Initiative: The Katoomba Ecosystem Services Incubator
Connecting communities, conservation, and markets
Despite thriving interest in environmental markets, there are still far too few projects up and running on the ground. Booming carbon markets, in particular, have failed to produce hoped-for opportunities for communities and biodiversity conservation. Part of the problem has been a scarcity of high-quality ecosystem services project offerings that bring together the complex and varied types of expertise required to go to market. Technical capacity and early-stage finance for development have been bottlenecks for developers with promising projects.
The Katoomba Ecosystem Services Incubator was launched in late 2007 to address the supply side of the current disconnect in ecosystem service markets, with early emphasis on carbon markets. By providing targeted technical, financial, business management and legal support to promising small-scale community-based projects with potential for long-term financial viability, the Incubator contributes to developing model transactions in the nascent ecosystem services markets benefiting low-income rural people and imperiled biodiversity.
The Katoomba Ecosystem Services Incubator aims to link local producers and communities to ecosystem services markets and multiply successful transactions. Drawing on the unique pool of leading experts and innovative practitioners in the Katoomba network, the Incubator strives to overcome barriers to market access. Working with Ecodecisión as a managing partner, the Incubator team in the past months has finalized project evaluation guidelines and a support protocol, and is finalizing financial analysis support templates and developing guidance for monitoring and evaluating social and environmental returns.
Currently the Incubator is supporting four projects in Latin America as well as developing an Incubator initiative in Africa (Uganda and Ghana):
- BRAZIL: Restoration of Amazon rainforest with Rede Povos da Floresta and the Surui indigenous community. This project proposes to catalyze carbon financing to promote the conservation of biodiversity and indigenous rights through a combination of restoration of degraded pasture with native species, and conservation (avoided deforestation) of remaining native forest.
- ECUADOR: Biodiversity incentives and REDD carbon with Chachi indigenous communities and Conservation International. The project aims to integrate carbon finance for avoided deforestation and leverage biodiversity finance to expand community-based conservation areas in Ecuador’s Chocó.
- HONDURAS: Pico Bonito forest management project with EcoLogic Development Fund. This project will complete a REDD methodology, assessment and community validation process.
- MEXICO: Carbon finance for a restoration project with Bosque Sustentable and Grupo Ecologico Sierra Gorda. The project aims to establish mixed native and exotic commercial tree plantations for the dual purpose of conservation and income generation. Another element of the support to this project is an analysis of the possibility of securitizing ecosystem services. See the interview about this with technical consultant Jorge Muñoz in the July 2008 GTZ Regional Technical Bulletin (http://www.redrisas.org/documentos/boletin_gtz.pdf)
For detailed information about these projects in our current portfolio, click here (pages 9-12).
Ways to get involved:
To engage in the work of the Incubator as a technical, legal, or other support expert in the Incubator portfolio, sign up at the Katoomba Partner link at www.katoombagroup.org/partners/signup.php as a “Fellow”.
Interested buyers of ecosystem service outputs of the projects, or donors for the initiative can contact Hannah Murray at hmurray(at)forest-trends.org.
As we continue to expand the Incubator portfolio, we want to hear about your PES projects and activities. Review and complete the form below and contact Jacob Olander at jolander(at)ecodecision.com.ec.
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