A whistle-stop tour of lessons learned through KE4CAP
EPWS Experience presented by Dosteus Lopa -Rio +20, Brasil
1. Equitable Payment Watershed
Services (EPWS):
Delivering natural resources
conservation and improved livelihoods
of all social groups in Uluguru
Mountains, Tanzania.
Presented at Rio +20:
United Nations Conference for Sustainable
Development (UNCSD) 2012
In side-event
Pro-Poor Payment for Ecosystems Services
(PES) and Poverty Alleviation: Global
Knowledge Networking on 16 th June 2012
by
Dosteus Lopa, Program
Manager, CARE International in
2. Introduction.
• This presentation is mainly for CARE-WWF Tanzania’s
EPWS experience sharing in solving watershed
services and livelihood issues in Uluguru Mts,
Tanzania
• EPWS originates from the broader concept-PES
– encourages and finances conservation
efforts as well as
– crucially improves the livelihoods of the
rural poor communities
3. Background of EPWS
progr.
• EPWS is a programme implemented in Tanzania with
financial support DANIDA through CARE Denmark
The two phases of implementation:
• The Phase 1: Feasibility assessment
- Gathering knowledge to structure the new market for WS
- Building a business case for investment through justifiable
“business criteria”
• The Phase 2:
- To establish markets for WS in trial sub-catchments as an
effective natural resource management tool
4. EPWS Objectives
• To modify unsustainable land use and improve
“watersheds” for reliable supply/flow and quality
of water
• To improve social and
economic status of community
members through substantial
benefits accrued from both
improved agronomic practices
and high value crop production
thus reducing poverty and
malnutrition.
5. EPWS location in
Tanzania
Ulugurus the EPWS site in Tanzania
Generally, there is high
rainfall (>2000mm/yr) to
ensure enough water supply
Over 150,000 people
reside in the Uplands of
Ulugurus
Crucial for delivery range of ecosystem
services: Water, Forests, Fresh air,
landscape beauty
Global priority for biodiversity
conservation
7. Findings: Uluguru Watershed
problems
Ulugurus undergo rapid conversion Poor and subsistence
due unsustainable land use agriculture (‘slash and burn’
practices together with shifting
Forest area (sq. km)
Forest cover (sq km)
600
cultivation)
500
400
300
200
100
0
Original
Potential
1955
1955
1977
1977
2000
2000 Reserves
Dates
• Many people are very poor (about 31% of
Ulugurus’ pop’n live below poverty line)
-There have been decreased
amount of water flowing in
the Ruvu River partly as a
result of water management
problems
-High increase of turbidity
9. Identification and roles of
sellers and Buyers
• Kibungo communities identified and selected sellers
of WS
– Recognise the existence of water problems
– Recognise the contribution of their activities to the problem
– Shown willingness to change their land use practices
– Legal entities which can:
• Sign contracts with buyers
• Receive payments (under local government)
• DAWASCO and Coca Cola KLtd as Buyers:
– Water is critical/core for their business & reliant on river
water
– They recognise the high costs of poor or lack of water
(alternative supply) for their business
– Show willingness, capacity and accept to pay
• Signing of agreement between these sellers and
buyers
10. Implementation of EPWS programme
(Phase II)
• Implementing various optimum soil conservation
measures proposed by the feasibility studies; e.g.
– Terraces, grass stripping,
agroforestry/reforestation, riparian restoration
• Facilitate compensation or payments under the
PWS scheme which are set at the compensation
variation of land use change practice in terms of
– Labour costs
– Opportunity costs
• Buyers have started paying sellers in Ulugurus
– A the moment about 134 farmers received payments
11. Benefits beyond buyers’ Payment
• Conducting Trainings and
Inputs on improved agronomic
practices
• Investing in community para
professionals: built capacities of
identified and selected local farmers in
areas of: extension services, leadership
skills, lobbying and advocacy, social
analysis and action, concepts related to
gender, Monitoring and evaluation as well
as record keeping
• To date, over 700 community
farmers are implementing and
benefiting from the EPWS
programme (men and women)
in Ulugurus, Tanzania
12. Benefits beyond buyers’ Payment
Cont…..
• Improved
production
yields of
various crops
Baseline Current change
Crop
(2008) (May 2012)
Maize ‹ 400kg/acre >1600kg /acre
Beans ‹120kg/acre ≥950kg/acre
Cabbage Nil ≥9600 pcs/acre
Tomato Nil ≥9000kg/acre
Union Nil ≥4000kg/acre
14. Benefits beyond buyers’ Payment
Cont…..
