Background and outcome
The Seminar on environmental services and financing for the protection and sustainable use of ecosystems took place on 10-11 October 2005, at the invitation of the Government of Switzerland. It was prepared by the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape, the UNECE secretariat of the Water Convention, in close cooperation with the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the secretariat of the 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Cooperation has also been sought with the UNECE Timber Committee, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE).
The Seminar brought together policy and decision makers, lawyers, economists, managers, technical experts, representatives from the private sector and NGOs, specialized in water management, forestry, landscape and nature conservation (see list of participants).
The Seminar proposed three follow-up activities
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The preparation of a draft code of conduct on the integration of ecosystems in water management and the payment for ecosystem services. The code of conduct should be adopted by the Parties to the Water Convention at their fourth meeting in October 2006; |
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The development of proposals for capacity building activities related to the payment for ecosystem services, to be included in the 2006-2009 work programme of the Water Convention; |
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The development of project proposals for implementation of payment of ecosystem services in one or more river basins, possibly at the transboundary level, to be carried out under the 2006-2009 work programme of the Water Convention. |
The above-mentioned proposals will be further discussed and finalized at the second meeting of the Working Group on Integrated Water Resources Management (April 2006). Seminar's participants and interested partners were invited to submit their suggestions to the secretariat.
The Seminar was a follow-up to the Seminar on the role of ecosystems as water suppliers (Geneva, 13-14 December 2004), where governmental officials, experts from international organizations, non-governmental organizations and the private sector highlighted the role of water-related ecosystems (wetlands and forests) in water management and made recommendations for an effective implementation of the ecosystem approach. The utmost importance of mechanisms to finance the protection and restoration of water-related ecosystems was particularly underlined at that first Seminar.
Themes
The Seminar was organized around three major themes: valuing ecosystem services, legal and contractual aspects and challenges for implementation. Each theme was introduced by one or more keynote lectures.
Valuing ecosystem services
| Determining factors for using payment for ecosystems services (PES) (e.g. legislative aspects, lack of funding, water-quality and/or water-quantity problems, offer and demand); |
| Characteristics of river basins or ecosystems favorable to establishing PES; Measuring ecosystem services; |
| Social and economic aspects (e.g. social and equity aspects, health related aspects, economic valuation of ecosystem services); |
| Cost-benefit analysis of land use alternatives and their impact on ecosystem services. |
Legal and contractual aspects
| Legal and regulatory frameworks that can help establish payments for ecosystem services (e.g. national legislation, bilateral and multilateral agreements including ecosystem services, definition of payment and methods of payment, sources of funding, management of the payment scheme); |
| Contractual arrangements (e.g. types of contracts including self organized deals, trading schemes and public payment schemes, specifying duration and involvement of stakeholders in the design and operation of the schemes); and |
| Socio-economic and environmental impacts of PES. |
Challenges for implementation
| Challenges for the establishment of PES (e.g. triggers to establish payment schemes, approaches to involve or jointly act with the private sector, obstacles to implement payments); |
| Challenges for the dissemination of good practice (e.g. awareness and public information campaigns, availability and exchange of information, the role of civil society); |
| Challenges for the private sector (e.g. private sector experience in financing payments for environmental services, public/private partnerships); and |
| Challenges for research and capacity-building initiatives. |