Organisations and Networks

International Policy Organisations

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is mandated to assist developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and programmes. With regards to PES it focuses on avoided deforestation and reforestation (REDD), as well as possibilities for integrating biodiversity with carbon services.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty dealing with mitigation and adaptation to climate change. The Secretariat supports national governments and other institutions involved in the climate change process, particularly the Conference of the Parties and subsidiary bodies. The Kyoto Protocol under the UNFCCC encompasses various market based mechanisms designed to reduce overall emissions. Important is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allows developing countries to earn certified emission reduction credits (CER) and sell these to industrialised countries.

Research Organisations

The Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) is an international research body of the CGIAR. It seeks to enhance the role of forests in mitigating and adapting to climate change and managing tradeoffs between conservation and development through payment schemes. CIFOR supports Brazil to conduct PES feasibility studies in the Brazilian Amazon and to establish a national legal PES framework. It conducts workshops, has prepared a guide, various reports and a scientific paper on PES for GEF's Technical and Advisory Panel.

DIVERSITAS International is an international programme for biodiversity research. One of its core projects focuses on Environmental Services. It supports research on functional biodiversity effects on environmental processes, services and sustainability in the Americas.

The Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) an independent research organisation conducting research into environmental policies in Europe. It studies the possibilities for integrating PES for biodiversity conservation into European policy.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is an independent non-profit organisation undertaking research and advocacy for sustainable development. It tracks new and proposed schemes through global reviews and case studies, capacity building and evaluation of social and economical impacts of PES schemes at local and policy level. It fosters the Watermark initiative which provides mediation, facilitation and advisory services with regards to water issues.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is a policy research institute focusing on the links between poverty and environmental services. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) research programme (2001-2005) focused on ecosystem changes and projections of those changes into the future. The MA was amongst the first to identify the need for financial mechanisms to reward delivery of environmental services.

The Regional Community Forestry Training Centre (RECOFTC) is an Asia-focused regional training centre addressing user rights to forest/forest products. It builds Community Forestry Models for REDD in close partnership with grassroots groups. They recently hosted an international workshop to share experiences on PES in Asia.

The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), is an international research centre of the CGIAR. ICRAF is a pioneer in PES and carries out research and supports pilot projects and information exchange to identify success factors for PES. It focuses on rewards for, use of and shared investment in propoor Environmental Services (RUPES) in Asia and pro-poor Rewards for Environmental Services in Africa (PRESA).

The World Resources Institute (WRI) is a think-tank undertaking research for environmental and human wellbeing including environmental services. WRI carries out research on economic valuation and engagement of practitioners in investing in environmental services for development.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is an umbrella organisation of 16 international agriculture research centres including ICRAF, CIFOR and Biodiversity International. It addresses PES at policy and implementation level, with projects in relation to watershed services, biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration and ecotourism.

Funding and Development Organisations

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank, providing loans and technical assistance to developing countries. In terms of PES, it supports awareness raising about the potential of markets for environmental services such as carbon sequestration. For example, it supports the Asian Centre for Biodiversity to implement PES schemes in ASEAN regions.

Conservation International (CI) is a non-profit organisation focusing on the conservation of biodiversity particularly of high biodiversity wilderness areas and marine regions. It's Conservation Economics and Conservation Stewards Programme pioneers the use of conservation incentive agreements, e.g. between CI and Guyana, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Cambodia.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a programme administered by UNEP for funding environmental initiatives. It is an important international source of funding for PES, catalysing global conservation investments. A recent review of 27 GEF projects with a PES element shows a focus on payments for watershed services and carbon sequestration projects with a strong focus on Latin America.

The International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution for sustainable agricultural development and poverty alleviation. It considers PES a potential tool for poverty reduction. IFAD supports PES research and pilot projects, e.g. Green Water Credits in Kenya, ICRAF networks in Africa (PRESA) and Asia (RUPES) and a Biodiversity International initiative on agrobiodiversity conservation services (PACS).

