A global partnership of research institutes, non-governmental organizations, universities, community organizations, farmers' groups, and other local, national, and international organizations. Since 1994, ASB has operated as a systemwide programme of the Consultative Group for International Research in Agriculture (CGIAR). ASB is the only global partnership devoted entirely to research on the tropical forest margins. ASB's goal is to raise productivity and income of rural households in the humid tropics without increasing deforestation or undermining essential environmental services.
This cross-cutting network of DIVERSITAS aims to inspire and facilitate interdisciplinary research for understanding the role of biological diversity in agricultural landscapes. Agrobiodiversity, as used here, refers to managed and unplanned biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems, which closely interact with wild biodiversity within the larger landscape matrix. The activities span the continuum from basic to applied research across eight benchmark sites worldwide and include adaptive land management in collaboration with local stakeholders.
CIFOR participates internationally in issues related to sustaining forests and forest peoples. CIFOR’s PES activities include the launch of a website to meet the growing demand for information about PES, particularly climate change adaptation and landslide risk resulting from climate change. In Indonesia, CIFOR is testing a drinking water PES scheme in Cicatih, West Java. CIFOR is also active in carbon and biodiversity issues, having contributed to the policy debates regarding using avoided deforestation and preservation (REDD) and Clean Development Mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol of forest and peat land. With ICRAF, CIFOR has created a biodiversity platform for scaling up action research initiatives that explore how incentives can work for biodiversity and for creating positive externalities.
For RUPES-II, CI has committed to implementing projects related to forest conservation, sustainable development and environmental service rewards in the uplands and adjacent lowlands of Aceh province, Indonesia, and to feed lessons learned into the RUPES network. The final approval of funding for a major project developed by CI and its partner ForesTrade on the rehabilitation of coffee farms, conservation of surrounding forest and development of premium markets that reward environmental best practices for coffee from Gayo highlands by the Multidonor Fund/World Bank is expected for early 2008, following the project appraisal mission in the first months of the year. CI will also perform biodiversity assessments and related biological and economic work in the Batang Toru/Batang Gadis areas of North Sumatra, Indonesia. RUPES-II will include an action research site in Aceh/North Sumatra where CI has worked jointly with ICRAF as well as invested independently in projects to preserve biodiversity, particularly orangutan habitat. The involvement of CI has the potential to bring additional funds into RUPES-II. Integrating the work of RUPES II and CI can allow tapping into a joint CI/ICRAF agroforestry learning fund. CI is also working with an Indonesian company to develop a conservation project involving rubber agroforests in this area for which the company has approved funding. ICRAF will conduct some of the projects highly research oriented components.
ESCAP is engaged in promoting environmentally sustainable economic growth, or “green growth,”. Its primary interest in PES is using it as a policy tool to synergise economic growth and environmental protection. ESCAP is a regional institution, mandated to support the sharing of experiences among countries. Partnership with RUPES II is planned in the following areas 1) supporting the development of national policy and legislative frameworks through strategic approaches to application of PES and local-level initiatives (two projects have been developed in this area, including one for Banda Aceh. ESCAP is also interested in conducting national studies to support national policy development); 2) providing opportunities for regional governments to learn from national experiences; and 3) other areas to be explored, including strengthening ESCAP’s 5P (pro-poor public-private partnership) model of micro-hydropower development to include RES mechanisms.
