Katoomba XIII: Taking Stock and Charting a Way Forward for Payments for Ecosystem Services in Africa
Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania
Previous regional Katoomba meetings in Uganda (2005) and South Africa (2006) demonstrated that Africans have become increasingly interested in market-based conservation strategies, including payments for ecosystem services (PES). While a number of projects are underway, PES in the East and Southern African region primarily occurs on an ad hoc basis through small-scale pilot projects. Information, capacity to design and manage PES deals, and institutions to support on-the-ground implementation are all lacking and have hindered efforts to scale up.
Yet, carbon markets, both regulated and voluntary, have grown very rapidly and offer opportunities for new investment in rural regions of Africa. The emergence of opportunities for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) makes it even more important for the countries to build their capacity in order to put in place a readiness strategy. In addition, East and Southern African nations face a range of water-related challenges, including pollution and threats to reliable flows from forested catchments.
The 2008 East and Southern African Katoomba Group meeting will offer an opportunity to dicuss development of both REDD readiness strategies as well as payment for watershed services schemes. The meeting will also provide hands-on capacity building combined with strategy discussions about scaling PES up in the region.
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The 2008 East and Southern African Katoomba Group meeting will take stock of both existing payment for ecosystem service (PES) deals in the region that could be expanded or replicated in other sites, as well as potential sites for broadening and deepening payments for ecosystem services (PES) in East and Southern Africa.
The meeting is focused on assessing the development and potential for PES initiatives in select countries within the East and Southern Africa region and exploring “proof of concept” related to PES applications within the region.
Previous regional Katoomba meetings in Uganda (2005) and South Africa (2006) demonstrated that African countries have become increasingly interested in market-based conservation strategies, such as payments for ecosystem services (PES), and that a number of projects are underway. However, PES in the East and Southern African region primarily occurs on an ad hoc basis through small-scale pilot projects. Information gaps, lack of capacity to design and manage projects and the absence of institutions to support on-the-ground implementation have largely hindered efforts to scale up.
The East and Southern Africa Katoomba Group will share findings from on-going assessments of PES in the region including potential sites for scaling up PES. The assessments are one component of a longer process that aims to chart a course for expanding the number and reach of PES deals and engagements with environmental markets across the East and Southern Africa region. The end goal is to contribute both to conservation and rural economic development, including poverty alleviation objectives.
The meeting will bring together the full range of actors interested in markets and payments for ecosystem services (PES), including potential buyers, sellers, and intermediaries from throughout the East and Southern Africa region. It will enable an exchange of market information as well as ongoing learning about diverse PES policy and project models, and making of PES deals. The meeting will open with a “PES Trade Fair” – the first of its kind in East Africa. Sellers from the region will exhibit the ecosystem services at their sites, and potential buyers will be invited to meet with the sellers and explore potential PES deals.
We look forward to a fruitful discussion on how to scale up PES in East and Southern Africa and how to shape a vibrant regional Katoomba Group network.
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Background
The 2008 East and Southern African Katoomba Group meeting will take stock of both existing payment for ecosystem service (PES) deals in the region that could be expanded or replicated in other sites, as well as potential sites for broadening and deepening payments for ecosystem services (PES) in East and Southern Africa.
The meeting is focused on assessing the development and potential for PES initiatives in select countries within the East and Southern Africa region and exploring “proof of concept” related to PES applications within the region.
Previous regional Katoomba meetings in Uganda (2005) and South Africa (2006) demonstrated that African countries have become increasingly interested in market-based conservation strategies, such as payments for ecosystem services (PES), and that a number of projects are underway. However, PES in the East and Southern African region primarily occurs on an ad hoc basis through small-scale pilot projects. Information gaps, lack of capacity to design and manage projects and the absence of institutions to support on-the-ground implementation have largely hindered efforts to scale up.
The East and Southern Africa Katoomba Group will share findings from on-going assessments of PES in the region including potential sites for scaling up PES. The assessments are one component of a longer process that aims to chart a course for expanding the number and reach of PES deals and engagements with environmental markets across the East and Southern Africa region. The end goal is to contribute both to conservation and rural economic development, including poverty alleviation objectives.
The meeting will bring together the full range of actors interested in markets and payments for ecosystem services (PES), including potential buyers, sellers, and intermediaries from throughout the East and Southern Africa region. It will enable an exchange of market information as well as ongoing learning about diverse PES policy and project models, and making of PES deals. The meeting will open with a “PES Trade Fair” – the first of its kind in East Africa. Sellers from the region will exhibit the ecosystem services at their sites, and potential buyers will be invited to meet with the sellers and explore potential PES deals.
We look forward to a fruitful discussion on how to scale up PES in East and Southern Africa and how to shape a vibrant regional Katoomba Group network.
Logistics
LOGISTICAL INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS
VENUE:
The meeting will be held at the White Sands Hotel and Resort located on Jangwani Beach, 25km North of Dar-es-Salaam, on over 500m of pristine private beach, overloooking the Indian Ocean.For more information see http://www.hotelwhitesands.com/
GETTING THERE
The easiest way to get to the White Sands Hotel from the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar-es-Salaam is by taxi, which costs approximately US$ 50. However, the Katoomba Group has negotiated with the hotel to provide a shuttle at a cost of US$ 30 per person one way. We hope that this arrangement will help cut down on GHG emissions. If you are interested in using this shuttle service, please provide your arrival times to Alice Ruhweza (aruhweza@nullforest-trends.org or aruhweza@nullhotmail.com ) as soon as possible so that we can make a booking for you.
