PES in Southeast Asia: An Online Resource for Students and Practitioners

The 17th Katoomba Meeting in Hanoi helped crystallize local and global understanding of Vietnam’s evolving payments for ecosystem services regime.   We’ve been sifting through the video to provide you with summaries of most presentations, and are in the process of uploading as audio-only with accompanying powerpoints for people who prefer listening over watching or who are   in low-bandwidth areas.

Katoomba XVII: Day One

Opening Remarks

Nguyen Thien Nhan, Deputy Prime Minister,Vietnam

Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan makes the welcome address to open Katoomba XVII. In his speech the Deputy PM outlines the current legislative state of play and explains current moves to put a national policy framework in place.

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Cao Duc Phat, Minister, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)

In his opening address,   Cao Duc Phat explains the important roles PES and REDD play, particularly in poverty reduction, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation. He outlines Vietnam’s past and current participation in REDD and PES while explaining Vietnam’s role as a pilot program for REDD. He stresses the importance of countries’ participation in REDD programs, especially that of developing countries.

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Stí¥le Torstein Risa, Ambassador to Vietnam and Laos, Embassy of Norway

As part of the opening address the Norwegian Ambassador, Stí¥le Torstein Risa, calls for strengthened combined efforts between COP15 and COP16 to advance climate change reduction and not to lose momentum. He commends the Vietnamese government on their efforts in the field of PES and proposes the establishment of a transparent, equitable and fair efforts to establish PES systems globally.

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Virginia Palmer, Deputy Mission Chief, USAID Vietnam

In her contribution to the opening address US Deputy Mission Chief Virginia Palmer takes us through the oft-forgotten benefits of Ecosystem Services. She goes on to outline some of these benefits and explains the challenge of ensuring PES is successful as a new field.

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Michael Jenkins, President, Forest Trends

Forest Trends President Michael Jenkins closed the opening session with a call for stronger representation in the development of REDD from local communities. In his speech he acknowledges Vietnam as being a regional and global leader in the development of legislation.

Michael goes on to outline the purpose of this Katoomba meeting: to share information and experience and to provide a promotional platform for the range of pilot and demonstration projects underway in the region.

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Keynote Introduction: Climate and Landuse Looking Forward

Vietnamese National Programs on Climate Change

Keynote Introduction: Nguyen Khac Hieu on Climate and Landuse looking forward

This morning’s introduction was on Climate and Landuse in Vietnam looking forward. It was delivered by Nguyen Khac Hieu, Vice Director General, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Government of Vietnam. Amongst other topics his talk looked at the Vietnamese national programs on climate change.

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State of Emerging Environmental Markets

Overview, Kate Hamilton from Forest Trends

Kate Hamilton gives a brief overview and history of Ecosystem Marketplace and explores the basics of various environmental services. She goes on to explain the concept of PES while providing a short introduction to the Regulated Carbon Markets and Forest Carbon Markets.   In addition, Kate touches on the State of Watershed Payments Report and presents some of its key findings as well as the challenges.

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Payments for Ecosystem Services as Financial Vehicles for Biodiversity Conservation, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, Poverty Reduction and Rural Development

James Peter, Chief Technical Advisor, Asian Development Bank EOC

James Peter stresses the importance of PES in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region and explores the benefits and challenges faced in implementing PES. He goes on to explain the ideas behind the Core Environment Program and its various phases, while providing insight on what will make the CEP successful and beneficial to the GMS countries. He closes by providing an example of how the program’s methodology was tested by Vietnam’s government and is considered to be a success by the Mekong people.

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Roles of Multilaterals in Forest and Ecosystem Investments

Richard Caines, Principal Specialist, East Asia and Pacific Environment and Social Development Department, International Finance Corporation (IFC)

Richard Caines describes the role the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has in REDD and forestry by providing IFC’s three core areas of activity. He explains IFC’s current annual investment in forestry in relation to other annual investments while explaining the struggles and challenges IFC has faced in investing in forestry.   Richard provides four core areas IFC plans to focus on, including increasing forest access to the carbon market and promoting global standards, and concludes by stressing the importance of private sector participation in ecosystem services.

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Forest Carbon and REDD Architecture

Post Copenhagen is a period of “interim financing” and the challenges of ensuring that investments flow efficiently to produce mechanisms for carbon emissions reductions, accountability, and equitable benefits distributions.

UN REDD Program

Tim Boyle, Asia Regional Coordinator, UNREDD

Tim Boyle gives a brief overview of the purpose and history of the UN REDD program in Asia specific regions and explains the importance of the various partnerships the UN REDD program has. He describes lessons learned from UN REDD programs and provides six different components of REDD readiness, which include stakeholder participation and capacity for national monitoring and reporting. Tim ends his presentation by explaining the importance of the experiences in Vietnam in relation to REDD. You can find out more about UN REDD on their website here .

