2008/9 Katoomba XIII Meeting - Taking Stock and Charting a Way Forward for Payments for Ecosystem Services in Africa A Meeting of the East & Southern Africa Katoomba Group (Dar-es-salaam and Morogoro, Tanzania)

8:30AM - 6:00PM

The “Equitable Payment for Water Services (EPWS)” project is based in the Uluguru and East Usambara Mountains in Morogoro region. The project is focusing on Ruvu and Sigi River basins which are the major sources of water to the cities of Dar-es-Salaam and Tanga respectively. These two cities are important industrial centers and contribute significantly to the country’s GDP. In addition, many communities reside adjacent to these watersheds and depend on them for their livelihoods. Various activities conducted by the upland communities contribute to the deteriorating quantity and quality of water in Dar-es-Salaam and Tanga. These problems are largely attributed to: unsustainable farmland expansion and irrigation practices; deforestation; and illegal mining activities in river systems and within forest reserves.

The EPWS project aims to: 

• Establish long term financial investment in modifying land use to conserve and improve “watersheds” for reliable flow and quality of water; 

• Create a compensation mechanism that recognizes the needs and priorities of the marginalized and poor people, and 

• Improve quality of life of the communities through substantial benefits to the rural poor thereby contributing to poverty reduction. 

So far key preliminary work has been undertaken, including: (1) a watershed services market assessment, (2) a profiling of potential buyers, and (3) a study on hydrologic and land use/cover change assessment. Additional background studies are in process, including a livelihood assessment; potential sellers’ cost / benefit analysis; legal and institutional framework analysis, and cost / benefit Analysis for buyers. 

The EPWS project is financed by Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS), and Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

Kitulangalo forest reserve lies about 50 km to the east of Morogoro town, on the side of the Dar-es-Salaam- Morogoro highway. This is a relatively dry area with an average annual rainfall of about 850 mm. The easy access from the highway has made this area a prime charcoal production area for the supply for the nearby Morogoro municipality and Dar-es-Salaam city. The forests in this area are also under pressure from timber extraction through the activities of local pit-sawyers, and from cutting of tree stems for building poles. Overall, the area has been a de facto an open access resource. 

In 1995, however, part of the Government Catchment Forest Reserve (600 ha) was given to Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) as a Training Forest Reserve. The land is still owned by the government, but the management is mainly in the hands of the university and the local community following jointly prepared management guidelines. In 2000, another 420 ha was demarcated for the village community, and is now called Kiminyu Village Forest Reserve (VFR). As a community forest, the land is now the property of the village, which has full responsibility for management. Both areas are characterized by Miombo (savanna woodland) and the predominant genus are Brachystegia and Julbernadia. The fact that two different management regimes are operating side by side in essentially the same type of forest makes the Kitulangalo forest a particularly interesting one to study. 

A Village Forest Committee (VFC) was established in 2000 and given the responsibility of supervising the management of the forests on behalf of the village government. The VFC mobilizes local people, and selects villagers to patrol the forests and report to the village government through the committee. The committee members were elected by general village assembly. To institute its mandate, the village government set by-laws that have been agreed upon by the village general assembly. The bylaws specify how benefits will be distributed and consist of different penalties charged against offenders who violate the rules regulating sustainable forest management and use in the village. 

As part of the “Kyoto: Think Global Act Local” research project, six persons (four women and two men) were trained in mapping and forest inventory techniques. Since 2005, carbon data have been collected from this forest and also from unreserved forests on village land by the local communities. Results show that there is improving health of the reserved forests compared to unreserved forests. The university hopes that with this information the village could be a potential REDD candidate.

6:00 - – 9:00PM

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20

Objective: To improve understanding of key design issues, roadblocks and potential ways forward in the development of efficient and equitable payments for watershed services.

9:00 - – 9:15AM

Michael Jenkins, President, Forest Trends & the Katoomba Group
Balaram Thapa, CARE , Tanzania

9:15 -– 10:00

• The CARE/WWF EPWS Scheme - Dosteus Lopa, CARE International
• The Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Project - Myles Mander, Future Works, South Africa

Questions & Discussion

10:00 - 11:15

• How Should Buyers and Sellers be Organized? - Richard Coombe, Natural Resource Conservation Service, USA
• How Should the Market Deal be Structured? - Mark Kieser, Kieser and Associates, USA
• How Can Disbursement Mechanisms Ensure Equitable Distribution? - Teresita Amezcua-Jaeger, Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición, Mexico
• How to Undertake Effective Monitoring and Verification of Service Delivery? - Dan Nees, World Resources Institute, USA

Questions and Discussion (15 minutes)

11:15 11:30

11:30 - –1:00PM

• Group 1: Identifying Prospective Sellers & Buyers - Identify key roadblocks, priority action areas and research/capacity building needs and generate a provisional road-map. Led by Myles Mander, FutureWorks, South Africa
• Group 2: Negotiating Agreements & Disbursement Mechanisms that Ensure Equity - Identify key roadblocks, priority action areas and research/capacity building needs and generate a provisional road-map. Led by George Jambiya, WWF, Tanzania
• Group 3: Policy, Legal and Institutional Issues Associated with PWS - Identify key roadblocks, priority action areas and research/capacity building needs and generate a provisional road-map. Led by Thabit Masoud, CARE International in Tanzania

1:00 - – 2:00

2:00 -  – 3:15

3:15 -  – 4:15

Sara Namirembe, East & Southern Africa Katoomba Group Incubator, Uganda

Questions & Discussion

4:15 -  – 4:35

4:35 6:00

Michael Jenkins, President, Forest Trends & the Katoomba Group
Alice Ruhweza, Coordinator, East & Southern Africa Katoomba Group
Balaram Thapa, CARE International in Tanzania
George Jambiya, WWF Tanzania Program Office