Payments for Ecosystem Services - A Feasible Mechanims for Natural Resource Mangagement in East Africa?

Abstract

International and national actors increasingly resort to market-based mechanisms for natural resource management (NRM). One increasingly popular mechanism are Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). PES create a market attaching an economic value to ES in order to achieve more considered consumption of services and resources. Payments are envisioned to serve as incentives for the adaptation of alternative land-use technologies that are environmentally beneficial while taking livelihoods and development of rural people into account. In East Africa interest and in situ pilot projects are increasing. The feasibility and necessary developments for effective application of PES are yet little explored. The objective of this research therefore is to study the feasibility of PES schemes as effective NRM mechanism in East Africa. The central research question therefore is: To what extend are PES a feasible mechanism for natural resource management in the East African context? Answering the research question is approached on three levels: the level of the East African regional, the national and project level.