IIED Conference: Innovations for equity in Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES)
On March 21, IIED hosted a conference that aimed to explore the latest thinking on how to make schemes that compensate protectors of natural resources fairer and more inclusive. More than 70 people attended the event at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh - relive the day as it happened.
- The event brought together researchers and practitioners, including our partners who travelled far and wide to join us for a series of sessions and lively debates.
- Really looking forward to @IIED "innovations for equity in smallholder payment for #ecosystemservices" at the @TheBotanics today
- Event starts soon. Delegates have come together to share knowledge of successes and failures of payments for #ecosystemservices schemes.
- We kicked off the day with a simple question from our keynote speaker, but one with a more complex answer...
- Can payments for #ecosystemservices reduce poverty? Paul Van Gardingen, Director @espadirectorate asks in opening speech. The answer is yes!
- But...we need to think about equity. Badly designed payment for #ecosystemservices schemes can enhance poverty...#sustainablemarkets
- The first session of the day focused on sharing experiences of strategies used to promote the inclusion of local communities in PES schemes...
- How do you design payments #ecosystemservices schemes to reach poor? Theme of next session- includes case studies from Costa Rica & Uganda
- Which included a case study from IIED's very own Ina Porras on Costa Rica...
- Ina Porras Env. Economist, IIED highlights 20 years of Payments for Ecosytems Services in Costa Rica #ecosystemservices #sustainablemarkets
- BACKGROUND reading: Learning from 20 years of payments #ecosystemservices in Costa Rica, from @IIED's Ina Porras http://pubs.iied.org/16514IIED
- And Mexico...
- Today at #sustainablemarkets in Edinburgh Botanical Gardens, now Richard Tipper talking about @Plan_Vivo in Chiapas,Mexico
- Our next speaker @RichardTipper from @ecometrica is talking about an early community forest carbon project in Mexico #ecosystemservices
- Great closing remark from @RichardTipper: Not about us telling local people what to do, it's about us helping people decide on the best plan
- And Uganda...
- Paul Hatanga talking about a pilot scheme of 140 villages in Uganda that pays farmers to conserve #forests @ngambachimps #ecosystemservices
- PES Challenges r unclear land tenure, short term vs long term benefits & more from Paul Hatanga, Chimpanzee Trust #ecosystemservices @IIED
- Want to know more? Read the blog Paul wrote for us here: http://www.iied.org/random-trials-uganda-show-if-payments-for-ecosystems-services-really-work … #ecosystemservices #sustainablemarkets @ngambachimps
- Time for lunch (in the sun!) after a great morning session.We'll be back from 1pm to talk about different payment formats #ecosystemservices
- Session two focused on sharing lessons from research carried out to understand how local communities prefer to be paid for protecting their natural resources...
- Back from lunch now and hearing about a project in Uganda to try to understand farmers preferences for payments #ecosystemservices
- Our very own Dr Essam Mohammed is now presenting his research into payments for Hilsa fish conservation in Bangladesh #ecosystemservices
- READ: @IIED's latest briefing paper on protecting #ecosystems and livelihoods http://pubs.iied.org/17199IIED #ecosystemservices #sustainablemarkets
- The question of how to scale up PES schemes was raised and examples given...
- How do we scale up payments #ecosystemservices schemes? Examples from @Plan_Vivo: project scaled up from 18 to 236 smallholders over 3 years
- And there was then a chance for practitioners to let us know how all of this research can be applied in practice...
- And last but not least, the final session turned our focus to funding PES schemes...
- We're now learning about carbon offsets from certified projects managed by local communities... http://www.zeromission.se/en/ #ecosystemservices
- .@IIED Equity in #PES event hears from @martenlind of @uandwe on critical success factors for selling #ecosystemservices to voluntary market
- To close the day, delegates were able to spend an hour reflecting on the day's discussions and thinking about what next for PES schemes and how best to continue to share knowledge and ideas. Exciting times ahead, so watch this space!
- Time for a final coffee break. Will be back soon when Steve Bass, Head of @IIED's #sustainablemarkets group will conclude and sum up...