East African Forum for Payment for Ecosystem Services

Are sector-based approaches to climate change becoming obsolete?

Posted on March 22, 2013 by admin

That was the question posed to participants during the World Bank’s Sustainable Development events, a fortnight ago. The central proposition was that climate change is a cross-cutting issue, and so the World Bank’s traditional, sector-based approach is too narrow and will fail to address adequately the unique challenges posed by climate change.

Warren Evans, Senior Adviser at the Sustainable Development Network of the World Bank and moderator of the event, polled participants at the start of session to get their initial views on the proposition, before the ‘programmatic = promised land’ and ‘programmatic = no-man’s land’ arguments were put forward by people on either side of the debate. Speakers included Idah Pswaryi-Riddihough, Director in the South Asia region; Francoise Clottes, Country Director for 13 Caribbean countries; Todd Johnson, Lead Energy Specialist in Colombia and Mexico; Bill Magrath, Lead Natural Resource Economist in South Asia; Stacy Swann, Head of the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC’s) Blended Finance Unit (blending concessional finance with IFC resources); and Tim Brown, Senior Natural Resources Management Specialist in the Indonesia country office.

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Economic valuation of mangrove ecosystem services: fisheries in the Gulf of California

Posted on February 1, 2013 by admin

by Jason Murray, Department of Economics, University of California and Octavio Aburto, Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

This project was to determine the economic importance of mangrove forests in Baja California based on their contribution to the fisheries and their susceptibility to human-induced degradation.

The authors examined 13 regions of Baja California and the Gulf of California and compiled 54,679 records, including monthly crustacean and fish landings reported. They extracted records from: the 25 fisheries offices that have mangrove ecosystems within a 50 km range and biological groups related to mangroves in any part of their life cycle, such as blue crab, grunts, snappers, snooks, mojarra, mullets, and marine catfishes. Additionally, they mapped mangrove distribution and extent including coverage data estimated from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite images.

Conclusions:
1) Fisheries landings increased positively with total mangrove area in all years analyzed and fisheries landings were not significantly correlated to any other environmental variables.

2) The yearly landings for fish and blue crab in the Gulf of California between 2001 and 2005 averaged 11,600 tons, generating an average annual income of US$ 19 million for fishermen and their communities in the 13 fishing regions.

3) Mangroves in the Gulf of California are producing an important amount of food each year. For fish alone, 31.74% of the small-scale fishery landings from 2001 to 2005 comprised species related to mangrove forests.

4) The annual productivity of fringe mangrove alone is approximately US$ 25,000 to US$ 50,000, with a median value of US$ 37,500, on a per hectare basis.

5) Over 30 years, the transformation of one hectare of mangrove fringe would cost local economies around US$ 605,290.

6) These estimates represent only a lower bound because we considered only the local benefits generated by fish and blue crab fishing activities, without taking into consideration indirect and existence values.

7) In the Mexican government administration time frame (6 years), the fisheries-based long-term value of one hectare of fringe mangrove is an astonishing 200 times higher than the standard value established by the Mexican National Forest Commission (CONAFOR; US$ 1,020 ha).

A scientific article with this information was submitted to the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Funding provided by PADI Foundation & the US National Science Foundation

From: http://cmbc.ucsd.edu/Research/student_research/economic_value_mangroves/

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Watershed Payments Topped $8.17 Billion In 2011

Posted on January 26, 2013 by admin

The Ecosystem Marketplace’s State of Watershed Payments 2012 report has been released today. The report is a comprehensive inventory tracking initiatives around the world that are paying individuals and communities to revive or preserve water-friendly features of the landscape.

For this report, China came out as a global leader in watershed investments as the populous nation’s concern over water security grows.

But countries around the world are attempting a variety of approaches that include in-kind payments for farmers who practice sustainable agriculture in Latin America to employing 30,000 people to root out water-hogging invasive plants in South Africa. Overall the report found that the number of water initiatives has doubled since 2008 and the amount of money being funneled into water projects has increased by $2 billion.

Read more on ecosystem marketplace, forest trends and EAFPES

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6th Annual International ESP Conference 2013, 26-30 August 2013, Bali, Indonesia

Posted on January 26, 2013 by admin

Organised by ESP and convened by the World Agroforestry Centre and CGIAR Research Program: Forests, Trees and Agroforestry in collaboration with the Sub Global Assessment Program coordinated by UNEP’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre, the UNCCD-Global Mechanism, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), the International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE), A Community on Ecosystem Services (ACES), and other ESP partners.

Don’t miss your chance to interact and exchange ideas with the rapidly growing network of ESP members, practitioners, educators, policy-makers, researchers, and many others from all continents.
Be part of special sessions and working-groups producing outcomes ranging from journal articles, white papers, book chapters, grant proposals, database structures, websites, and much more.
The emphasis of this 6th International ESP conference will be on the practical application of the ecosystem services concept in planning, management and decision making, and the development of case studies.

Western Indian Ocean meeting on Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and the opportunities for Climate Compatible Development Mombasa – Kenya, 14th -15th November 2012

Posted on October 25, 2012 by admin

Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in partnership with the East African Forum for Payment for Ecosystem Services (EAFPES) and iCoast Project are organizing a regional workshop aimed at identifying the conflicts and deficiencies of, and possible solutions to the existing Kenyan environmental policy associated with PES and climate compatible development (CCD).

The objectives of this meeting will be to:

Review the major environmental policies in Kenya, with respect to the opportunities or conflicts they provide for enabling PES and CCD
Prepare a road map on how to incorporate PES into environmental policies
Introduce EAFPES as an important vehicle to promote PES in the region
Official launch of the iCoast project

Participation
As a policy workshop, we are inviting participants likely to influence decisions on ecosystem management, development and climate change in Kenya. Invited speakers will strive to provide cross cutting views on the progress made in PES and CCD, the handicaps and how policy is being used as a tool to overcome some of the hurdles.