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is a specialised agency of the UN to improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices, ensuring nutrition and food security. It is focusing on PES from an agricultural landscape perspective and has a collaborative partnership on forests to address issues of climate change, forest financing and sustainable forest management, e.g. PESAL.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) is an international organisation dedicated to natural resource conservation. Its Economics and Environment Programme focuses on valuation of environmental benefits and costs; economic incentives for sustainable environmental practices and investments in biodiversity-friendly business. IUCN funds projects on PES and REDD as incentive mechanisms for conservation.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is an international non-profit organisation working to preserve plants, animals and their habitats. Their work on PES relates to watershed services and carbon sequestration. It has developed pioneering models for carbon offset projects in Noel Kempff Mercado National Park in Bolivia, Brazil, the Mid-western U.S and Belize. They also brokered a large debt-for-nature swap under the TFCA between the United States and Costa Rica of US $26 million.
http://blog.nature.org/tag/economicdevelopment/

Winrock International is an international non-profit organisation for clean energy, forestry and natural resources management with special focus on environmental services. It acts as an intermediary organisation in programs, develops methodologies for carbon assessments, disseminates information, and builds capacity for feasibility studies, project design and financing mechanisms. It is working on incentives for watershed protection in India.

The World Bank (WB) is an international financial institution for sustainable development and poverty. WB is a key player in PES with its own technical unit. It invests in programmes at national and international level and shares conceptual and empirical information regarding PES, and maintains a portfolio of PES projects. It supported the national PES programme of Costa Rica and piloted PES in Colombia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua to adopt silvopastoral practices in degraded pastures.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is an international conservation organisation. Its Macroeconomics PES Programme focuses on PES policies and markets. It has recently launched "the Natural Capital Project" in partnership with TNC and Stanford University. WWF supports PES projects for watersheds and protected areas as the Guatemala's Sierra de Minas Water Fund, Indonesia's Lombok Island Water Fund, Florida's Pay for Performance programme in the US and Mexico's Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund.

Networks

BIOdiversity and Economics for CONservation (BIOECON) is an interdisciplinary network of scientists, lawyers and academics for designing and implementing cutting edge economic incentives for biodiversity conservation.

Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) is a network of institutions to support, increase and sustain public and private financing for biodiversity conservation. It enhances collaboration between institutions and organisations involved in financing biodiversity conservation efforts.

The Centre for Information on Low External Input and Sustainable Agriculture (ILEIA) hosts the global LEISA information exchange network, which explores the potential of PES as part of sustainable low external agriculture systems of small-scale farmers.

The Ecological Society of America is a society of ecologists to promote and ensure appropriate use of ecological science. It has a useful toolkit for environmental services dealing with pollination, water purification and flood damage.

Forest Trends is a multi-stakeholder network that supports interaction and networking at the global and regional level to promote forest conservation and market values for environmental services. It supports innovative projects/companies and develops new financial tools. They are a pioneer in PES and have initiated programmes on biodiversity offsets and environmental services such as watershed protection, biodiversity habitat and carbon sequestration.

The Katoomba Group, an outcrop of Forest Trends, is a key international network of individuals for exchange of ideas and information on PES projects and programmes. It addresses key challenges such as legislation, pricing, marketing and performance monitoring. It has developed strategic partnerships for analysis, capacity building, information sharing, investment, market services and policy advocacy in Latin America, East and Southern Africa, North America and China.
www.ecosystemmarketplace.com

The Poverty and Environment Partnership (PEP) Network is an informal network of donors, bilateral organisations, banks and practitioners hosted by the ADB. It has a working group on PES and collects and shares knowledge and experiences on both PES and other voluntary payment mechanisms.

Key Policies, Projects and Initiatives

International Initiatives

The Business and Biodiversity Offsets Programme (BBOP) is an initiative of Forest Trends with CI and the Wildlife Conservation Society to create a portfolio of biodiversity offset pilot projects. It develops and disseminates best practice principles and guidance for designing and implementing biodiversity offsets.

CGIAR's Challenge Programme on Water and Food (CPWF) is a multi-institutional research initiative to improve the productivity of water in river basins in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It intends to use PES to promote rural development in upper watersheds.

ICRAF's Initiative on Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB) is a global partnership of research organisations, universities and community organisations undertaking research into sustainable production systems in tropical forest margins. It focuses on tradeoffs and interactions between conservation and development goals, and explores innovative policies and practices.

The Natural Capital Project is a joint project of Stanford University, USA, TNC and WWF for research and development of tools for valuing natural capital and integrating scientific and economic knowledge in land use and investment decisions. They promote natural capital approaches by engaging leaders in key institutions.

