the acting PRESA coordinator.

The goal is to develop and test reward mechanisms with 100 farmers in at least three PRESA sites. The mechanisms will differ across selected sites because of site peculiarities. For example, some sites offer watershed services, while others have already developed a foundation for carbon payments.

This means that implementing reward mechanisms is the main objective for 2010. A table of scheduled activities for all seven sites has already been published on the PRESA website.

In 2010, PRESA will continue to promote the sharing of lessons and experiences between sites, while supporting partner organizations working for the realization of practical environmental service agreements. Though actual reward mechanisms will initially be implemented in at least three PRESA sites this year, all sites will develop a business portfolio to be used in coming years.

Click here for more on this story.

Be fair to people and the system will last

From RUPES

“To guarantee long-term sustainability of a payment or reward for environmental service (ES) project, the principle of equity must be embedded in project design. If we want a system that pays people to look after the environment and we want to make sure that the system lasts, then fairness has to be built into the system from the start.”

“As an added layer to transaction costs and contributing to effectiveness, equity should be contextualized and well aligned to the perception of fairness among communities where the project is ongoing. Though being fair might make the system a bit more expensive and complicated, the system will last longer if the communities who are doing the work feel they are being treated fairly.”

That was the conclusion from a three-day workshop organized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and CARE in Nairobi, Kenya (14 -16 April 2010).

The workshop was aimed at sharing experiences about promoting a fairer payment system for “environmental services” (such as local communities being paid or rewarded in other ways for protecting or expanding forests) without making such a system more complicated or inefficient.

The participants agreed that there were gaps between theory and practice in managing the so-called “triple trade-offs” (equity-efficiency-effectiveness) in the field of payments or rewards for environmental services.

You can continue reading this story here: http://rupes.worldagroforestry.org/news/detail.327

Determining when payments are an effective policy approach to ecosystem service provision

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 each landscape, 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. 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.
More details available here >>

EVENTS

Katoomba XVII - Hanoi

The Katoomba Group holds its 17th meeting in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on 23 - 24 June 2010. The meeting promises a unique opportunity to develop strategies for reducing deforestation and degradation (REDD) in South East Asia.

The meeting will discuss payments for watershed services, payments for marine ecosystem services throughout the region as well as markets for biodiversity. Participants will address the emergence of market-based instruments for the conservation of mangrove ecosystems.

Those not attending can follow discussions through Facebook, Twitter and video. For more information, please click here: http://www.katoombagroup.org/event_details.php?id=40

Call for papers: Payments for environmental services (PES) in Eastern and Central Africa

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.

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.

Prospective contributors should submit an abstract of 150 -250 words (in English) by 15th June 2010 to the Conference Secretariat. Case study presentations on implementation of PES are encouraged.

For details on how to participate, please download the conference’s call for papers here: Call for papers by the International Conference on Payments for Ecosystem Services in Eastern and Central Africa sub-region [PDF, 69KB].

Study of hydrological services in the Sasumua watershed

Nairobi city, like other major cities in Africa, relies on distant forested catchments for its water supplies. One of such catchments is the Sasumua watershed, which supplies 15% of Nairobi’s water demand.

Land use changes in upstream areas of the Sasumua watershed have led to increased sedimentation and water contamination. Ensuring proper hydrological functioning of the Sasumua watershed is therefore of critical importance to the future water supply of Nairobi.

Given the importance of the Sasumua watershed and the urgency of the problems affecting it, the World Bank with the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and partners undertook a study to identify sources of sediments and pollutants in order to facilitate decision making on targeting interventions.

The study was aimed at laying the foundation for a reward scheme for hydrological services provided by farmers in the watershed. The project’s objective was to assess the nature, extent, severity and impacts of land degradation in the Sasumua watershed, thus providing technical information indispensable to the development of a payment for environmental services (PES) mechanism in the watershed.

The activities undertaken under this study mainly focused on:

carefully delineating the watershed from which service users obtain their water;
identifying critical areas within the watershed that are (or potentially may) affect the provision of the desired services (for example, areas prone to erosion that may be contributing to sedimentation of waterways); and
calibrating and validating hydrological models so as to be able to estimate the changes in watershed services that would result from land use changes.

The results of the retrospective land use land cover analysis showed that the main drivers of land use change in the catchment are population increase, intensified agriculture, land tenure issues (as the land is becoming increasingly freehold) and policy changes. The location of the Sasumua reservoir downstream of Njabini township, intensive farmlands and an agro-processing factory all represent major challenges to catchment conservation.

Physical and chemical characteristics and also nutrient levels of surface water were sampled from various points along rivers Mungutio, Little Sasumua, Major Sasumua and Kiburu. Sedimentation was high for most sampled points.

For the detailed report, please click here >>

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