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