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Voices from the Markets: Panel Discussion

This is the panel discussion, chaired by Michael Jenkins, that followed Walter and David’s presentations. The first video is the introduction to the Q&A and the second is the Q&A itself.

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Comparative Analysis: Policy and Implementation, Approaches Across Southeast Asia Region

Kurt McLeod, Vice President, Asia and Eurasia, PACT

Kurt McLeod stresses the importance of peat landscapes in terms of REDD and Indonesia.   By explaining the amount of carbon storage peat can potentially have, he describes how conserving and protecting peat land is an essential REDD project. Kurt goes on to make direct linkages between poverty, climate change, REDD and carbon while underscoring the importance of maintaining natural resources, and by extension, sustaining the livelihoods of millions.

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Experiences from Aceh Province, Indonesia

Mr. Yakob Ishdamy, Head of Aceh Green Secretariat, Aceh Province, Indonesia (tbc)

Mr. Yakob Ishdamy explains different resources and efforts in REDD  implementation by breaking it down into three different areas: the government of Aceh, non-government institutions, and the private sector. He goes on to explain the REDD  strategy at the national, provincial, and district levels and explains the importance of integrating REDD  within Green Development.

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PNG Forest Authority Perspective

Goodwill Amos, Forest Authority, Papua New Guinea presents the work of his organization and its perspective on REDD

Goodwill Amos discusses Papua New Guinea’s plan to implement a climate compatible development strategy and explains their need to develop a measurement, reporting, and verification system and fund distribution mechanism. He goes on to explain Papua New Guinea’s REDD+ strategy and initiatives and gives a detailed breakdown of PNG’s forest resource base. After discussing four approaches taken by PNGFA to address REDD+, Goodwill concludes by presenting numerous ways to implement REDD+ in PNG.

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Designing National REDD Programs from the Bottom-Up

Eveline Trines, Silvestrum

Eveline Trines outlines the different drivers of deforestation and fores degradation, explaining that since different stakeholders are involved, they need to be dealt with differently and use different measures. She goes on to present different causes of community driven degradation and explains the importance of using the household as a starting point for the PES system. Eveline presents different conditions for a successful PES system, which includes the willingness and ability to empower communities and giving them entitlements to govern forest areas.

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Keynote Speeches: Voices from the Markets

Enabling policy environments which encourage public-private investment partnerships, catalyzing flows of private capital into local climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives .

Moderator: Michael Jenkins, Forest Trends

Public-Private Investment Partnerships

David Brand, Managing Director, New Forests Pty Limited

David Brand describes New Forest’s investment strategies and various developing programs around REDD in Asia and Indonesia. He stresses the importance of pricing ecosystems and highlights different struggles in legislation and leadership in the United States. David goes on to describe the private sector’s role in financing REDD projects and finishes up by exploring different funding options in order to maintain momentum.

Note: David Brand did not have a powerpoint presentation.

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How Payments for Carbon Sequestration Create New Forests of High Biodiversity and Social Welfare in Vietnam

Dirk Walterspacher, Forest Finance Group

Dirk Walterspacher explores Forest Finance Group’s main goals, which include investment, carbon storage, and green energy. He explains that by offering different services, the reduction of carbon emission is possible. To illustrate this, he describes the reforestation project in Vietnam last year while putting a strong emphasis on the role that national and regional stakeholders played in the project.

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Projects, Products and Measurement Reporting and Verification (MRV) Strategies

Identifying key roadblocks, priority action areas and research/capacity building needs, and generating a provisional road-map to measuring carbon .

REDD Carbon Measurement, National Inventories, Nested and Sectoral Approaches

Joerg Seifert-Granzin , Forest Carbon Consultant, Forest Trends

Joerg Seifert-Granzin explains how future REDD implementation framework should look like while providing insight on how to share benefits from REDD with different stakeholders. In addition to giving examples of various measurement approaches in different countries, Joerg also describes 6 categories for dealing with inconsistencies between project based approaches, national approaches and sub-national activities.

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How Projects Measure Up: Key Successes of REDD+ Projects and Lessons Learned for Design and Evaluation of REDD+ Activities

Adam Gibbon, Initiative Technical Specialist, Rainforest Alliance

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Regional REDD, Governance and Leakage Issues

Gary Bull, Professor, University of British Columbia

Gary Bull explains the problems of leakages and proposes solutions on how to tackle the issue while stressing that international leakage should be the main focus. He presents two types of trade models, and explains that engaging key stakeholders from government, industries, and NGOs is key to solving the problem.

