Side event at Rio+20: Pro-poor Payment for Ecosystems Services: global knowledge networking

The Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia is pleased to invite you to the side-event “Pro-poor Payment for Ecosystems Services: global knowledge networking”, which will be held during the Rio+20: United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, on 16 June 2012, 13:30-15:00, Room T-3, RioCentro - Rio-De Janeiro, Brazil.

According to the Zero Draft of 2012 Outcome Document, poverty eradication, food security and sound water management are included in the list of the priority objectives of the green economy theme. The concept of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) can contribute to the achievement of those three targets.

Although PES was initially intended to achieve conservation goals, the dependence of the majority of rural populations upon local ecosystems have brought about a consideration of PES designed to be both pro-poor and community-based. ICRAF and the consortium WWF/CARE International, for example, proposed an approach of 'pro-poor rewards for environmental services' and 'equitable payments for watershed services', with the objective to deliver sustainable natural resource management and improve livelihoods for the rural poor.

Objective:

• To build a global network to share the knowledge on PES in the context of poverty alleviation needs

Issues:

1) The constraints and opportunities of propoor PES schemes, and the approaches to design the interventions for the benefit of the poor, the environment, and buyers of environmental services alike;

2) Cases of pro-poor PES projects worldwide (covering the examples from South-East Asia, Central Asia, Africa, South America), and enabling policy and governance supporting such cases.

Contact information:

Mariya Genina,
CAREC PES projects coordinator
Tel: +7 (727) 2785110
Cell: 8 777 2610798
MGenina@carec.kz, maria_genina@mail.ru