| Abstract: |
The Programme on rewards for, use of, and shared
investment in pro-poor environmental services
(RUPES 2) (2008 12) built on the concept of
rewarding people to protect or enhance
environmental services that benefit businesses or
the wider population, expanding on the lessons
learned in RUPES 1, in Indonesia, the Philippines,
Viet Nam, Nepal, India and China. The target
group for RUPES 2 was indigenous forest dwellers
and smallholding farmers in less productive
environments who were vulnerable to
environmental degradation and climate change.
Activities were aimed at national policies and the
buyer and broker part of the rewards for
environmental services (RES) value chain for longterm
sustainability of benefits for the target
group. The project was a frontline activity
focusing on the poverty aspects of climate
change, responding to the Asia and the Pacific
Divisions interest in combating land degradation
and empowering the poor in upland areas. RUPES
2 helped find solutions for rural poverty, provided
lessons for sustainable RES and support to policy
makers and institutions to develop policies and
services.
In Indonesia, the National Rewards for
Environmental Services Protocol, as the
operational document of Law 32/2009 on
Environmental Management and Protection,
included lessons from RUPES. In Viet Nam, RUPES
contributed to the formulation of Decree No.
99/2010 and its guidelines. In China, the State
Council and the Government of Xishuangbanna
Prefecture adopted the lessons from a RES
scheme for grasslands, which was initiated by
RUPES, for designing ecological land-use plans. In
India, RUPES partner, Wetlands
International South Asia, provided three scenarios
of wetlands management that balanced human
needs with ecological requirements to the
National Environment Policy on the role of
economic incentives for environmental
conservation. In the Philippines, RUPES 2 helped
draft the Philippine Climate Change Act of 2008
and conducted a final review of the Sustainable
Forest Management Act in 2008. In Nepal, RUPES
2 influenced a policy shift in recognition of
payments for environmental services (PES)
among Hindu Kush Himalayan countries through
its partner, the International Center for Integrated
Mountain Development.
RUPES 2 facilitated the engagement of
international, national and local beneficiaries as
investors in RES schemes, providing information
for creating business cases such as quantifying
and identifying ecosystem services, informing
smallholders of the feasibility of schemes to
improve their livelihoods, and conducting
participatory monitoring, particularly for water
quality and carbon stock and preparing local
intermediaries to design and facilitate efficient
and fair RES schemes. RUPES 2 also supported
local actors by providing a series of tools, with
accompanying knowledge-sharing sessions, for
identifying environmental services as the basis for
designing schemes. Local partners were also
active in advocating policies for PES
implementation at regional level and pioneering
independent institutions as centres of PES
initiatives. Good practices of RUPES have been
published by the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, Forest Trends,
and The Economics of Ecosystems and
Biodiversity (TEEB). |
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