| Abstract: |
| The Rewarding Upland Poor for Environmental Services They Provide (RUPES) is a program operating on its third year in the Philippines. With the dual goals of conserving the environment while alleviating the poor living conditions of the upland people, the program together with its partners has been testing and developing environmental service reward (ESR) mechanisms in various parts of the country. These include mechanisms on carbon sequestration, watershed and biodiversity protection, and landscape beauty in (a) Baticulan, Negros Occidental; (b) Sibuyan, Romblon; (c) Bakun, Benguet; and (d) Kalahan, Nueva Vizcaya. All of these cases are highly dependent on their existing forests and interested in how environmental services (ES) will be rewarded.In this article we describe the various ESR and linked mechanisms in place in a number of sites ranging from mandatory to propoor schemes. A tool such as rapid hydrological assessment (RHA) is developed and being used to convey the different information from various key stakeholders into one negotiation support system. At the same time, interventions such as capacity building of the upland ES providers are provided to equip them to negotiate with the potential buyers. Findings, challenges, and problems encountered in securing environmental service rewards are also presented. |
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