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Katoomba XVII: Day Two

Welcome and Recap

Kerstin Canby, Director, Forest Trade and Finance, Forest Trends

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The Vietnam Experience

Vietnam’s Pilot Policy for Forest Ecosystem Services (PFES): Government Perspective

Nguyen Tuan Phíº , Office of the Government and Pham Xuan Phuong, Legal Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam

This presentation is in Vietnamese.

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Part Two
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Contributions of Winrock International and GTZ to the Formulation and Implementation of Policy on Payment for Forest Environmental Services in Viet Nam

Nguyen Chi Thanh , Senior Policy Advisor, Winrock International, Vietnam; Juergen Hess, GTZ Vietnam

This presentation is in Vietnamese.

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Experience with REDD Pilot Projects in Vietnam

Pham Minh Thoa

Pham Minh Thoa gives a detailed presentation about the current status of REDD implementation in Vietnam while presenting the concept of sustainagility. She goes on to provide different paradigms of Payments for Ecosystem Services and concludes by presenting various pointers on how to facilitate different actors working in PES.

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Experience with REDD Pilot Projects in Vietnam

Richard McNally, SNV and REDD working group in Vietnam

Richard McNally describes in detail the three different projects his organization is currently working on in Vietnam. After explaining the roles illegal logging and agriculture expansion play in Vietnam, he emphasizes the importance of trying to balance agricultural reduction and forest conversion.   He finishes his presentation by explaining the need for an integrated approach in which governments, businesses, and small holders all take part in trying to solve the problems.

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Forest law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT), and Potential Implications of REDD for Local People: Impacts of Small-Scaled Illegal Logging Operations

Rene Boot, Tropenbos International.

Rene Boot explores the impacts of small-scale illegal logging operations while using Ghana’s forest degradation and dwindling forest resources as a prime example. He addresses the issue of chainsaw milling in Ghana , describes how it links rural livelihoods with REDD+, and identifies the low prices and high employment rates as the fundamental drivers behind it.

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Payments for Watershed Ecosystem Services

Understanding how to maximize ability of market mechanisms to increase watershed services while also providing incentives for improved land use in catchment areas .

Overview of China’s Eco-Compensation Programs

Jin Leshan, China Agricultural University

Jin Leshan describes ecocompensation in China in comparison to PES and gives examples of several significant programs occurring in the late 1990s, including natural forest protection programs and natural slope conversion programs. She explains how these programs are voluntary, conditional, and based on negotiation and illustrates how government is central in China’s ecocompensation programs.

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Lessons Learned Facilitating Linkages between ES Providers and Sellers

Dr. Delia Catacutan, ICRAF/RUPES

Dr. Delia Catacutan explains her organization’s goal of enhancing livelihoods and poverty reduction while supporting environmental conservation. She discusses and gives examples the three learning areas of sustainagility, linking knowledge with action, and PES  paradigms. Delia finishes her presentation by presenting ten different pointers for preparing and facilitating linkages, which includes creating an open and safe space for intellectual enquiry.

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Emerging Markets and Market-like Approaches to Watershed Quality

Mark Kieser, Senior Scientist,Kieser & Associates

Mark Kieser gives his presentation from a practical perspective on what it takes for watershed programs to be successful. He explains the basics of ecosystem market framework and discusses the differences between regulated markets and voluntary markets, giving examples of both. Mark concludes by presenting key opportunities in Payment for Watershed Services in the United States, particularly in the Chesapeake Bay and Ohio River bank.

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Biodiversity Markets and Market-Like Instruments

How to get beyond public finance for biodiversity conservation and how markets can be used to achieve more and better cost effective conservation outcomes from infrastructure development.

State of Biodiversity Offsets and Biodiversity Market Instruments

Kerry ten Kate, Director, Business and Biodiversity Offsets Program (BBOP), Forest Trends

Kerry ten Kate discusses potential payments for biodiversity payments and gives basic information on the Business and Biodiversity Offsets Program (BBOP). She emphasizes that various steps need to be taken to avoid biodiversity impacts as much as possible and makes the distinction between biodiversity offsets and PES. Kerry concludes by presenting numerous principles of biodiversity offsets, including no net loss and additionality.

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REDD+ and Biodiversity Conservation

Terry Sunderland, Forests and Livelihoods Programme, CIFOR

Terry Sunderland breaks down the relationship between biodiversity and REDD while giving the history and evolution of REDD itself. He describes how REDD+ works, explaining the co benefits it can provide as well as the potential risks and challenges related to biodiversity. Terry discusses the governments’ role in REDD and explains the various challenges governments face when financing REDD projects.

