Mobilizing PES at Landscape Scale:Sara J. Scherr, Ecoagriculture PartnersWorld Agroforestry Congress, Nairobi, Kenya
August 27, 2009
Ecoagriculture Partners
Challenges for agricultural production in the 21st century
• Reduce rural food insecurity and poverty
• Secure urban food supply• Meet global demand for food
rising by 50-100% by 2030• Contribute to sustainable energy
through biofuels• Adapt to climate change• Restore degraded resources
critical for production• Reduce the ecological ‘footprint’;
become net contributor to ecosystem services
Carbon sequestration and storage
Soil formation and fertility
Plant pollination
Watershed protection and regulation
Air quality Pest & disease control
Wild species & habitat protection
Decomposition of wastes Landscape beauty
Challenges for conserving our “natural infrastructure” in the 21st century
Importance of cropping landscapes for biodiversity and ecosystems
Importance of grazing landscapes for biodiversity & ecosystem services
Prevalence of crop production in public protected areas
Prevalence of crop cover in major watersheds
Emissions reduction and sequestration in working landscapes
Our Vision
Importance of Ecosystem Services
for Rural Livelihoods
Direct•
Nutrition: direct consumption of wild plants and game;
micro-nutrients, “safety net”
•Medicines
•Fuel and construction materials
•Farm inputs (fodder, fertilizer, packaging)
•Income from sale of wild species
•Quality water supply for domestic use
•Reliable irrigation water supply
•Pollinate crops, key wild species
•Cultural, spiritual, aesthetic value
Indirect•
Maintain soil fertility
•Maintain healthy human habitat
•Maintain microclimate for crops
•Pest & disease control
•Nutrient cycling, detoxification
•Wild crop/livestock relatives
Providing biodiversity & ecosystem services for rural livelihoods
Agricultural landscapes managed to enhance rural livelihoods and sustainable agricultural
production (of crops, livestock, fish and forest), while conserving or restoring ecosystem
services and biodiversity.
Ecoagriculture landscapes
Achieving positive synergies for agricultural production and ecosystems
• Increase input efficiency• Enhance biological and
ecological synergies• Improve spatial organization of
species, fields and farms• Manage wild species to
benefit farming • Realize economies of scale
through collective action• Substitute natural capital for
financial capital
Ecoagricultur StrategiesIn conservation areas of mosaic
• Create conservation reserves that benefit local farming communities
• Provide connectivity of native habitat thru non-farmed areas
• Reduce or reverse land conversion by increasing farm productivity
• Develop species conserv. plans
In production areas of mosaic
• Minimize agricultural pollution
• Use ecologically-compatible management of soil, water, and vegetation
• Modify farming systems to mimic natural ecosystems
• Maintain diversity of crop species & varieties
Ecoagriculture strategies to meet diverse goals in the landscape
Productivity-enhancing innovationswith positive impacts on ecosystems
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Conservation innovations with positive impacts for farmers
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Multi-stakeholder planning & action key to ecoagriculture landscapes
Vision:Farmers around the world produce enough food while protecting ecosystem services and the biological diversity of plant and animal life
Mission:To mobilize scaling up of successful ecoagriculture approaches, by catalyzing strategic connections, dialogue and joint action among key actors, at local, national and international levels
Ecoagriculture Partners
• 2001: Common Ground, Common Future (report from Future Harvest & IUCN)
• 2002: EP initiated at Stakeholder Conference of World Summit on Sustainable Development
• 2004: International Conference in Nairobi
• 2005: EP registered as U.S. non-profit (501c3)
• 2006-9: “Laying the foundations for ecoag..”
• 2010-13: “Scaling up ecoag landscapes…”
History of Ecoagriculture Partners
Ecoagriculture Partners programs
Understanding Ecoagriculture Landscapes
Community Knowledge-Service
Enabling Markets & Policies
Learning Landscapes Leadership Development
Learning Landscapes
Learning landscapes:East Africa, Mesoamerica, USA
Kabale, Uganda
Willamette Valley, USA
Eastern Region, Burkina Faso Tea Zone, Kenya
The Landscape Measures Resource Center: Tools for landscape planning &
assessment
http://www.landscapemeasures.org/
Contents – Process – Practice– Case Studies– Glossary
A web-based hub for a virtual learning network
Testing in “learning landscapes”
Our Vision
• Leadership courses with UC-Berkeley & regional partners
• Ecoagriculture Working Groups (Kenya, Uganda, Mesoamerica, DC)
Supporting ecoagriculture leaders
AgricultureBridge: Linking students and ecoag practitioners
Cornell Univ, Ecoagriculture Partners, UC-Berkeley (Habitat-7)
USDA-funded (Higher Education)
Web platform for knowledge- sharing and curriculum development (cross-disciplinary)
10 initial landscape cases: 5 U.S., 1 China, 3 Central America, 2 E. Africa
- video- case summary
- background materials- teaching notes and questions- practitioner requests
2) Community knowledge-sharingCommunity Knowledge Service
Markets and policies supporting ecoagriculture strategies
- Eco-certified ag’l commodities (incl. biofuels), including BACP- PES in agricultural landscapes- Ecoagriculture in CBD, CSD, UNFCCC, MDGs- Climate adaptation & mitigation thru ecoag
ecoagriculture PES: Int’l newsletter on agricultural payments for ecosystem serv.
Commentary Market developments
- Biodiversity- Carbon- Water- Eco-certification
Policy and law
Science & technology
New tools
Announcements
Upcoming events
Learning corner
www.ecoagriculture.orgThank you!
Please visit our website at…
2006-2008: - Kenya, Uganda Working Gr. - 2 Leadership courses - Scoping in 11 landscapes - Policy, regional mapping
2009 +:- Support to TerrAfrica (M&E, knowledge mgmt, capacity- building, climate & SLM)- Carbon Fund scoping, ag PES- Landscape carbon monitoring- Learning Landscapes (Gates, UNEP, AGRA?)
Ecoagriculture Partners in Africa