PERU: National Government Advising on Ecosystem Services Policy

From August 6-8, IUCN and Katoomba held a workshop in Lima, Peru on the legal and institutional frameworks related to ecosystem services deals in Latin America. Following this three-day meeting, participating Katoomba RRT advisors met with environmental ministry representatives in the midst of national-level forestry and PES policy construction. Katoomba’s partners acted as un-biased, third party information providers, answering the questions of lawmakers and describing the current state of environmental services payments and regulations throughout the South American Region.

The workshop’s objective was to present findings from preliminary scoping work that had been conducted on the design of carbon and water deals in the Andes-Amazon region. Over the course of three days, participants worked to identify needs and gaps for governments to provide legal means to help ensure equitable ecosystem services deals. Reviews focused on Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. Participants from Ecuador, Mexico and Costa Rica also shared their countries’ experiences in the design of legal frameworks related to PES. 

Following the meeting, the Ministry of Environment in Peru invited The Katoomba Rapid Response Team to advise in the design of a new forestry law. The discussion revolved around a framework to regulate Peru’s forest concession modality. The experts presented on the variety of different ways in which ecosystem services are regulated in South America, including the relative benefits and challenges to each. Peru is currently one of the more advanced countries in their approach to forest conservation and REDD/ PES finance. The Katoomba Group has remained very active in this region.