About EAFPES and iCoast
EAFPES is a regional forum that strives to enhance the transfer of knowledge and expertise on PES in the Western Indian Ocean region

iCoast is a new research project that seeks to better understand how management of coastal ecosystems may be able to support climate compatible development (CCD) through applying the right policy and regulatory framework.
Both EAFPES and iCoast are hosted at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute in Mombasa.
For more information visit http://www.eafpes.org

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Updated blue carbon portal Continues to provides home for International blue carbon community

Posted on September 21, 2012 by admin

GRID-Arendal and Blue Climate Solutions today unveiled the redesigned ‘Blue Carbon Portal’, the world’s premier comprehensive community-based website for all matters related to blue carbon. Blue carbon is a concept that advances the sustainable management of coastal marine ecosystems that store and sequester atmospheric carbon, thereby helping to mitigate climate change.

Blue carbon ecosystems include mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, and saltwater marshes also important for the vital ecosystem services they provide, such as coastal fisheries, shoreline protection, related eco-tourism and the conservation of marine biodiversity.

The Blue Carbon Portal continues its support of the rapidly growing blue carbon community and international efforts such as the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Blue Carbon Initiative. It provides a virtual space to increase transparency and accessibility of information, helping initiatives to connect, share ideas and resources.
Features of the Blue Carbon Portal include:

The Blue Carbon Blog and social media connectivity (e.g., Twitter Feed);
A geospatial map utility depicting global blue carbon projects and initiatives;
A resources page for all blue carbon publications, presentations and videos;
A calendar of blue carbon events; and
A directory of blue carbon initiatives.

Blue Ventures carbon offset

Posted on September 21, 2012 by admin

Blue Ventures Carbon Offset (BVCO) works to tackle climate change whilst providing economic, social, health & environmental benefits to vulnerable and impoverished communities in developing countries.

BVCO helps you to:
1. calculate your carbon footprint
2. reduce your carbon footprint
3. compensate your carbon footprint in one of BVCO’s community projects

BVCO helps others by:
1. developing and running small scale community energy projects
2. accessing finance for sustainable development

You can help our projects by offsetting your business, lifestyle, air travel or other travel.

BVCO was recently highly commended by industry watchdog, Which? The report, which looks at the rapidly-growing carbon offsetting market and regulations governing the industry, compares 13 offset providers across UK, highlighting the often bewildering confusion that consumers face when chosing a carbon offsetting option. BVCO scored 5 out of 5 for the quality of project details and information provided, and 4 out of 5 for ease of use of its website.

The Soil Carbon Challenge

Posted on September 18, 2012 by admin

If you want to find out how fast a human can run 100 meters, do you build a computer model, do a literature search, or convene a panel of experts on human physiology to make a prediction?

No, you run a race. Or a series of them.

The Soil Carbon Challenge is an international and local competition to see how fast land managers can turn atmospheric carbon into water-holding, fertility-enhancing soil organic matter.

There’s been tons of talk about soil carbon, the mother of all ecosystem services, but it’s time to show with good data what’s possible, and recognize those land managers who know how enhance soil water capacity, production, and underground biodiversity. Where things are stuck or the way forward is unclear, a competition can supply creative and unconventional solutions. A competition can leapfrog the decades-long cycle of research, pilot projects, legislation, and incentives, and can showcase leadership based on knowhow and performance rather than on politics, promises, or predictions.

Rio summit offered little for Africa

Posted on August 15, 2012 by admin

World leaders and some 40,000 people converged on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June in the hope of charting a path towards the “green economy.”

Underlining the urgency, Sha Zukang, secretary-general of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, said more than a year before the summit began: “If we continue on our current path, we will bequeath material and environmental poverty, not prosperity, to our children and grandchildren.”

However, sharp tensions between countries of the North and South and between civil society and governments — amidst general global economic uncertainty — resulted in vague agreements that left few satisfied.

Linkage
The summit ended up being “a glass half-full, glass half-empty situation for Africa,” said Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), on the final day in Rio. “We’re making progress on thinking about the green economy, and especially the linkage between poverty alleviation and the environment.”

“This is not something we do because the international community is asking us to do it,” Mr. Kaberuka added.

“We do it for Africa because we are closely linked to nature in terms of our livelihoods.” Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (Unep), which has been a driving force in promoting the concept of a green economy, was upbeat.

“World leaders and governments have today agreed that a transition to a green economy — backed by strong social provisions — offers a key pathway towards a sustainable 21st century,” he said at the conclusion.

For more information click here

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BBC reports on study: Conserving mangroves to fix carbon is a sensible climate change measure

Posted on August 4, 2012 by admin

New research gives more evidence that protecting and planting mangroves to store carbon is an affordable way to fight climate change.

A new American study suggests mangroves should be included in more Carbon credit schemes, which are already working in rainforests.

The think tank “Resources for the Future” presented their results in “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” (PNAS), indicating that conserving mangroves may be an economic way for countries to offset carbon emissions by fixing CO2 in the biomass, even without taking into account the additional environmental and economic benefits of these rich ecosystems.

Asked to comment independently on the research, Professor Mark Huxham of Edinburgh Napier University told the BBC that “Projects that involve and respect local people and that use the market for carbon offsets to fund development and conservation are beginning to emerge…This paper is further encouragement for them to succeed”

Market forces can still undermine offset projects if international Carbon prices are allowed to drop too far, which still gives some researchers cause for concern, as this depends on whether politicians and ordinary people understand the science involved, are prepared to admit the seriousness and urgency of the global situation and accept their responsibility to act.

See the full BBC Report at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19050796