FFF will support three activities in RUPES-II: (i) developing a curriculum for PES (this will likely be linked to SEANAFE as a co-financing effort); (ii) establishing a resource center to raise public awareness, and; (iii) maintaining the national COMMITEES while clarifying how they can influence national policy and awareness. Participation in RUPES-II will contribute to FF’s two spheres of work: (i) indigenous people and their capacity for negotiation, their access to information and its interpretation, their right to free and prior informed consent, and their access to justice; and (ii) a land-based terrestrial program. The FF has now integrated into its terrestrial work a focus on the connectivity of upstream, downstream and coastal ecosystems with terrestrial terrains. Also, FF is adding programs that emphasize: (i) urbanization as in its support for ICRAF’s work in Aceh; (ii) relationships between landscape and social institutions; and (iii) the complementary and consolidation of these program with large PES initiatives.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to combating rural poverty in the world’s most disadvantaged regions. Through both loans and grants, this international financial institution develops and finances programmes and projects that enable poor rural people to overcome poverty themselves. IFAD reaches more than 10 per cent of the world’s poor rural people living on less than a dollar a day. There are 187 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totaling US$6.2 billion. IFAD has invested more than US$2.9 billion in these initiatives. Cofinancing has been provided by governments, project participants, multilateral and bilateral donors and other partners. Working with partners, including poor people, governments, NGOs, financial and development institutions and the private sector, IFAD tackles poverty not just as a lender but also as an advocate. One of its priorities is to assist poor rural people in developing and strengthening their organizations so that they can advance their interests and remove the obstacles that prevent so many people, especially women, from creating a better life for themselves. In this way, they are able to participate more fully in determining and directing their own development.
IUCN - Ecosystems and Livelihoods Group II – Asia: IUCN Asia has collected many lessons significant to the development of pro-poor RES concepts and challenges as a result of conducting pro-poor RES activities from their engagement in investigating PES related issues in Nepal at Shivapuri National Park - SHNP) and Churia hills both in Nepal. IUCN is interested to take the case of RES for SHNP for further learning as it is now involving debate over SHNP indigenous population. There is also a high possibility that that the government may hand over the SHNP management to Nepal Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) – a non government actor. The management plan does consider benefiting the indigenous community through village tourism and through this the prospects of them remaining inside the park. However, the prospects of instituting a reward mechanism as a measure to meet both conservation and development objectives as well as keeping the indigenous community in the Park has not gained much traction.
ICIMOD Based in Kathmandu, Nepal, the organization has expressed its interest to develop strategic links between RUPES II and their new Ecosystem Programme where water and biodiversity are topics of higher relevance while the need to consider carbon as an emerging issue is also recognized. ICIMOD operates through national institutions and local NGOs and their role will be quite strategic for national and regional policy issues. ICIMOD provided technical support to the IUCN initiation at SHNP. Realising the importance and potential of RES related work in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan range, ICIMOD seeks a strategic partnership with ICRAF.
PRESA is an IFAD funded and ICRAF-led initiative, designed to pilot pro-poor rewards for environmental services in three core and four associate sites in East and West Africa. The project is designed to implement RUPES-like PES activities using lessons learned from RUPES about both substance and project management. With successful implementation of the PRESA project, RUPES will be able to extend PES implementation to other IFAD projects through communication of lessons learned, capacity building and technical support.
Wetlands International and partners have been piloting a PES related financial mechanism that reconciles poverty alleviation and nature conservation in many countries in Asia. Known as the Bio-rights approach, it has become a leading mechanism within Wetlands International’s community-based initiatives. Further developing the mechanism, Wetlands International will establish two major initiatives that will generate private-sector funding for maintenance and restoration of ecosystem services: (1) Global Peatland Fund (GPF) – Indonesia and (2) payments for watershed services in Loktak lake, India. Wetlands International is seeking ways to link the two initiatives to RUPES II given their direct linkage with the strategy, objectives and outputs outlined in the RUPES call for partnership.
The Institute will involve RUPES-II in two proposed events: (i) a course on “Environmental Economics for Development Policy” that it will offer through two environmental economic networks -- SANDEE in South Asia and EEPSEA in Southeast Asia; and (ii) “Sustainable Development Week” -- a 2-week event to update World Bank staff and partners about sustainability issues related to development, including implementation of PES schemes.. Other intended World Bank activity related to PES includes offering more PES capacity building courses by Stefano Pagiola and other World Bank economists such as Dan Biller. The World Bank also facilitates the Global Forest Alliance which has a strong PES component. RUPES steering committee members will use the Alliance to disseminate findings from RUPES-II research.
WWF Indonesia has expressed its continued interest to participate in RUPES II project. WWF is currently engaged in drafting a regulation on financing of watershed management in Indonesia. In collaboration with CARE International, WWF has also made progress in their two project sites in terms of receiving payment commitment from buyers of environmental services. At various level of progress, WWF is also engaged in other parts of Indonesia on the promotion of payment of environmental services.