The East African Forum for Payment for Ecosystem Services (EAFPES) in partnership with Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) and the Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS) of the University of Dar es Salaam with generous financial support from WIOMSA organized a training workshop that aimed at building capacity of coastal and marine resources managers, policy makers, practitioners and conservationists and community group leaders from four major countries of the West Indian Ocean (WIO) (Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar) on the concepts and practices of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and Climate Compatible Development (CCD). The training was held in Kenya from 25th – 30th November 2013 at Kaskazi Beach Hotel – Diani with a field visit to Gazi Bay mangrove forest where there is a pilot PES (carbon credit) scheme, the MikokoPamoja Project. Twenty nine participants attended.
The main objective of the workshop was to build capacity in the WIO region in PES that integrates concerns of climate change. Three main thematic areas were addressed: Vulnerability, resilience and adaptation; Payment for ecosystem services; and Governance for the future. Key topics that were covered during the workshop included:
(i)Concepts, definitions, and values of coastal and marine ecosystems
(ii)Society and climate change impacts, adaption and mitigation
(iii) Theory and practice of stakeholders’ engagement in natural resources management
(iv)Theory of valuation of natural capital
(v)Theory and practice of PES with case study comparative local examples of MikokoPamoja Project and Lake Naivasha Basin project and Sasumua Watershed scheme in Kenya
(vi)Identifying drivers and developing scenarios for CCD
(vii)Elements of policy and governance relevant to PES and CCD