REGISTRATION FEE:
There is no registration fee. The conference is free of charge.
TRAVEL EXPENSES:
All participants are expected to cover their own airfare, ground transport costs (where applicable), and accommodation expenses.
The Katoomba Group will pay for lunch and dinner during the conference days on 16th and 17th September.
(Note: For participants whose organizations mandate that staff cover their own expenses, the hotel can include in your bill the cost of all meansâ including these lunches and dinners. Please notify us in advance if your organization requires that you meet all of your own expenses, so that we can make inform the hotel. Please email: aruhweza@nullforest-trends.org)
VISA:
Participants are responsible for obtaining their own visas. The Visa cost is US$50 and can be obtained upon arrival at the Dar-es-Salaam airport.
Please inform the immigration officer that you are in Tanzania to “attend a conference” so that you are issued the right visa.
ACCOMODATION:
A limited block of rooms has been reserved at the White Sands hotel at a specially negotiated rate of US$ 80. If you need a hotel room, please contact Alice Ruhweza (aruhweza@nullforest-trends.org or aruhweza@nullhotmail.com ) immediately as the rooms are being allocated on a first come, first serve basis.
TRAVEL DATES:
Please plan to arrive on the 15th and depart on the 18th of September.
Partners
| The Katoomba Group is an international working group composed of leading experts from forest and energy industries, research institutions, the financial world, and environmental NGOs, dedicated to facilitating strategic partnerships to launch innovative market-based mechanisms that enhance and conserve ecosystem services. The Katoomba Group has explored and incubated ecosystem service payment schemes with diverse stakeholders as a means of preserving forested landscapes since its first meeting in Katoomba, Australia in 2000. |  |
| Forest Trends is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that promotes market-based approaches to conserving forests outside of protected areas, by moving beyond an exclusive focus on lumber and fiber to a broader range of products and services. Forest Trends brings together leading agents in industry and finance with representatives from governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to advance markets for forest ecosystem services, markets for sustainable forest products and investments and markets that bolster the livelihoods of forest-based communities. |  |
| CARE is one of the world’s largest private international humanitarian organizations, committed to helping families in poor communities improve their lives and achieve lasting victories over poverty. CARE promotes innovative solutions and are advocates for global responsibility. We facilitate lasting change by:Strengthening capacity for self-help; Providing economic opportunity; Delivering relief in emergencies; Influencing policy decisions at all levels and Addressing discrimination in all its forms |  |
| The Natural Capital Project, launched 31 October 2006 in Washington, D.C., aspires to provide maps of natureâs services, assess their values in economic and other terms, and – for the first time on any significant scale – incorporate those values into resource decisions. Achieving this vision will require new scientific methods, new financial instruments, and new governmental policies. The Natural Capital Project will work toward providing all three, combining the strengths of one of the worldâs leading research universities and two of the worldâs most experienced and effective field conservation organizations. |  |
| The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) – Established in 1961, WWF operates in more than 100 countries working for a future in which humans live in harmony with nature to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment by: conserving the world’s biological diversity; ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption |  |
Sponsors
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Forest Trends is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that promotes market-based approaches to conserving forests outside of protected areas, by moving beyond an exclusive focus on lumber and fiber to a broader range of products and services. Forest Trends brings together leading agents in industry and finance with representatives from governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to advance markets for forest ecosystem services, markets for sustainable forest products and investments and markets that bolster the livelihoods of forest-based communities. |
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The Global Environment Facility (GEF) provides grants to developing countries for projects that benefit the global environment and promote sustainable livelihoods in local communities. |
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The Katoomba Group is an international network of individuals working to promote, and improve capacity related to, markets and payments for ecosystem services (PES). The Group serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas and strategic information about ecosystem service transactions and markets, as well as site for collaboration between practitioners on PES projects and programs |
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| The Mitsubishi Corporation strives to achieve sustainable development and growth within society while developing businesses that lower its impact on the enviroment. |  |
| Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs works to promote peace and security, an international legal system, an economically just world order and sustainable development. |  |
| Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) serves to provide national leadership in the conservation of soil, water, and related natural resources. The NRCS provides balanced technical assistance and cooperative conservation programs to landowners and land managers throughout the United States as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). |  |
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The Rockefeller Foundation works around the world to expand opportunities for poor or vulnerable people and to help ensure that globalization’s benefits are more widely shared. |
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TerrAfrica provides a collective vehicle for addressing bottlenecks, resulting in unlocking and increasing efficiency of financial and non-financial resources, to create an enabling environment for mainstreaming and financing effective nationally-driven SLM strategies. |
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USAID-TRANSLINKS is a partnership of the Wildlife Conservation Society .the Earth Institute of Columbia University, Enterprise Works/VITA, Forest Trends, the Land Tenure Center of the University of Wisconsin and USAID is designed to support income growth of the rural poor through conservation and sustainable use of the natural resource base upon which their livelihoods depend. |
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Valuing the Arc is a five-year programme aimed at developing a general procedure for analysing fine-sale information on ecosystem services in the Eastern Arc mountains of Tanzania and recognising their value in decision-making |
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World Wildlife Fund US’s mission is the conservation of nature using the best available scientific knowledge and advancing that knowledge. WWF works to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth and the health of ecological systems by:- protecting natural areas and wild populations of plants and animals, including endangered species; promoting sustainable approaches to the use of renewable natural resources; and promoting more efficient use of resources and energy and the maximum reduction of pollution. We are committed to reversing the degradation of our planet’s natural environment and to building a future in which human needs are met in harmony with nature |
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