The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) hosted the international workshop “Nature’s returns: Unlocking investment for forest ecosystem services” on June 1st and 2nd, 2016, in Santo Domingo de Heredia, Costa Rica.
Governmental officials from developing countries gathered to share experiences and discuss about Payment for Environmental Services (PES) schemes, as well as possibilities of private financing for the forestry sector. Delegates from government forestry departments from Nepal, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay and Guyana learned from the Costa Rican case on PES, administered by FONAFIFO at national scale. Delegates also shared experiences about their own PES schemes, and discussed possible ways of looking for private funding for their programs through an interactive exercise. It was attended by approximately 50 individuals (country representatives, high-level policymakers, NGO´s representatives, academia, among others).
Participants shared lessons from their national initiatives and concluded that PES schemes do not emerge in vacuum. Their emergence and success depends on specific conditions of the context, such as the existence of a complementary policy mix, legal framework and land tenure security. To guarantee their sustainability, PES schemes should be flexible, dynamic, and capable of learning-by-doing and of adapting to changing political, social and environmental contexts.
The workshop was a part of GGGI’s strategic focus to strengthen south-south cooperation by demonstrating the green growth evidence base between developing countries, and thus enhancing the capacity of government officials. It benefitted from the financial support from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
To see a audiovisual material of the workshop click here.