Abstract
There is growing interest on payments for ecosystem services (PES) in developing countries including the Philippines. Watersheds have been degraded through deforestation and subsequent conversion to other land cover, principally for agriculture. In the last decade, several Payments for Watershed Services schemes have been implemented and this paper is an attempt to assess the form of incentives or rewards that have been provided to upland communities in a number of sites under different management leadership in the Philippines. We reviewed four cases specifically related to watershed services in the: 1) Bakun Watershed, 2) Maasin Watershed, 3) Sibuyan Watershed, and 4) Baticulan Watershed. The case studies of varying stages of implementation has shown that the chances of success of PES schemes in promoting watershed conservation and rehabilitation as well as in improving the livelihoods of upland communities is constrained by incomplete information and knowledge about the interaction between ecosystem properties and provision of services, and the difficulty in establishing voluntary participation and conditionality of payments. In this paper, we argued that institutions may enable or hinder the successful implementation of PES. The role of the local government as intermediaries is crucial in the process of establishing PES more particularly in the information dissemination and education of the key stakeholders. The case studies also showed how PES programs are reinforced by the presence of non-government organizations.
Highlights
Natural areas are sources of a range of ecosystem services that benefit stakeholders on the local, national and international level (International Union for Conservation in Nature [IUCN], 2000)
The strategy developed can be considered as a classic example of a payments for ecosystem services (PES) scheme: 1) the Mangyan Tagabukid Tribe is identified as the service provider or potential seller of ecosystem services, as it influences their quantity and quality; 2) potential buyers are the lowland inhabitants, irrigation communities and urban residents, who benefit directly and indirectly from the watershed services; 3) in the past years, environmental degradation has occurred due to improper land use in upland areas of both watersheds; 4) there is a proper political and institutional environment to implement a market-based approach; and 5) there is potential to improve the livelihood of indigenous communities through the payment scheme (WWF/Philippines, n.d.)
The deficit of robust scientific data about ecosystem services coupled with a deficit in fulfillment of the fifth criterion mentioned by Wunder (2005), “the payment should be made only with the condition that the provider secure the flow of the ecosystem service through time, namely additionality must be proved”, might lower the environmental efficiency of the PES schemes described in this paper
Summary
Natural areas are sources of a range of ecosystem services that benefit stakeholders on the local, national and international level (International Union for Conservation in Nature [IUCN], 2000). According to neoclassical economic assumptions, the PES scheme is based on the principle that people located in places of great importance for the provision of services (providers) are compensated for maintaining and securing its provision and those who receive the benefits from the environment should pay for its protection (Wunder, 2005; Pagiola et al, 2005; Engel et al, 2008) In this order of ideas, the beneficiaries or potential buyers of ecosystem services, make a voluntary contract with land managers to compensate the switch to another land use. This will help fulfill the gaps in developing the most appropriate mechanism to enhance the benefits of current and new PES schemes. The results are most useful to the local governments, water districts, communities and other stakeholders that may wish to explore PES mechanism as a strategy for watershed management
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