Payment for Agrobiodiversity Conservation Services (PACS) is a project of Biodiversity International to explore the potential of PES to conserve agro biodiversity and livestock, genetic resources and improve indigenous farmer livelihoods. It is currently implemented in Peru, India and Bolivia.

Pro-poor Rewards for Environmental Services in Africa (PRESA) is a project of ICRAF for generating and sharing knowledge on PES in Africa. It assesses conditions and stakeholder capacity for implementing payments for watershed services in the Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania. Activities include baseline studies, capacity building, testing of reward mechanisms, and facilitating public and private sector engagement. PRESA supports policy development and stakeholder participation in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Guinea.

Rewarding Upland Poor for Environmental Services (RUPES) is an action research programme of ICRAF Southeast Asia (ICRAF SEA) focusing on rewarding the upland poor in Asia for environmental services such as biodiversity protection, watershed management, carbon sequestration and landscape beauty.

The Natural Value Initiative is an initiative of Flora and Fauna International and UNEP to raise awareness about the links between biodiversity and financial institutions. It develops tools for the finance sectors to evaluate biodiversity and environmental services and their impact on food and beverage company investments.

The UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEPFI) is a global partnership of UNEP, financial institutions and insurance companies on the financial sector's role in climate change mitigation and adaptation, providing an input to UNFCCC processes through support to the Kyoto protocol mechanism and Clean Development Mechanism.

National PES Initiatives

Costa Rica offers a pioneering approach to establishing, defining and rewarding environmental services in national policy and programmes. The National Fund for Forestry Finance (FONAFIFO) under Costa Rica's National Forestry Reforms launched the Environmental Services Payments Programme (ESP) to benefit small and medium sized landowners of forests or land suitable for forestry activities, designed to promote conservation and recovery of the country's forest cover. FONAFIFO mobilises funds to pay for the environmental services provided by forests.

China's Grain for Green policy is an early national government forest restoration programme aiming to convert cropland on steep slopes (over 25 degrees) to forest and grasslands by providing local people with grain and cash subsidies. It is the largest conservation programme in history and fundamental in managing water and soil erosion and mitigating flood disasters.

Conservation Incentive Agreements: Guyana has granted CI a 30-year lease to protect 200,000 acres (81,000 hectares) of forests. CI pays the amount that would have been received had the area been logged. Similar conservation agreements have been initiated in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Cambodia. Recently, Guyana and Norway agreed to invest up to $250 million to protect forests to fight climate change.

The Conservation Reserve Programme in the United States is a cost share and rental payment programme by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Over US$ 1.5 billion/year is paid to farmers to protect endangered wildlife habitat, open space or wetland. The multi-year contract aims to establish vegetative cover practices. The Purchase of Agriculture Conservation Easements (PACE) is a voluntary farmland protection programme compensating landowners for voluntarily limiting non-agricultural use.

Mitigation Banking, the using and trading of mitigation credits, is administered by USDA for restoration/creation and preservation of wetlands, which offsets expected adverse impacts of development projects in similar nearby areas.

The Mexican National Commission of Forestry (CONAFOR) has introduced the Programme of Payments for Environmental Services ('ProArbol'). It pays forest owners $22-29/ ha over a five year period to avoid deforestation and develop environmental services. Similar amounts are paid for biodiversity conservation and agroforestry systems, and it also supports (but is not involved in implementing) forest carbon projects. In total US$ 380 million ha been paid to over 3200 communities and small land owners, benefitting 1.75 million hectares of mountain and lowland forest.

Vietnam is implementing the first national Pilot Policy for Payment for Forest Environmental Services (FES) in Southeast Asia. The policy was created to define benefits and responsibilities of payers and payees and establish a sustainable economic basis for the forestry sector. It generates over US$ 2 million/year of international funds especially from European countries for forest and biodiversity conservation.

Information Resources

The World Bank's webpage on PES contains conceptual and empirical information on PES. It includes an outline for the design of PES systems, detailed information on WB's projects, best practices and publications on PES.

IIED's Watershed Markets website contains reviews and analysis of PES initiatives and proposals for watershed services. The site contains 60 case studies, publications, videos, project reports and activities and links to partners.

Flows was developed by IIED and the World Bank through the Bank-Netherlands Watershed Partnership Programme, with in depth information on watershed payments, and a monthly news bulletin, available in English, Spanish and Bahassa Indonesian.