• Linking farmers with
markets
• Generating high
incomes (US$13,000)
through selling
crops: Cabbage, Farmers came to sell their
tomato, Unions cabbage to town market
Cash incomes generated between 2009 and
Cash incomes generated by Crops between 2009 and May 2012
May 2012
8000
7,000.00
7000
Cash incomes in US$
Incomes in US$
6000 6,000.00
5000 5,000.00
4000 4,000.00
3000 3,000.00
2000
2,000.00
1000
1,000.00
0
1
2009 2 3 4 0.00
2010 2011 2012 Crops
Years
Beans Cabbage Tomato Onion
15. Limitations on EPWS implementation
• Initial costs are high and thus needs external
support
• PES is a new concept, the Experts on PES
and/or PWS processes are limited in the
country
• Getting sellers is simple while engaging
buyers is challenging
• Landless people are eliminated
unintentionally
• Tangible impacts of the EPWS solution
cannot be realized in short term
• Inadequate institutional framework for
implementing PES successfully
16. Lessons learned
• Poor communities like Ulugurus can participate in and benefit from PES
mechanism
– If prudently implemented, EPWS can be a crucial initiative to improve upland
community’s livelihood
• Motivations to participate in the programme were due to:
– participatory approaches applied especially engaging local farmers as para
professionals
– Provisioning of appropriate extension services especially trainings and inputs
• Farmers have high motivation to apply SWC measure techniques after
realising positive results in the field
– It has been possible to boost farm productivity to more than 4 times as much
through the implementation of recommended techniques.
• Other institutions have been scaling up and replicating the PES Schemes
– The Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST) in Mindu dam catchment
– WWF Tanzania Country Office in the Sigi River catchment in the East Usambara Mountains.
– ICRAF has implemented PES scheme in one part of Ulugurus. They actually focused on
carbon financing by involving local communities to plant and manage trees.
– The Ministry of water has enacted water act in 2009 which include PES as a conservation
instrument and she is in the process of formulating regulation to enforce this PES law.
– Similarly PES issues are included in the recently revised National Forestry Policy.
– The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has been assessing the potential for PES
scheme in Kagera River basin in Bukoba.
17. Remarks on EPWS mechanism
Sustainability and scaling up
• Effective awareness creation and education to have all stakeholders
understand what this concept is all about: through publications,
policy briefs, brochure, posters, documenting and sharing lesson
learned, workshops and conferences
• Bringing more buyers and sellers on board to ensure tangible impact
in managing water sources and other natural resources in two years
to come
• Put in place functional Intermediary Group (IG) which is composed
of members from local communities (sellers), downstream water
users (ES buyers), government agencies (including water, forest,
environment and Agriculture authorities) as well as CSOs as an exit
strategy to ensure sustainability and local ownership of the
initiative
• Continuous advocacy and lobbying to have it properly included in
the National Policies, legal and institutional frameworks
• Engaging government especially local government authority to
support the programme ownership at local level
• Practical projects – site level work (learning by doing)
• Value chain consideration as some landless people can benefit in
the value chain.
It’s this second part of the programme that we’re discussing today, in which we’re fosuciing on the Eastern Arc mtns of TZ. As you all know, the EA is a range of ancient crystalline mountains whose forests are globally significant for conservation - with around 100 endemic spp of vertebrates, and probably as many as 1500 plant species found nowhere else, incl 80% of all African violet spp Despite this, in face of rising population, and growing agric demand, recognition of biodiversity value alone has not been enough to achieve conservation goals, and as this eg from the Ulugurus ilustrates, the remg nat hab’s in area are still undergoing conversion. This is of cse an isuse not just for biodiversity consvtn but for human wellbeing, bec the E Arc mountains are vital in terms of ESs too, in stabilising climate through carbon capture, providing NTFPs, such as honey, and serving as watersheds that provide water for drinking, irrigation and power for most of eastern TZ. So, what happens in the EA and its impact on the future provision of ESs will have a major impact on human wellbifng, Incidentally, while we’re focusing on the services generated by the mtns themsleves – in light green on this map – we’re tracking their flow and use ax all of the catchments that drain the mountains, which is this much wider area picked out inorange – so a lage part fo the eastern side of the country.
