Saving rainforest via PES

An interview with Dr Andrew Mitchell of the Global Canopy Program:

"Mongabay: What do we need to get ecosystem services payments off the ground on a global scale?

Andrew Mitchell: In order to create these kinds of new markets there are basically four things you have to do. It begins with science. Scientists have to tell us what the services are and what tropical forests do for us. Scientists view them as a giant global system that can be broken into four major utilities: the Amazon, the Guyana shield, the Congo basin, and the Southeast Asian forest (primarily between Borneo and New Guinea). These utilities operate on both local and global scales in terms of the ecosystem services.

The next step is bringing in the environmental economists to work with the scientists to put a value on those services. The Amazon is producing 20 billion tons of moisture a day. What's that worth? How do you price that?

Next you have to take that information into the policy arena and create an enabling framework to encourage payment for ecosystem services.

And the fourth thing that you need to do is go to the market and persuade people to pay for those services.

All of those four stages are what we are trying to influence at the present time. "

I have to say his step two sounds a bit naive. The price of ecosystem services has been more in the invisible hands of the market rather than those of environmental economists, as the EU carbon market showed.

In later part of the interview though Dr Mitchell mentioned something I really like,

"One thing we are planning in Iwokrama and other areas is working with the community and discussing with them how we can set up a community-based Social and Ecosystem Service Monitoring program. This would be based on using hand-held computers where they could collect data on the forest. Not only of the mapping exercise which helps them know exactly where their land is and helps improve their land title. But also to know when illegal loggers or miners are coming in, or if fires are occurring. This information can be uploaded into a Google database which all communities can see. If there is a problem, we will be able to call in the StarVision satellite monitoring and look at the situation right down to one meter. So if there is a gold mine going on down there, we know. You can look at it next day by satellite. And if there is a real problem, then you can call up the authorities and deal with that. The communities are going to play a crucial role in that process and will benefit."
"