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Basics of Biodiversity Offsets and Conservation Banking: Lessons from the State of Victoria and Ideas for the South-East Asia Region

Michael Crowe, Government of Victoria, Australia

Michael Crowe goes over policy approaches to biodiversity offsetting while taking a look at three main levels of biodiversity policy. He explains setting standards for biodiversity and stresses the importance of establishing marketplaces where buyers and sellers can come together. Michael ends his presentation by presenting biodiversity in the State of Victoria as a case study.

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Coastal and Marine Markets (Including Mangrove Ecosystems)

Payments for ecosystem services and other innovative mechanisms for marine and coastal conservation.

Marine Conservation Agreements as a Way to Implement PES

Rili Djohani, Government and Partner Relations, TNC Indonesia (tbc)

Rili Djohani explains marine conservation agreements as a way to implement PES by using the coral triangle program as a prime example. She discusses the value for conservation off of the Coral Triangle, emphasizing its biodiversity and resilience for climate change. After defining Marine Conservation Agreements (MCA), she presents different MCAs around the world and explains how to use coral triangle training as a tool kit in a biodiversity setting.

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Coastal Community Livelihoods Implication to Intact Ecosystem Services

Don Macintosh, Director, Mangroves for the Future

Don Macintosh outlines the important and crucial role that mangroves play in Southeast Asia by introducing us to many of the goods and services they provide. He shows that mangroves serve not only as protectors against typhoons, flooding, and other strong storms but that they also have a critical part in the livelihoods and well-being of the surrounding communities. Don goes on to emphasize the non-carbon based services and goods mangroves provide and concludes by explaining the role REDD+ can play in mangrove ecosystems.

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The Mangroves for the Trees: The Under-Appreciated Potential of Mangroves for Carbon and Climate Change Management

Dan Donato, US Forest Service

Dan Donato discusses the importance of mangroves and their contribution to carbon and climate change management. He explains that although mangroves are the most productive of forests, they are also the most threatened forests on earth. He shows that since mangroves have a greater potential for carbon storage, they make excellent candidates for REDD projects and have strong potential for carbon conservation strategies.

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Effective Mangrove Conservation Through Co-management

Klaus Schmitt, Chief Technical Advisory, Management of Natural Resource in the Coastal Zone of Soc Trang Province, GTZ VIetnam

Klaus Schmitt outlines the dynamic process of accretion and erosion protection, which includes integrated planning and mangrove rehabilitation. He goes on to describe the goal of protecting and sustainably using the coastal wetlands for the benefit of the local population and presents a co-management process which includes four steps that apply four different principles.

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Forest Trends MARES Programme

Winnie Lau, Program Manager, Marine Ecosystem Services Program

Winnie Lau explains the value of coastal ecosystems, human impacts on coastal and marine environment, and the risks of marine and coastal ecosystem services, including provisioning and regulating services. She presents potential tools for marine and coastal PES, such as ocean zone and marine spatial planning. Winnie ends her presentation by describing and giving examples of different marketable marine ecosystem services.

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Benefits Distribution Systems

Meeting expectations for equity, transparency, additionality and performance while managing PES revenues in an effective and efficient manner.

Benefit Distribution System for Vietnam and Lessons Learned from Past or Current Forest Programs with Benefits for Local Stakeholders

Pham Manh Cuong, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam

Pham Manh Cuong outlines REDD+ implementation in Vietnam,   touching on relevant policies and programs, key international REDD+ initiatives, and the progress that’s been made. He discusses Vietnam’s past, current, and future participation in REDD and presents the findings from a study on REDD that was recently completed. From the study, Pham Manh outlines nine different policy reccomendations, ranging from legal framework to designing a credible recourse mechanism.

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Experience with Benefits Sharing Under the Developing Eco-Compensation Policy Framework Developing in China

Dr. Cai Bofeng, Professor, Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning, China

Dr. Cai Bofeng discusses the development of eco-compensation policy framework, specifically in four target areas: western China, key ecological zones, watershed services, and natural resource use. He describes various fiscal mechanisms while explaining the results from different local experiments from the provinces of Fujian, Jiangsu, Hebei, Henan,Liaoning, Zhejiang, and Guizhou.

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Villages and REDD+: Issues of Local Peoples

John Kuange, WCS Papua New Guinea

John Kuange briefly shares demographics of Papua New Guinea, explaining that more than 97% of the land is customary-owned. He presents various cobenefits of forests while introducing the major threats of deforestation. John explains that there is a lot of potential for REDD+ implentation in PNG, as many people have become aware of it’s socioeconomic benefits. He concludes by sressing the importance of clear commit