CIFOR's Payment for Environmental Services (PES)'s website contains a detailed definition of PES, publications, links to organisations and information on upcoming events relating to PES.

ELDIS is a major information platform hosted by the Institute of Development Studies. It has a section on PES with summarised documents on water, forest and agriculture from different development organisations.

Biodiversity Economics is an online resource for biodiversity economists sponsored by IUCN and WWF. It contains documents, contacts, a calendar of events on biodiversity economics and a global database of practitioners.

The FAO's Agricultural Development Economics website from Agricultural Landscapes (PESAL) contains information on the potential of agriculture to realise environmental services for improved land management. It provides information on current PES schemes, guidelines to set up a PES scheme and linking practitioners, prospective providers and users.

IUCN's website on Economics and Environment contains publications on IUCN work on PES. The focus is on valuing environmental services, developing economic incentives for conservation and biodiversity-friendly business. It also has detailed information on PES focused projects and books.

IFAD's website contains information regarding PES policies and activities on watersheds.

The International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) is a non-profit, member-governed organisation for relating ecological, social, and economic systems. It publishes a research journal and books, sponsors scientific meetings, and raises the voice of ecological economists in public forums. The Secretariat is based in the U.S with regional societies in Australia, Brazil, India, Russia, Europe, Canada and Uruguay.

Ecosystem Valuation is a website by the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. It provides a clear and non-technical explanation of ecosystem valuation concepts, methods and applications.

ICRAF has developed Rapid Assessment tools for support with negotiation and rewarding the environmental services of agroforestry systems, water harvesting and conservation agriculture. A list of tools has been developed to promote PES schemes.

Selected Policy/Research Papers and Case Studies

The State of Food and Agriculture by FAO, FAO Agriculture Series No. 38

When are Payments for Environmental Services Beneficial to the Poor? By David Zilperman, Leslie Lipper and Nancy McCarthy

Payments for Environmental Services: Some Nuts and Bolts by Sven Wunder, CIFOR's occasional paper no.42

Criteria and Indicators for Environmental Service Compensation and Reward Mechanisms: Realistic, Voluntary, Conditional and Pro-Poor by Meine van Noordwijk, Beria Leimona, Lucy Emerton, Thomas, P. Tomic, Sandra J. Velarde, Mikkel Kallesoe, Madhushree Sekher and Brent Swallow

Mountain Development based on Cultural and Environmental Assets, European case studies and proposals to guide Carpathian and Balkan pilot projects, by Richard Robinson (An interim report of Euromontana SARD-M work on positive externalities 2008-2009)

Payment for Ecosystem Services? ISSUES AND PRO-POOR OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE by Helle Munk Ravnborg, Mette Gervin Damsgaard and Kim Roben, published by the Danish Institute for International Studies

Conservation and Biodiversity Banking, a Guide to Setting up and Running Biodiversity Credit Trading Systems, edited by Nathaniel Carroll, Jessica Fox and Ricardo Bayon

Payment for Environmental Services and the Global Environmental Facility, a Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) Guideline Document

Payment for Environmental Services: A Survey and Assessment of Current Schemes, prepared by Unisfera International Centre for the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America by Karel Mayrand and Marc Paquin

A Gateway to PES, Using Payment for Ecosystem Services for Livelihoods and Landscapes prepared by David Huberman and published by IUCN Forest Conservation Programme

Payments for Environmental Services: An Introduction by Stefano Pagiola, Environment Department, The World Bank

Seeing 'RED' "Avoided Deforestation" and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. Griffiths, T. 2007. Forest Peoples Programme

Silver Bullets or Fools' Gold? A Global Review of Markets for Forest Environmental Services and Their Impacts for the Poor, Understanding and Capturing the Multiple values of Tropical Forests. Published by IIED and prepared by Natasha Landell-Mills and Ina Porras

The Value of the World's Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital. Ecological Economics, Volume 25, Issue 1: 3-15, Costanza, R., et al. 1997

For Services Rendered: The Current Status and Future Potential of Markets for Ecosystem Services Provided by Tropical Forests. Scherr, S, White, A., and Khare, A. 2004. Forest Trends.

Ecosystem Services and Payments for Ecosystem Services: Why Should Businesses Care? WWF, 2006.

Innowat: Payment for Watershed Services. IFAD, 2009